Bec: Absolutely. So, I was lucky enough to be asked to make up some social media posts for a company, a few years ago. And I loved the creativity of it. I loved being able to create things that could send a message across to people, and with social media being, and particularly places like, or, apps like Instagram, it’s such a visual medium. And so, you know, being able to create those things to kind of grab someone’s attention, and be able to draw them into what your story was, is something that really fascinated me.

So, after I finished that work, I was consulting in a clinic, and our marketing job came up there. And so I managed the social media for that clinic, for the last probably two to three years now. I’ve finished now, but when I was, at the time. And I loved the ability within that, being able to work in that social media, of being able to connect with community, outside of the clinic. So, we had a large community that would be highly engaged with us, so we’d get messages through Instagram, we’d have comments on our posts, and I primarily use Instagram and Facebook. I’ll just preface that. And, yeah. It was a great way to be able to share a little bit about what we were about, and seeing how that landed with our community, but also hear back from our community about what they wanted to hear and understand, I suppose, about how we worked. So, yeah. It was something that I found that I fell more and more in love with, which was at very, I suppose, extreme odds to when I first started practicing, and when I first started to use social media for my own clinic, where I was terrified of it. Absolutely terrified. And I don’t want other practitioners to feel that way, so that’s how I’ve ended up doing what I’m doing at the moment.

Amie: Yes. Fantastic. I think, you know, we have so much to learn in college, and then navigate when we start out as practitioners. I think, you know, marketing is not one of those. And, in an ever-changing landscape, particularly through the lens of, you know, political and cultural and societal things, I think marketing on social media can feel quite big for practitioners, and not in a good way, necessarily. I think, you know, you mentioned to me, like, some of the three key areas I think practitioners struggle with is it can feel incredibly time-consuming, and, especially if you’re not a marketer, it can absolutely feel quite laborious. It’s not necessarily a practitioner’s zone of genius, for sure. And then there’s sourcing, you know, imagery, there’s sourcing video, there’s figuring out captions. There’s all of that stuff, which does, you know, it does take a bit of time, but I think, for many of us, it feels like, really, like a big drain on our, you know, our time resources. I know another challenge for practitioners is that it can also feel really scary, for many reasons, and I’m looking forward to talking with you about that today, and how to really just dissolve that experience for practitioners, as a barrier, that can get in the way. And then, of course, is navigating the landscape of, I mean, AI is a whole other story now, but even before, you know, AI videos, or, you know, content that was maybe misinformation, if I use that term kind of loosely, social media has always really been a somewhat of a highlights reel, I think, for many people, and as a result, particularly, there was a stage, I feel like Instagram went through this period where everything was incredibly curated, and had to be absolutely perfect, and that pressure was just extreme, for everybody, and many people just opted out. But also still now can feel a bit fake. And I can imagine, for many practitioners, I’m sure you hear this all the time, you know, at least one of those is getting in the way of how they show up online, if not multiple factors, if not all of them. So, I’m really excited to start to unpack all of that with you today, but I think, before we go on to, like, the nitty-gritty and the practical tools, I’d love to talk about, really, the mindset around approaching social media as a marketing platform, and what you see as the type of mindset that a practitioner can adopt that will have them have the best experience online.

Bec: Yeah, absolutely. And I suppose advertising and marketing has changed so much from when I left uni. You know, I left uni over 20 years ago, and that was literally leaflets in a letterbox, and maybe a, you know, ad in the newspaper. You had Yellow Pages back then, you know? It’s been a long time. It’s very different now. And this is, I think, where social media has taken the place of these sorts of things too. So, a lot of what I hear from practitioners, absolutely, is there’s a lot of fear based around using it, so it’s sometimes fear of saying the wrong thing. Sometimes it’s fear of, yeah, not looking, for want of a better phrase, perfect. And those sorts of things can really just stop us dead, and stop us from posting. Even things like just the amount of time that it can take, you know. If you’re not used to the platform and how it all comes together, that’s, it can be a big obstacle for people.

So, I like to reframe it a little bit, or the way I like to reframe it for myself as well, is I see social media as a place where we can connect with our clients. And as I was saying, you know, it’s a great place to understand where our clients are coming from, what types of things they’re interested in and what they’re looking at, so we can tailor what we’re talking about to them. But I also see it as an extension of our website. So, this is where people can come and see what you’re doing in real time, because a website’s static, to some degree. I mean, we have blogs that we put up and those sorts of things, which can change, but if people wanna get a feel for what you’re like in real life, or a feel for, I suppose, you know, in real time, what you’re talking about, then that’s where social media can really come in. And I know myself, if there’s any businesses that I’m looking at, [inaudible 00:07:21] going and buying an item from, or a service from, one of the first things I do once I’ve checked out their website is I go to their social media, and see what that’s about as well. So, I think using it as a platform for education and connection is what I you would like for people to see social media, rather than this scary kind of thing, where, you know, people might not agree with what you’re talking about, and say that, or, you know, those sorts of things.

Amie: Yes. I mean, I think one thing that I learnt is that it doesn’t matter what you say. There’s always gonna be someone who disagrees with you. So, let’s just say that quiet part out loud…

Bec: Yes.

Amie: …and, you know, if you can get comfortable with that, and maybe have a strategy to deal with… Not everybody disagrees with you is necessarily a hater or a troll, but you also have those. So, I think, I’m sure you’ve worked many times with people on how to navigate that. But outside of that, I think, yes, distilling down what is the intention and purpose of my platform, and what am I here to do, in that is educate and connect, you know, if those are the two pillars that you decide. There might be other intentions you have for your marketing, outside of that, but I love what you said in terms of it’s an extension of our website, but it’s a real-time window into who we are and what we’re up to, that you don’t really get to share on a website. I mean, a blog is really more an educational pillar. It’s not a “dear diary,” is it?

Bec: Yeah. No.

Amie: It’s not really an appropriate place there either, you know, necessarily, to keep people up-to-date, but social media, I think one thing we have to remind ourselves is that we’re there to be social as well, and that’s that connection piece. It’s, you know, I think that’s one of the tricky things, I think, from some of the older generations, is you feel like it has to be this perfect broadcast ad, for example, and it’s, you’re talking at people, but actually, it’s an invitation for people to enter into a conversation with you, and get to know you a little better. So, I think that’s a really nice kind of place to start, in terms of getting your head around what are you using it for, what do you want this platform to achieve for you, which ultimately, if you’re using it as part of your business, is to attract new clients, to raise your profile, but also remaining top-of-mind, I think, for existing clients as well. And, you know, there was a time, I feel like maybe 5 to 10 years ago, if I was looking for a product or service, I’d google it, and you’d look at their website.

Bec: Yes.

Amie: But yeah. Nowadays, it’s social media. It’s like, having a look at their Instagram, getting a feel for their vibe, you know, what they’re up to, who they’re about, because you can communicate so much, even non-verbally, on social media in that way. So, in terms of that, I would love to have a conversation with you about the connection piece. Now, we can circle back to the education piece, and, like, being afraid of saying the wrong thing, but I think most of us have a fair idea of what we should and shouldn’t be saying, or what’s appropriate for a social media, you know, outlet, versus what we might say to a client in clinic. But, in terms of the connection piece, I don’t think you would disagree with me, but that era when Instagram was perfectly curated everything, and it was only the top 1% of your life. Thank God that’s over. Thank God that’s finished. And I think all of us have got absolutely bored of ourselves, bored of other people, just sick and tired of seeing things that aren’t really real. But at the same time, if this is a business marketing tool, this isn’t the place to air dirty laundry, or it’s not winge book. And how do you coach your practitioners around authenticity? What is the conversations you’re having around how much of you do you share yourself online, and where do you actually draw the line?

Bec: Yeah, and everyone’s going to have a very different view on that for themselves. So, I think there was a bit of a thought for a period of time where people felt like they need to share everything online, you know, to be authentic. And that’s not necessarily the case at all. You can have aspects of your career, of your work, of your life, that you don’t share necessarily online. And I think that’s really important to know that. So, when I’m speaking to people, I want to understand how much they’re willing to share. Like, what parts of their life are they willing to have out there and what aren’t they. And then we can build authenticity from that, because you can still be authentic in the way that you speak to people, without necessarily, you know, like you said, airing out all your dirty laundry, or telling people what’s on your shopping list, or whatever it might be, you know. But then other people might have a level of comfortability where that’s fine, and that’s where their community responds to them. And I think whatever you’re most comfortable with is gonna come easiest, when we’re looking at social media, and that’s going to attract the people who feel most comfortable with that as well. I know, I myself, my husband and I, we do not share any photos of my son online at all, and I do speak about my son sometimes in my business pages, but I will often use his, the first initial of his name. But I still feel that I can be perfectly authentic without having to share that aspect of my life too. And everyone will have a slightly different way of doing that. So, it’s important to, I suppose, know where you feel comfortable with that sharing, with your community, understanding that then you will attract the people that’s most aligned with that as well.

Amie: Yeah, that’s a really good point, actually. I think deciding, you know, or being clear on your values and clear on your boundaries before you begin, and even having them outlined in a brand document, I feel. You know, your brand voice, what is going to be acceptable. And I know when we chatted last week, I said one of the rules I have for myself is if I was sitting on a plane and I was talking to a stranger, is this something I would share with a stranger who I’ve just met, and who I’ll probably never see again. And, yes, there are people who are perhaps over-sharers, and that’s fine, but also, like, there is something really strange about the intimacy of talking to a camera, that can then seduce you into maybe sharing things, especially if you don’t have healthy outlets for them. And so, yeah, being mindful of that is important. It’s your business tool, not a personal page. Or maybe you’ve got them separate, or maybe you’ve got them combined, and then you have to figure out how you wanna navigate that. And I think, yes, children’s a really big one. There are some people who, you know, act as if they don’t have children, because it’s just a completely separate part of their lives. Others, like you, might mention them where it’s relevant, either to what you’re sharing on the day, or your business. Others might talk about them a little more freely, but blur their face, never show school uniforms. I think one thing I would also just say as a side note is make sure you’ve got location sharing turned off…

Bec: Yes.

Amie: …so none of your photos are geo-tagged, because, obviously, where you are regularly, that could be an issue, for sure. But, yeah. Certainly, you can be authentic without, you know, eroding your boundaries, over-sharing. And I think there was also a period of time there where vulnerability porn was happening, where people felt like they had to reveal something in order to connect, which I also don’t agree with either.

Bec: Absolutely, absolutely. You don’t have to delve into, say, your own health issues or anything like that at all…

Amie: No.

Bec: …to necessarily connect with people. There are other areas of life, or the way that you work, that will connect with them instead. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.

Amie: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. All right. Well, I guess once you’ve figured out, as a practitioner, like, how you intend to use your platform, and obviously, if you’re listening to this, you’ll be using it for businesses, to one degree or another, and you’ve figured out, you know, your brand voice and your boundaries there, then comes the question about, you know, showing up on social media, and there are as many strategies promoted as there are humans on the planet. And I think different professions and industries definitely have different cadences, but there are, of course, extreme views, where… I remember reading, someone was saying, “You need to post seven times a day.” I mean, I just wanna curl up and die [crosstalk 00:16:07] myself. I would love to get your thoughts on, you know, how often should we be posting, and, in terms of, like, what we are sharing, how do you sort of start to work out what it is that you should even be putting on online?

Bec: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And you’re right. Everybody’s got a formula for success where this is concerned. And I think the best formula for people is the one that’s going to work for you. So, if you are not able to post seven days a week, and I’m not, I’m just gonna say that now as well, that is not the amount of times for you to post. But consistency is important. Because one of the things that, often, the almighty algorithms and things like that notice is whether or not you’re actually on your page and speaking to your community often. And if that’s the case, and “often” can be once a week, but as long as you’re showing up really consistently, then your posts will be shown to the people that, you know, who are following you, and, you know, potential new clients as well. So, that can be once a week. I probably wanna move somewhere in between once a week and seven days a week, or three times a day is another one that I’ve heard recently, which I feel is just way too time-consuming, to be honest. Especially if you’re a busy prac, it’s not really where you want your energy to go. So, I’d be looking at somewhere between one to three times a week would be that. But something you can show up to week after week, consistently, because that is the important thing. And it’s a little bit, I suppose, like how we talk to our clients about those changes that we want them to make in their lives so that they can feel better, and a lot of the time, we talk about things that we will need them to do consistently. And social media is no different in that respect as well. It’s how things will grow and improve.

Amie: Yeah. Absolutely. And I can say, from what I’ve witnessed with other accounts, certainly, you know, whatever it is consistently, whether it’s once a week or three times a week or six times a week, whatever it is, absolutely, as long as the account feels alive, and that there’s something new popping up, and it’s nice to know that the algorithm gods also support that, whatever that ends up looking like. And I do think practitioners underestimate, you know, the time that can go into it. I remember once drawing out a plan for myself with, you know, I’ve got all the ideas, like, something every day. But actually creating that can be a bit time-consuming. Now, I know you do have some strategies to really, like, leapfrog ahead with that, but I also wanted to just touch on, you know, I guess categories of content. And whenever I’m thinking about social media, I think about, you know, content that might attract new people to your page, versus content that might be nurturing your existing audience, versus content that actually converts. So, we’re actually inviting someone to work with you, that will then result in them working with you, buying something from you. And what I see often, and this is a mistake I made early on, and I think this was back when Instagram was more this way inclined, was being an education-only account, and just sort of talking about, you know, facts and figures from within the industry. And certainly, that age has also passed. But at the same time, I’ve also seen accounts just chasing every trend, trending audio, trending… And that, honestly, gives me the ick, quite frankly. So, where is the middle ground for us as practitioners with that?

Bec: Yeah, that’s a really good question, because we have gone through those stages, I suppose, of different things on social media. And I feel that education has its place within your, I suppose your feed, and what you’re popping out there for people to read, but you also need to vary that with other things. So, educating people is great, but giving them something they might be able to work with at home, so, a recipe, for example. I’ve always seen recipes just getting great engagement, and that’s what I suppose part of what you’re looking to do as well, to also help you be shown to more people, is to get engagement on things. So, recipes, something where you’re giving to somebody. And then, make sure you also intersperse that with posts that are going to also have a call to action. So, whether or not they’re signing up for a lead magnet, or a course that you might be popping together, or whether or not it’s a 20-minute discovery call with you. Though it’s important to mix up the types, I suppose, of things that you’re posting, so that different people, you know, at different times, will see them, and be, you know, likely to engage with them as well.

Amie: That’s a really good point about sharing content that gets high engagement, people saving or sharing it to their own stories, for example, or sending to a friend, because that does tell the algorithm that this is an account that’s creating high-value content, which means your other content, where you might invite them to join a discovery call, for instance, is going to be shown to more people, which I think is really, really helpful. So, in terms of engaging online, though, I know that many practitioners, especially if they’re first starting out, or maybe they’re feeling, you know, a bit worn out from wearing the 17 hats that we wear as business owners, or maybe they’re going through a bit of a health challenge or a tough season of their own, which is impacting, you know, they might look tired, they might not really look like the best version of themselves either, what suggestions do you have for anyone who maybe doesn’t feel that comfortable on camera, full stop, or is maybe in a season where that just feels a bit out of reach?

Bec: Absolutely. So, I do use a lot of, I suppose it’s called faceless marketing within my own, I suppose, different Facebook and Instagram pages. And I find it a really great way if you don’t want to have your face. If that’s the thing that’s stopping you from posting, like, putting your face out there, maybe having a bad hair day, gosh knows I have them quite often, or whatever it might be that’s happening, and you’re like, “I’m just not gonna jump on camera today,” or, “I’m just not comfortable doing that,” there’s lots of different ways that you can work around that. And Reels are a really good example of that, because there was a era where everyone felt they needed to jump around and point in the sky, and I’m guilty of doing that too, and then, you know, words would come up, and that side of stuff, and I know a lot of people were very uncomfortable with putting themselves out there like that. Just didn’t really wanna do it. And so, what I usually use now is things like B-rolls for Reels, which is just a short clip of video. It could be your vegetable patch. It could be making a cup of tea. It could be what you’ve cooked for lunch. It could be your dog, whatever it might be, and then overlaying text on that. And that is still great for getting engagement. Often, you know, a nice little video in the background will grab someone’s attention, and then you can still convey your message across, without your face being around, without jumping up and down and turning or pointing in the sky as well.

So, that’s, I suppose, one example, but you can also do that with pictures as well. You don’t always have to have your face in there. I do think it’s nice to have your face if you’re comfortable, because then people get to know who you are, which is part of that, you know, connection I suppose we’re looking for with social media. But if that’s the thing stopping you from posting, then know that you don’t have to do it at all. And there’s tools like Canva, where you can make little slides or carousels, which do quite well on Instagram at the moment, which, you know, is a number of different pictures. Or you can use pictures from your own photo album, which might be pictures of herbs, or, like I said, you know, all sorts of different things where you can pop text on the top of them. And in my opinion, or in my experience, I have found that Instagram does tend to like those a little bit more than sometimes stock photos, which I feel like they can flag that that’s a stock photo, so… What I saw always do well is if we can use a picture that we’ve got in our camera roll, that’s ours, and pop it on, even with text and things like that. That can often get shown to more people as well.

Amie: Wow. That’s so interesting, because I know, I don’t anymore, but I did have a, like, a membership with a, you know, not with iStock or, you know, those big ones, but there’s some really nice ones that actually do stuff for wellness practitioners, that are really beautiful. And I wouldn’t say not to use them after what you’ve said, but it is very interesting knowing that, of course, Instagram can read the metadata, and see where it’s been used elsewhere on the internet, and that it’s not a native photo. And in this day and age, literally anything can be content, like you said, stirring a cup of tea. My favorite, because I live near the beach, is, like, a short video of my feet walking along the sand, and then scanning up to the sunrise. Doesn’t matter what my hair looks like at that time of day. Just only my toes.

But the other thing that I found really helpful, if anyone’s listening to this, if you would like to show your face from time to time, is consider doing a bit, like, a one day a month, or every two months, or once a week, or once every fortnight, whatever works for you, once a month’s kind of nice, is having a, you know, a spacious day, where you actually do your hair and makeup, and then capture a bunch of B-roll around the house. Couple of photos in the house, couple of photos outside, couple of videos of you making various things in the kitchen, and maybe in your garden, or going for a walk. And then you’ve got content to use for the rest of the month. It doesn’t matter what your hair’s doing. Certainly, with me, with the humidity here, that’s probably something I should be taking advantage of more, but it’s really nice to know that you can also not have to fuss around with putting your face on camera if you’re still working up to it, or simply don’t want to. So, it could be hands, it could be feet, it could be…sounding like an ad for something suspicious there, but it could be just literally just a really, just a tiny little sliver of you, rather than being you full frontal, which I think is a lovely permission slip for anyone who either might be getting started, or that’s the thing that’s getting in the way for them showing up online. And I guess, by extension of that, you know, that removes that barrier of feeling intimidated, or maybe like you don’t have the energy or the time to put your best face forward, and therefore you just don’t wanna do it at all. But what other tools do you often find yourself recommending practitioners to help them either show up on social media feeling a bit more comfortable, or making it a little less time-consuming?

Bec: Absolutely. So, I am a big proponent of using AI models like ChatGPT for, not necessarily writing posts, but if you’re really stuck for ideas on what you think people might wanna hear, it can be a great tool to generate some things that might twig some creativity with you. It’s great for planning as well. So, if you wanna pop something together. And now, you know, that it does kind of hook into other programs, like Canva, for example, you can get that done all in-house. But I understand there’s different levels of comfortability with AI as well. One thing I do like to do with it is, if I write a post, and it just doesn’t flow right or it just doesn’t sound quite how I want it to sound, sometimes I’ll cut and paste it and pop it in there, and get it to improve the flow. And it doesn’t take away from my voice, because that’s the other side I suppose people are worried about, not sounding like themselves. And that’s one way I’ve found you can get around…you can still write the post yourself, but just have it refined a little bit more sometimes by AI as well. So, I’ve been using AI within a social media context for around about two to three years now, and it’s definitely come a long way. There’s a lot less emojis used by the AI. And you can train it. And I know there’s, you know, seminars around that as well, that people might find helpful, but you can train it to sound like you too, but if you don’t have the time, space, or you don’t wanna do that, I would encourage it, to kind of fill in the gaps sometimes of, “Oh, gosh. What will I post today?” Or, “This doesn’t sound quite right, but I can’t refine it myself,” you know. It gives you that option. So, that’s one of the tools I like to use.

Another tool is scheduling apps. And there’s quite a few out there as well. So, if you do, you know, pop…you have a chance to sort of batch your social media content, using those apps can help to save you a lot of time, because you just pop it all in there, and it will post when you want it to, post when your audience is most active on there, because that’s some of the metrics that Instagram and Facebook can give you, and there’s a lot of different ones out there, but I like to use Meta Business Suite, because I find that it’s not an additional cost, and once you get used to it, it’s quite easy to work as well.

Amie: Yes. I think it is one of those things there is a little bit of a learning curve, regardless of which one you choose. But I do like the fact that you don’t have to pay an additional fee. I actually personally use Planoly, which I do pay for. I do really like the dashboard. But, of course, every step you get away from the native platform, more things can go wrong. So, definitely keep that in mind. And also with the AI, I love what you said about using it to either generate inspiration, get creative ideas you can run with with your own voice, or, if you’re just feeling low on creativity, having it, like, re-jig what you’ve said, to make it sound more of a certain way, and then you can just polish that, is really, it’s like having a second brain. It really is a virtual assistant, that can do things really quickly for you in the background. Because I think, I definitely remember spending way too much time on writing a caption, or trying to rethink on how to improve something, and now you just don’t have to do that. And I think I will refer everybody who’s listening back to a podcast we just did recently with Tammy Guest. I’m gonna add the link in the show notes. She talks about cloning yourself with AI. And what that really means is training your own ChatGPT in your brand voice, and with your brand resources, so that it becomes more and more like a clone of yourself, rather than, you know, a bit of a dodgy intern, who likes to take creative liberties when you ask it to do stuff. So, yeah, I love that. And I think the, leaning on those tools just makes showing up on social media much more effortless, just less time-consuming, less energy, all of that kind of thing. And so, in terms of what other guidance you might give practitioners who are either venturing into social media for the first time, or who for whatever reason fallen out of love with it, what would you say to them?

Bec: I think, just building it into your everyday, making it a little bit more of a habit, is really important, but just, I think, still remembering it’s about that connection with your community, more than anything else. And being able to, you know, talk to them is such an important thing. People wanna understand where you’re coming from, people wanna understand how you work, people wanna understand how you explain things, because that will probably sit better, you may sit better with them as a practitioner because of just those little things than, as someone else entirely, and so, don’t be afraid of social media in that respect, I would say… This is coming out wrong, I’m so sorry [crosstalk 00:31:45]

Amie: No, [crosstalk 00:31:46] sounds great. It sounds perfect, and as you were speaking, I was just thinking, too, like, one of the things I think all new practitioners, if they’re coming out and venturing into marketing for the first time, understandably wanna reach everybody, and wanna help everybody, right?

Bec: Yeah.

Amie: And so, I know I fell into this trap of speaking a particular way, trying to be super professional, and, you know, like, really beige, if I can put it that way. And now that I’m a, you know, an old hand in the profession, I really see the value in sharing myself and my personality, this, the way that it is, because it acts as a natural filter to much more aligned clients, and I can tell you, from the moment I did that, moment I just kind of dropped showing up in a way that I thought I should be, and just was more myself, I had so much more fun in clinic, and just, it was so much more joyful in sessions with clients, because they already had a sense of my personality, and were attracted to that, and it was just more of a natural fit, actually. So, I think that’s a really important, like, mindset thing to take away from this conversation. And another thing I would love to get your thoughts on, and this is the way I’ve approached it more recently, is I think about… I’m more an Instagram girl than anywhere else, but I think about the feed as your shop front. It’s where you get to advertise, you know, who you are and what you do, and how you do it. And so that when people land on your account, or page, they can easily scan, you know, the first 9, the first 18, to have a very clear sense about what you do and who you do it for. Whereas, and that, obviously, because it sits there in perpetuity, unless you archive it, needs to be, you know, spell-checked, and, you know, not look hideous when you’re…on the screen. But Stories is where you can share more of your day-to-day self, and your personality, and what you’re doing, or something that made you laugh that day, or something that you saw on the news that’s relevant to your practice or the area that you practice in, or, you know, a herb that you saw on your walk. You wouldn’t necessarily give that a spot on your grid, but it’s also an extension of who you are and what attracts you, and things like that. How do you feel the difference between the two goes? Are you of a similar mindset, or what do you think?

Bec: Absolutely, absolutely. So, a lot of that content that you want people to be able to access all the time should sit on your feed, so, be that recipes or educational content and those sorts of things, but your Stories are a great place for people to get to know you and how you get about a little bit more. So, they’re just little snippets, I find, exactly about what might interest you online, whether or not you’ve done a post, because you can share that to Stories as well. Maybe a little check-in, if you are comfortable jumping on camera to have a quick chat to your audience. I know that when I follow accounts, probably one of the first things I do, because I’ve got a bit of a feel for them anyways, I go to their Stories, because I wanna see, you know, what they wanna talk about that day, or what they wanna share with me. And so I think that’s a really great place for people to get a bit of a feel for you. And you’re right. It’s a natural filter, so it helps people really understand whether or not they’re aligned with a particular practitioner or not. So, it’s just another way to connect. People will write back to you on Stories. I love when you get those comments from your followers or people who are watching, because then you can write back, and there can be a little conversation, a little snippet, where, you know, you’re connecting, again, with those people out there, and it’s a way that we can reach so many more people than we’ve ever been able to do before. You know, when I first graduated, I think, you know, I had a room in a clinic, and I maybe had a few slides up in the local gym, and it was local people that, you know, I would have spoken to, but now I can speak to people in the UK, or in Queensland. I’m in Victoria, so, in Queensland, or wherever, you know, they might be, and have a little conversation, and it’s really nice to have those little touch points with the community as well. So, yeah. I’m with you. I would keep the…the stuff on your grid needs to be the stuff that you’re happy for people to see whenever they might pop past, and then you can really use those Stories to show a little bit more of yourself and your personality, and…

Amie: Yes.

Bec: …yeah. What you’re like.

Amie: Yes. I love that. And I think, you know, that is one of the beauties of social media, is being able to connect with people all around the world who have common interests, even as a practitioner, connecting with other practitioners in, say, the mold space, which is an area I do a lot of work in. And I’ve made friends that way, you know, fellow moldies, who’ve connected over things like that, and, you know, it is such a wonderful, wonderful way of connecting with people, but we should really also talk about the dark side of being available, you know, having our shop front a digital shop front, accessible to literally anyone in the world who’s got an internet connection and an Instagram account. How do you navigate, or advise praccies to navigate, naysayers, trolls, haters, contrarians? You know, what do you have to say about that?

Bec: Yeah, absolutely. And I know it’s something that a lot of people are concerned about when they post online. And I have had a few of my posts here and there, when I worked at the clinic where I was managing social media end up on the “bad side of the internet,” so to speak, where we’ve had a few comments or things like that. And I think, first, you’ve gotta differentiate between somebody who might be open to finding out more information about what you’re saying, and a troll. Because a troll, there’s no point in engaging with them. They are not interested in what you really have to say. They just wanna create trouble. So, if you’ve got a troll, there is capacity, say, in the back end of Instagram, and also Meta Business Suite and Facebook, where you can hide their comment, and you don’t have to necessarily deal with that, if that’s what you’d like to do. And then, if you have someone who just needs to learn a little bit more, start the conversation, a little bit. You know, everyone’s entitled to their opinion, at the end of the day. Yeah. And you can sometimes help people to understand a little bit better. But work out first which side of the fence, I suppose, they’re sitting on there. Don’t take it personally, would be the other thing I’d say. It’s not, even though somebody may say something personal, it says more about them than it does about you as a practitioner, and a person. So, try not to take it personally. You know, we never know what’s been going on in someone’s life. Maybe they’ve had a bad day. Who knows? So, yeah. It can sometimes take a little bit to brush off, especially when you’re not expecting things like that, but take a bit of time off social media in that case. You know, have a few minutes, take a deep breath, grab a cup of tea, whatever you might need to. But those are the ways that I deal with that negativity that you can see online as well.

Amie: I think that’s a really important part of this conversation, for sure, because, you know, as you said, there’s lots of people out there having very bad days, who tend to take it out on other people. And I think that distinction between, you know, is this just a troll? Someone who’s stirring, who’s just looking to provoke, and really just dump whatever their internalized pain is on you, and create pain in your life, versus someone who’s maybe in a bit of a rush, who, it’s triggered something, maybe a bit of curiosity, bit of condescension, but actually, they are open to learning, and sometimes that’s really obvious, and sometimes it’s not. And, usually, a clarifying question will tell you pretty quickly who you’re dealing with, but I do, I am a big fan of taking a beat, and responding rather than reacting. So, you know, you can unhide people’s comments. So, if someone’s written something, and let’s say you’ve got five minutes, and you’re about to see a client, and you just don’t have the mental bandwidth to even think about a response, you can just hide it, make a note you’re gonna circle back to it later that day, you know, later the week, whatever it is, and just really sit with it, and work through your own experience around that too, if you need to, if it’s upset you in any way. You know, it doesn’t have to be dealt with absolutely immediately, and then you can always just come back into it, and sometimes it leads to a really nice conversation. I’ve definitely experienced all manner of that. In fact, that was one of my greatest fears, was being attacked on social media and my example is incredibly extreme, because I had a news story about a health condition and experience go global, which, you know, hit 7 o’clock news around the world, and, but also got picked up by another media outlet that just loves to degrade and rubbish anything they don’t understand. And I did receive a tidal wave of hate as a result of that. And also, lots of people who were like, “Oh, I’ve never seen my story in mainstream media before. Thank you for sharing.”

And I think having a moment to rebalance yourself, no matter how big or small, let’s say, let’s call it a negative interaction online might be, makes a huge difference, and to allow you to actually respond in the way that you can look back on and be proud of. And certainly, in my case, I had… And I’m sharing this not to sort of, like, scare anybody, but also to reassure you that this can happen and you will survive, and come out the other side. So, I had people telling me to kill myself. I had people sending me really hateful messages. I had one guy who posted on every single Facebook post I’d ever made, saying, “How much for your snake oil?” And, also, I had people whose, you know, family members had dealt with a condition very similar, that, yeah, that wasn’t the same, but they felt like I had maybe taken away from their family members’ experience. And really, for those, I sent very loving, kind, heartfelt replies, and left them up publicly, for anyone else who may have come to my page, to actually understand. But, as awful as it was at the time, this is such a tiny part of our lives, it’s a tiny part of our business, and, in one sense, it felt like the absolute end of the world for me, internally. It was an awful experience, but at the same time, it literally didn’t make a single ounce of difference in my life at all. You know, it really didn’t make any difference to who was coming to see me, why they were seeing me. I’ve since been asked to mentor on that subject, in multiple places since then, and effectively, it didn’t change anything in my life at all. And I think one of the traps of online living, if you like, virtual worlds, is we can feel that they’re much bigger than they really are. And this is where, you know, going outside, having a cup of tea, putting your feet on the earth, taking a moment to put it into perspective, and really considering who you wanna be, in that moment when you go to respond, makes such a big difference.

Bec: Absolutely, absolutely. It really does.

Amie: I think in closing, I would love to hear from you around how you guide practitioners to what they wanna put out in the world. And you’ve mentioned already some shareable, savable content, like recipes, of course, the type of content that says, “Book a discovery call,” or, “Download this lead magnet,” along with educational content. Is there, like, a North Star or a guiding light that you use, or do you like to sort of categorize things like that, and just make sure it fits into one of those?

Bec: I do like to categorize. I do find that anything that gives your audience something to be able to…some sort of pearl, or something they can do with the information that you’ve given them, whether it be, you know, a reminder to get outside and, you know, pop your feet on the ground, or whether or not it’s, you know, have you had enough water today? Those sorts of things. Anything where they can learn, and pop something into, they can integrate into their lives, I find that content does the best, normally. Because people are going on looking at these things to, I suppose, have some answers to questions they might have, so that’s what we’re looking at, I suppose, giving them somewhat, doing social media. Doesn’t mean that you have to sit, you know, you’re not putting a whole treatment protocol in there or anything like that at all. Gosh, no. But, giving, I suppose, little bits of information that they may find helpful in some way, shape, or form, I think is, I suppose, my guiding star when it comes to posting online. You know, popping something, a picture up of my lunch, and just going, “Hey, here’s my lunch” is probably not going to be quite like that. But if I can talk about my lunch and go, “Well, this is protein, and this is why I have these forms of protein, and this is why I eat this much protein,” whatever that might be, or, “Have you tried this particular thing to eat?” or, “Here’s a recipe for my favorite breakfast.” Those sorts of things tend to do really, really well because people will try them, people will comment, and people feel like they have value from that interaction, which I think’s really, really important, because that’s what we want to do. And then, you know, they may…it might take them a little while, they may follow your posts for a little while, but eventually they’ll come across a call to action, and you’ll see that they will, you know, take you up on that. So, I think having value for your audience, value for your community, whatever that value might look like. So, it may not be a recipe. Could be something totally different. I’m just very food-focused. Just saying.

Amie: Same.

Bec: Recipes are great.

Amie: Yeah.

Bec: But, yeah. Anything that’s gonna give value, in some way, shape, or form, is a really great way to get them engaged and get them following you, and get them interested in what you have to say as well.

Amie: Yeah. I think you’re asking yourself, “What is someone gonna get out of me posting this? What’s in it for them? What are they gonna learn? What is it gonna inspire? What is it gonna prompt? How is it gonna make them feel?” So, really thinking about that intention for your post, and I think that example of your meal is so good, because you’re right. Just taking a photo of a nice-looking lunch doesn’t really do anything for someone who’s looking. It’s like, “Oh, great. Love that for you,” but if you’re actually saying, “Here’s what a balanced plate looks like,” or, “This isn’t actually the most balanced plate, but it’s really delicious, and you don’t have to eat perfectly all the time to be healthy,” is also, you know, making sure the content’s relevant to them, whatever that might look like. And I guess one last question I wanna ask you is, how do practitioners become more confident? Are there any shortcuts, or is it a matter of just showing up consistently? What’s the secret?

Bec: I think it is starting to use it, so the fear of the unknown goes away. Because a lot of it, I think, is fear of the unknown, a little bit, as well. So, just start dipping your toe in a little bit, you know. You don’t have to do a post straight away. You might wanna do a little story, or share something that you’ve seen, that you think, you know, people who would be interested in how you work, you know, would be interested in as well. So, things like that. Just dip your toe in, and the more you dip your toe in and become more familiar with the platform, and more familiar with posting, you will find that you’ll become more, you know, over time, braver and braver with what you pop out there, and, you know, and how often you do it, and things like that too. So, I do think, start small, start with something that you can achieve, that you’re really comfortable with, and then just keep building on that. That would be what I would do.

Amie: Yeah, great advice. You can’t out-think…you can’t think your way to feeling confident.

Bec: No, unfortunately. That’d be nice.

Amie: What a shame. But I also like your guidance around just start with where you’re comfortable, start small, build upon that as you go, and then your confidence will grow. And I will just point out, too, for anyone who’s a bit worried about coming unstuck with the TGA, which is, of course, something we always have to be mindful of around making claims, is we did do a webinar, I feel like…I can’t remember if it was earlier this year or if it was last year, but we’ll put the link to it anyway, which talks about the regs, the regulatory considerations in our profession and our industry, and is a really wonderful resource if this is also a fear that you have around showing up and what you’re gonna say. If you watch that, you can get some really clear guidelines around what you should and shouldn’t be saying, or what could get you into trouble versus what is safe, I think would be, yeah, really helpful.

Well, Bec, that was just a lovely exploration around getting into social media, or up-leveling your social media game. So, whether you’re a new practitioner, thinking about venturing into socials for the very first time, or if you’re someone who’s maybe fallen off the marketing train, and feeling a little uninspired, I hope this has maybe given you a little bit of an energy boost to get into it. And I think if you’ve been struggling with it for any reason, in particular because of time, or feeling like it has to be a certain way, I hope that Bec has given you a big permission slip to actually just do it your way. Do it your way, and in a way that feels good for you. And, in terms of connecting with Bec, Bec actually does support practitioners with this. So, if you would like to get some support, rather than going on your own initially, you can find Bec on Instagram at @socialsforpractitioners. I will include a link to her account in the show notes, along with…she’s got a free challenge, actually, for practitioners, “Ease into Instagram,” and then, I’m not sure what the date is, but we’ll put the signup page for anyone who’s interested in maybe leveraging that, to kind of get unstuck, as far as socials go. And of course, there is other ways you can work with Bec as well. So, I will put that link in the show notes for you too. But, Bec, thank you again for taking us through really utilizing social media in a way that works for us in our business, whatever that looks like. We appreciate your time so much.

Bec: And I thank you so much for having me.

Amie: Absolute pleasure. And, to our listeners, thank you for joining us today. Remember, you can find all of the resources I mentioned in the show notes below, or on the Designs for Health Australian website. I’m Amie Skilton, and this is “Wellness by Designs.”