How to Grow Intentionally on Social Media

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Whether you’re connecting to new followers on Instagram or watching videos on TikTok, being intentional with how you spend your time on social media is the secret to success. Social media strategist and community leader Jenna Redfield shares how to tap into growth on social media.

Jenna Redfield is the leader of the Twin Cities Collective, the largest resource in the Twin Cities for bloggers, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and creatives. She is a well-known speaker, educator, and social media strategist.

Website // Instagram

The episode:

Katrina Widener: Hi, everyone. It's Katrina and I'm here today with Jenna Redfield. Jenna and I met several years ago... I want to say at the Twin Cities Collective party that one April, we had the blizzard? I don't know.

Jenna Redfield: I think we met before then. I don't know.

Katrina Widener: Definitely possible. But Jenna is the leader of the Twin Cities Collective, which is the largest resource in the Twin Cities for bloggers, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and creatives, which is why we know each other so well. I've been to a ton of her events. They do like networking events and I've been to your workshops beforehand. She's a well-known speaker, educator, and social media strategist. And she does both one-on-one work or has a series of classes online. So Jenna, thank you so much for being here today. I'm really excited to talk to you.

Jenna Redfield: Thank you for having me. I'm excited.

Katrina Widener: So today Jenna is talk to us a little bit about Instagram and TikTok and reels and all of that social media biz. So I know that you've talked about this in a lot of other podcasts before, but just to lay the groundwork, how did you get kind of started talking about social media in particular and really narrowing on that topic?

Jenna Redfield: Yeah. So I went to school for video production, so I really thought I was going to go and work in Hollywood and be a film editor. That was my dream all throughout college. And then I went out to LA and realized, "Oh, that's not what I want." And I was three years into college so I was like, crap. So basically I returned home for my senior year and thought, you know what? This was like 2013, 2014 so social media was like becoming a thing, but it still wasn't at the point where it is obviously now, Instagram was just getting started. Facebook had been around for many years, but social media marketing has a job, like was just starting to come out. So I at that time thought, you know what, I really want to go into social media marketing. I want to manage social for someone. So I graduated and had a really hard time finding a paid work because a lot of it was unpaid internships. And like they were getting 18 year olds working on social. And so I struggled for a couple of years working different jobs. And then around that time, I also started building my own businesses. And then over the years I realized, you know what, I can just teach social media to people. I like that so much more than actually managing it. And so basically Twin Cities Collective kind of became the big thing in my life. And we merged it together with, and actually Katrina helped me with this -- I don't know if you remember -- but I was like, I have two businesses and they were so separate and then I merged them together.

So there's all these things that I've been thinking about lately like niching down and like figuring out, okay, what exact content am I going to be talking about? And that's actually something I help some of my clients with is figuring out, okay, you have this business. Social media is a super huge topic. How do we break that down? Cause people are like, how do I grow on social media? I'm like, that is the worst question ever. There's, that's so there's so many answers to that. And I think, really figuring out what you want. That's what I help my clients figure out is a lot of times they're told something by someone who isn't in their industry or they're told by someone who maybe isn't an expert in it. So I think really digging through the crap of the internet and trying to figure out, okay what actually is important? Social media is important, but what about it is important? Are you trying to get more leads or you're trying to get more people on your email list? Are you trying to get more podcasts listeners? What's the goal because if you don't have a goal, social media is just noise.

Katrina Widener: Oh, totally. And I actually, I, now that you mention it, I do remember us having that conversation where it's like, why keep things separate when you can really I dunno, make it a little bit easier for yourself and everybody else.

Jenna Redfield: It was so separate! It also makes me realize I have a ton of interests. Like I am constantly curious. And so for me, I like launching. I like jump starting something new. So for me, being able to sustain something for a long time is actually a struggle. So I think for me, the fact that I've kept Twin Cities Collective alive for 4 years is crazy to me. Cause I'm like, that's great. But also wow, can't believe it.

Katrina Widener: Yeah, that's awesome. I also love what you were talking about with a lot of people show up on social media, but they don't really know what their goal is and what they're trying to actually accomplish with their, both with their account as a whole, but also specifically with like the content, the stories, or the posts, and all that kind of stuff. So what would you say is probably outside of finding out what your goal is one of the most important things for people to think about when it comes to social media or think about like how to be intentional about social media?

Jenna Redfield: I think it's you first of all have to figure out what your strengths are, because if you suck at remembering to post, then get a scheduler. If you struggle with coming up with ideas, go online and do some research. I think it's like figuring out where your weaknesses are and where your strengths are. Because for me, a lot of times it's sometimes I am like, Oh crap, what do I post? That's probably my biggest struggle. It's not once I get the idea, I can figure it out. I'll make a great graphic. Great caption, great hashtags. I have it already. But sometimes for me, it's the ideation step that sometimes I get stuck with. So I talk to my clients a lot about, okay where in the process do you get stuck? Because I think that's the thing if it's, I don't know the technical stuff, I don't know how to post that's something that could be taught once, but it's the stuff where it's the continuous, having to post every day or figuring out how often you can do it. What can you outsource? Are you good at photography or can you hire that out? Figuring out all those things cause there's so many parts to it is figuring out like what your, what systems work for you? How do you plan ahead? There's just so much to it that I think people get overwhelmed. And that's why I try to simplify it by coming up with whether it's an app or, an idea or a template or something that kind of can make it simpler for you. Because again, it's all about breaking it down, into the goal, like we mentioned and figuring out what's actually important to you. And what part of it do you actually like? Because social media should be fun. And a lot of people think of it as like stressful and I don't want it to be stressful. I want it to be an enjoyable experience. Otherwise hire it out. Cause it's you're not going to enjoy it at all.

Katrina Widener: Totally. I feel like this happens on every single podcast episode and every single time I'm like, "Katrina. Don't bring it up!" But here I am again, bringing it up, but it just is everything just goes back to alignment all the time to me. And I'm like you're talking about like, you need to figure out your goal. You need to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. You need to figure out what you like to do. I'm like alignment. Cause that's just like the way my brain works. But it also sounds like for you, especially, it's a lot of solving your client's problems and helping them first identify what they are and then work together to be like, okay, so this is the action or the strategy that you can implement in order to solve that problem.

Jenna Redfield: Yeah. A lot of it goes back to websites as well. A lot of people think of social media, but I'm like usually the worst part is the website. So it's like, if we're sending people from social media to your website and the website's terrible, you're really like taking away all the power that social media has. Some people don't have websites and so that's just their whole platform and I get that, but at the same time, having a website makes it so much easier. You can send them to a scheduler or you can have them. I can just have people purchase large coaching packages, right from that website. I can have them book a time with me. I think one of the things about Instagram is that Instagram tries to keep you on Instagram because they don't allow links. They are very much like same with Tik TOK. They want you to stay on the platform and basically what your goal is to get people off of Instagram however you're able to do that by sending them to your website. Our Best Of Awards is a great example of that. We got like thousands of people go into my website that day. And so that was successful for me. And I was able to track that, but I think figuring out like your goals for example, if Katrina's posting about the podcast, her goal is to get people to get off of Instagram, click onto her website, and quickly find that link to the podcast. I actually had a client recently who has a podcast, and when I clicked on her link, the podcast was not listed at all. So like they had all the links to the stuff they talked about in the podcast, but at the very bottom was a link to the website, not to the actual Spotify and Apple links. So really figuring out like, Okay. How thinking from the perspective of the person coming to your website, what are they wanting to find and how to make it super easy for them? So really figuring that steps out first, before you actually get to the social. So it's almost like you have to go backwards and figure out the end goal before you start with social, which is usually the first step of how people find you.

Katrina Widener: I love that way of explaining it, because I do think that oftentimes people get super overwhelmed when they're thinking about social media and all they think about it as I just need to post, I just need to post and then they put out a picture and maybe they're like, "Oh, hey , I have this new service come buy from me." And then they wonder why they're not making any sales.

Jenna Redfield: I totally agree with this. I always say it's like, if you're just posting random stuff, it's worthless because you're just posting to post. And that's the thing is every post should have a purpose because whether it's to get some likes or to get maybe some new followers, that's a purpose, but if it's just a post to just be like, "Hey, what's up?" That's not interesting enough. You're not going to get any likes and comments. The posts that do the best for me are the ones people are able to share. So quotes, that kind of stuff. Or they're able to laugh at, so it's entertaining. So you have to put them into like categories of okay, if I saw this post, would I like it? Would I share it? You have to think about it from that perspective. And is it worth sharing? Or if it's not, post it on your story. If it's not worth the feed, post on your story cause it'll disappear in 24 hours. So I think it's really just figuring out what kind of content works by looking at your analytics, figuring out what kind of posts help actually bring you towards your goal.

And now there's a ton of stuff with videos and reels and TikToks and video is my background. So I dunno why it took me so long to join TikTok I think I had the same things everyone else was thinking was like, Oh, it's just a fad. It's going to die off. I had seen it with Vine. Like I did, I was on Vine and I watched ines and then it died and I'm like, I don't want that same thing to happen with TikTok. But once I joined it, I was like, this is different than Vine. Like it's a lot bigger. It's a lot more dynamic. It's not just comedy videos like Vine was, it's definitely a ton of things. And the virality effect is so much bigger than it ever was on Vine. The number of users just in general is insane compared to Vine. It's yet another thing people have to learn, but I don't think vertical videos are going anywhere.

Katrina Widener: So when it comes to like Reels or TikTok, I know that a lot of people can get overwhelmed or get intimidated maybe is the better way to describe it. What kind of advice would you give to them?

Jenna Redfield: I would say go with trends because all you have to do is recreate something. You don't really have to do anything yourself. Obviously, maybe tweak it a little bit to your industry or niche, but it's actually really easy. I just use an app called InShot. It just makes it more dynamic than just doing a story where you have to hold it the whole time. Just start watching them. That's really, my number one thing is start watching reels or TikTok and see start making notes. I bookmark everything. I'm like, "Oh, I, maybe I'll come back to this and figure out a way I can do it myself." So start doing some research, look at people in your own industry. What are they doing? Over the last few months they're really pushing reels. So if you share reels, you will get a ton more views. There's another reason why also is they share it to the general public. So if you're just swiping through reels, you will be seeing random reels of people that you don't know. That's how TikTok works too. And that's why people can blow up so fast is you're being shown to people that don't know you when you're on Instagram. Usually you're shown to people that are following a specific hashtag or following you. And that's it. That's how you get discovered. But the discoverability aspect of both TikTok and Reels is insane because they're showing your reels to people that aren't following you. So there's a much higher chance that you'll get some new followers than any other way on Instagram.

Katrina Widener: I will even say I've done a couple of reels. I haven't done any lately, but like even the very first one I did, I was just trying to play around with it. One of the things that oftentimes people love my content is when I share about my cat on Instagram and people will ask me, like how he is he doing? Like all of this stuff. So my very first real was a bunch of videos that I had compiled of my cat. And I got new people who are just like, "Oh my gosh, he's so sweet." And they followed me just because of that. I've had reels that have gotten thousands and thousands of views, which I'm sure you have as well. So I will like 100% back you up and be like, yeah.

Jenna Redfield: And also strike while the iron is hot, because reels are not going to be hot forever. I do think they are here to stay. I think I haven't heard anything about "Oh, it's going to go away." I think that this is the future of Instagram and if you think about it, LinkedIn just launched stories. I share my TikToks to LinkedIn stories. I Twitter just launched stories. They're called fleets, like tweets, but fleets. And so every single app. I'm not kidding. Snapchat. All of them have vertical story, 15 to 3 second things. And so if you can make content for TikTok and Reels share it everywhere. Think about the content being something that you'd want to share on LinkedIn or something you'd want to share on Pinterest. Oh my gosh. Pinterest is crazy. There's so much videos now. Vertical videos on Pinterest. I see so many TikToks on Pinterest now because they're so easy to save. So I think anyone that hasn't done vertical videos, whether it's stories even just to get started, I think you're missing out because that is where the eyeballs are right now.

Katrina Widener: I 100% agree because the thing is that I feel like oftentimes we don't utilize much social media outside of Instagram. And when Instagram makes moves, in some ways it alerts the other social media platforms to pay attention. And this is definitely something that could be growing. But anyway, for our very last question, what is one thing that you would tell the listeners that they could do or something that's easily implementable for them to walk away from this podcast interview and actually go and take like an immediate action.

Jenna Redfield: I think one of the things that you should start with is just talking to the camera as a real if you're used to doing that on stories, there's a new app called Threads by Instagram, which I don't know if you've heard of, but basically it adds this auto captioning option so that you can have the voice text automatically add it. It's really cool cause you can also use the Instagram filters. So it's an app by Instagram. So download that, it's free and then just start. Giving three tips to your audience about something in your niche and post that as a reel, it doesn't have to have music. I have never had music on my stories so I think they're pushing reels that don't have music just as much. So I would do this, start giving some tips. I also would invest in a ring light. I have one sitting right next to me. And it's 30 bucks and it helps you look so much better. You can put your phone in it so you can just let it sit there. I think that's just a great investment in general for anyone. And that's what I would do is just come up with a video sharing three tips and post it on reels and maybe on TikTok and see what happens.

Katrina Widener: I love that so much and I think that's very important because oftentimes people are like, but what do I do? What do I talk about? And you just got to start. Starting and jumping into it is the hardest . And then once you get started, it is going to be so much easier. But anyway, thank you so much, Jenna, for being on here. I love talking about social media and I know that you could talk about it for hours so. But anyway do you want to let everyone know where they can find you?

Jenna Redfield: Yeah, you can find me either at Jenna Redfield or at Twin CitiesCollective also that's our website, twicitiescollective.com. Join our Facebook group if you're in the Twin Cities.

Katrina Widener: All right. Thank you so much, Jenna.

Jenna Redfield: Thanks.