Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Your Instagram isn't a Beauty Contest (It's a Business Tool!)

Transcript

Your Instagram isn't a Beauty Contest (It's a Business Tool!) · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. I am making today's recording at
• 0:05
  an undisclosed location, but yes, I'm outside.
• 0:07
  So you're going to get some interruptions in the background.
• 0:10
  Now, this is your first time of listening to the podcast.
• 0:13
  The goal of this show is free business education.
• 0:15
  So I'm not here to tell you about my whereabouts.
• 0:18
  So if you're looking for those sorts of things, sales,
• 0:20
  marketing, business generally, Shah, you are in the right
• 0:23
  place. And when you're done, please
• 0:25
  share, promote and talk about the show so that your friends
• 0:28
  and family members in Nigeria and abroad can benefit from the
• 0:31
  questions that we tackle. They can do that by subscribing
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  on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of their choice.
• 0:38
  And you, dear listener, the person who is listening now or
• 0:41
  you have discovered the show right now, if you have any sales
• 0:43
  and marketing questions by the time we're done, then bring them
• 0:46
  to me. Don't be scared.
• 0:48
  You can call, you can SMS, you can WhatsApp to 08064662140.
• 0:55
  Now today on the show, I'm going to be treating a question from
• 1:00
  someone who belongs to a WhatsApp community, that I
• 1:03
  belong to a mutual WhatsApp community.
• 1:05
  And the WhatsApp community is built around point.
• 1:08
  Sorry, I say point podcasting. Yeah, podcasting and voice
• 1:13
  acting. That's where the mistake
• 1:14
  happened. I need to say podcasting and
• 1:15
  voice at the same time. So podcasting and voice acting.
• 1:20
  So it's an on, it's a WhatsApp community.
• 1:23
  Now there are some of us who are trying to make a living in
• 1:26
  Nigeria and different parts of the world by using our voice, by
• 1:30
  using our skills behind the microphone.
• 1:32
  And so that's the reason why I joined the community because,
• 1:35
  well, I'm not really a podcaster per SE, because one of the
• 1:39
  people in the group person told me that little guy, you're not a
• 1:41
  podcaster. What you do is you just record
• 1:43
  voice notes and you put them on the Internet and you give it a
• 1:45
  title and it's like a nice one, nice one, correct.
• 1:48
  So yeah, I'm not really a podcaster.
• 1:50
  I just create voice notes and I throw them up on the Internet
• 1:52
  and I put a title. So actually what I do is I am a
• 1:57
  business consultant. I do sales and coaching and I
• 2:00
  help with strategy and applications, You know, when
• 2:04
  people are trying to figure out how is that I'm going to grow my
• 2:07
  business. Those are the sorts of problems
• 2:08
  that I solve. And then I use the podcast
• 2:11
  primarily to drum up business. So because of that, now I woke
• 2:16
  up one day and I said that's to be a community of other people
• 2:19
  that are like me. Let me join this community.
• 2:21
  Let me learn from them. And that's the benefit of
• 2:23
  joining these sorts of communities.
• 2:25
  So if you haven't joined one of these communities, I think in my
• 2:28
  last episode, I, I spoke about joining LinkedIn groups, you
• 2:31
  know, things like that. So whether you're on Facebook,
• 2:33
  LinkedIn, whatever, you know, reach out, you join some of
• 2:36
  these communities, you, you learn a thing or two.
• 2:38
  It's nice to know what your peers, other people in the space
• 2:41
  are doing to drum up their business or improve their craft
• 2:44
  so that you can do the same thing.
• 2:46
  So that's how I joined this group and it's the APVA, that's
• 2:50
  the association of professional voice over something podcasting,
• 2:55
  you know, whatever APVA. So podcasters, voice actors,
• 3:01
  radio show hosts, you know, ordering.
• 3:04
  So somebody threw up a question in the group.
• 3:08
  So one more. Let me open the message now.
• 3:10
  Let me read this. Let me read the question of
• 3:12
  everything. So this was the message.
• 3:14
  This was the question. So the lady said good evening
• 3:19
  fam, I need your honest advice on something.
• 3:23
  So I have two Instagram accounts and I'm trying to figure out
• 3:27
  which one to focus on professionally as I build my
• 3:30
  brand as an actor, writer, host, and podcaster.
• 3:35
  One of the accounts has 301 followers.
• 3:39
  It has more engagement bracket, better views and reactions, and
• 3:44
  it carries most of my major milestones like my podcast
• 3:47
  launch, my nomination and award, my hosting job last year, and
• 3:52
  the advocacy content for boy child and men's mental health.
• 3:57
  Also my graduation from the film Academy.
• 4:01
  But the issue is it is not well organized, the feed looks
• 4:06
  scattered and lacks a proper structure or visual
• 4:09
  cohesiveness. It feels like a personal
• 4:12
  archive, not a professional portfolio, and it has a very
• 4:16
  slow growth rate. The second account has 384
• 4:22
  followers. It is.
• 4:23
  It used to be my business page, but I've been thinking of
• 4:26
  turning it into my main professional account.
• 4:29
  Something more clean, structured and intentional.
• 4:33
  My plan was to build my brand from the ground up on that page
• 4:36
  with proper visuals and storytelling, but it currently
• 4:39
  doesn't have the past content and engagement, and engagement
• 4:43
  isn't great yet, but it has a rapid growth rate than the
• 4:46
  other. So I'm torn.
• 4:49
  Should I go back and restructure the old 301 account even if it
• 4:53
  looks scattered now, since it already has my history and
• 4:57
  engagement? Or do I start afresh and build
• 5:00
  the 384 account into something fresh, organized, and
• 5:04
  intentional, even if it doesn't yet carry my past efforts?
• 5:07
  Or is there a way I can migrate the posts from the old 301
• 5:12
  followers to the new 384 followers?
• 5:16
  I would love your thoughts. I really want to make a decision
• 5:19
  that supports my long term growth.
• 5:22
  Thank you. So that was a message, very long
• 5:25
  message. But then even though she was not
• 5:28
  trying to ask for sales, you know, some principles still
• 5:31
  apply If you're in a group and you're trying to get some help.
• 5:35
  If you want people to answer your question, you know, just
• 5:38
  get straight to the point. If it's too long, everybody's
• 5:40
  going to read and proffer solutions because you know that
• 5:45
  everybody has their own horseshoe.
• 5:46
  Everybody has the thing that is on their head.
• 5:48
  So you want an an honest response.
• 5:51
  Just keep the question short. And then on a side note, when
• 5:54
  you're a member of a community, I would advise that you try to
• 5:57
  give value first in the community before you start
• 6:00
  asking for stuff because I see that a lot.
• 6:02
  Some people join the community and then it's always oh, me, me,
• 6:04
  me, me, me. I need this.
• 6:05
  I need this, me, me, me, me, me, me.
• 6:07
  As in like when you enter a community, first of all, sit
• 6:10
  down, see what's going on, survey the land.
• 6:12
  Then you now try and be of value.
• 6:15
  That's the reason why some of these groups, you notice some
• 6:18
  people say, oh, I need this, I'm trying to hook up this.
• 6:20
  And then people rush and they support.
• 6:21
  And then there's some other people that say, oh, I need
• 6:23
  this, I need this. Everybody's just quiet, you
• 6:25
  know, come and say they're doing favoritism or tribalism or
• 6:28
  whatever. No, no, no, it's not tribalism.
• 6:29
  It's just that the other people, when they get involved in the
• 6:31
  community, are trying to deliver value first.
• 6:34
  So when everybody sees her arching, they do need something.
• 6:36
  Or cheer maker, she needs something.
• 6:38
  You know, people chip in because they know that.
• 6:40
  OK, You know, we've been seeing how we've been seeing him like
• 6:43
  he's a correct guy. She's a correct babe.
• 6:45
  Where do I take her? Nobody will say pim.
• 6:48
  And in this case, to be honest, nobody said pim.
• 6:52
  That's how the message just remained so too long and
• 6:56
  probably hasn't been delivering enough value in the group.
• 6:58
  So just one side note when you enter these groups, then let's
• 7:03
  see what else. OK, some of you I said it's
• 7:05
  female, but some of you will say, ah, but the person said my
• 7:07
  brand has a as an actor. So just to let you guys know
• 7:11
  that yes, actually in the the old way of talking about it, you
• 7:15
  just used to say actor for either party.
• 7:18
  So when I was in primary school not long ago, yes, the term used
• 7:23
  to be used interchangeably. By the time I was entering into
• 7:25
  secondary square, I noticed that people now started saying actor
• 7:27
  and actress, you know, But growing up, I just knew actor
• 7:32
  only. So, yeah.
• 7:35
  So yes, we're still dealing with a female.
• 7:38
  All right. Now, in this case, let's go
• 7:40
  straight now into the nitty gritty.
• 7:42
  So in the summary now, and I'm sure obviously you've seen the
• 7:45
  reason why I want us to tackle this question today is because
• 7:47
  lots of us are trying to grow our business using Instagram and
• 7:51
  we face some of these issues. I have two 3-4 accounts.
• 7:56
  One account engagement is high, the other account the engagement
• 7:59
  is rubbish. But on the one that The thing is
• 8:02
  high, I've been talking about this.
• 8:04
  On the one that The thing is low, I've been talking about
• 8:06
  this. What is the way forward?
• 8:07
  What should I do? Which Instagram handle should I
• 8:12
  pay more attention to to boost my business?
• 8:14
  So these are questions that we ask ourselves all the time.
• 8:17
  So the person I was asking this question, she wanted to, there
• 8:21
  are a couple of questions that she wanted answers #1 Which
• 8:25
  Instagram account should she focus on professionally for her
• 8:29
  brand as an actor, writer, host and podcaster?
• 8:32
  That's the number one question. These two accounts which one
• 8:35
  should I focus on #2 she wanted to know should she restructure
• 8:41
  the existing three O one account?
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  When I say 3 O one account one that she has 201 followers,
• 8:46
  should she restructure that three O one account?
• 8:49
  It has more engagement and more milestones.
• 8:52
  But The thing is the account is disorganized.
• 8:55
  So she wants to know should I restructure it?
• 8:57
  Should I clean it up? Should I make it nicer?
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  Then another question is that other account, one that is 384
• 9:05
  that is growing rapidly but has poor engagement, should I build
• 9:14
  up that one even though it's growing fast but there's no
• 9:17
  engagement? Then she now wanted to know is
• 9:20
  there a way to migrate posts or migrate followers from the three
• 9:23
  O 1 to the 384? And she wants to know basically
• 9:26
  which decisions would be best to support her long term growth.
• 9:31
  Now, as usual, whenever I'm tackling any of these questions,
• 9:33
  I come at it from a sales and business development
• 9:35
  perspective. So if any of you reach out to me
• 9:37
  in the future and you have these kind of questions like, oh, I
• 9:39
  have this Instagram handle, I have this TikTok handle, but
• 9:43
  this handle is performing better than that handle.
• 9:45
  This one has better engagement that I don't know.
• 9:48
  Which one should I pay more attention to?
• 9:49
  Which one should I grow? Which one should I kill?
• 9:51
  I will always answer these questions from a sales and
• 9:54
  business development perspective.
• 9:58
  Which one is going to help with sales?
• 10:00
  Which one is going to help with business development?
• 10:03
  Which one is going to help with the kind of traction that would
• 10:05
  eventually lead to sales or opportunities where we can have
• 10:10
  selling and business conversations That is going to
• 10:13
  be my guiding like when I'm tackling these sorts of
• 10:15
  questions. So let's see, let's see, let's
• 10:21
  see all I put this now. OK, so now if I want to look at
• 10:27
  long term growth, whatever this lady does, or in this situation,
• 10:32
  whatever it is that you do, remember one thing.
• 10:38
  If the point of your Instagram handle is to monetize engagement
• 10:44
  in the future, remember, if this is the point, I'm trying to get
• 10:50
  money from the engagement. Because if your goal is
• 10:53
  different, if your goal is you're trying to preach a
• 10:55
  particular gospel, then all this advice does not apply.
• 10:58
  But if the goal is you want to get money from the engagement on
• 11:02
  your Instagram handle, then what you should be doing is you have
• 11:06
  to nurture the handle between these two, 3 or 4.
• 11:10
  You have to nurture the one that has the relevant audience.
• 11:15
  Let me repeat. If the goal is to get money from
• 11:20
  this Instagram handle because you are selling something, in
• 11:24
  this case she is selling podcasting, public speaking,
• 11:28
  acting, all those things, she needs to nurture the one that
• 11:31
  has the relevant audience. That is the beginning.
• 11:35
  It's not about how clean the handle is or the you know is
• 11:39
  where is the relevant audience that I'm selling something to?
• 11:43
  Because you can't sell something to an irrelevant audience, no
• 11:49
  matter how large it is. You can have a large audience,
• 11:54
  but if it is irrelevant to your purposes, what you do, what
• 11:58
  you're trying to sell, you cannot sell anything to them.
• 12:01
  You cannot monetize Shishi. So the beginning is when I am
• 12:06
  looking at these Instagram accounts and I'm looking at the
• 12:09
  things that I'm trying to sell, where is the relevant audience?
• 12:17
  If you have a community online on Instagram or Facebook groups
• 12:20
  or whatever, and group has 5 million people, but the thing
• 12:25
  that joins them is all of them like French cuisine.
• 12:28
  They like French food, and they're gathered because of
• 12:31
  French food. But you are a chef and your
• 12:34
  specialty is epic cuisine. There is a problem because once
• 12:41
  in a while you'll be talking about options on the menu that
• 12:44
  has dork that has dork meat. The problem is people who like
• 12:49
  French cuisine, if they see bingo on the menu, they will
• 12:52
  think it is a violation of animal rights.
• 12:59
  So if you have two groups, one is 5 million strong, but they
• 13:04
  like French cuisine. The other one is only 5000
• 13:09
  strong but is built around ethic cuisine.
• 13:12
  If you are a chef who is selling ethic cookery and once in a
• 13:17
  while you have diog meat on the menu, then please focus on the
• 13:21
  one that has 5000 followers, not on the 5 million.
• 13:29
  The only way to monetize the 5,000,001, especially since
• 13:32
  they're gathered around French cuisine, is if you switch your
• 13:35
  business model and you now start trying to sell French stuff or
• 13:41
  else it's not going to work. So this is what I mean by the
• 13:45
  relevance of the audience is the main thing, not the size.
• 13:52
  So is there a match between what you're selling and what they're
• 13:55
  interested in? That is what will determine
• 13:58
  where you focus. Now the next question is, is
• 14:01
  there a way to migrate posts or migrate followers from the three
• 14:04
  O 1 to the 384 and blah, blah blah.
• 14:06
  Sorry, but the answer is no, you can't migrate followers.
• 14:11
  There's not how you cashew followers from one account to
• 14:13
  another. However, you can download all
• 14:16
  the data that you have on one account and use it for research
• 14:20
  for sales and marketing purposes.
• 14:22
  Now I don't know how to do that, but I remember that when I was
• 14:24
  trying to delete all my Instagram handles, I noticed
• 14:27
  that there was a page that I said download data and I thought
• 14:29
  that's interesting. But anyway, I didn't download
• 14:32
  the data. So if you fool around, well, if
• 14:35
  it's important to you, just ask, maybe we can hook up on the
• 14:38
  phone call and try and figure this thing out.
• 14:40
  But we can figure out where there's a way that you can
• 14:42
  download the data. Now, when I've seen it myself, I
• 14:45
  didn't do it, but I've seen it. So you can download your data,
• 14:47
  use it for sales and marketing purposes.
• 14:49
  In the future. There might be some insights
• 14:51
  there that will turn might be valuable Now when it comes to
• 14:57
  migrating posts. I don't know about now actually.
• 15:01
  But back in the good old days while I was still on Instagram,
• 15:05
  if you had one post on one page and the exact same post on the
• 15:08
  other page, you know, there was debate about whether it helped
• 15:12
  with the growth of the posts that maybe LinkedIn, sorry, I
• 15:16
  said LinkedIn that Instagram would look at it as is the same
• 15:19
  thing. And so it's not going to push it
• 15:20
  out all that much. So I'm not sure what the state
• 15:25
  is because, yeah, it's possible that you can just take some
• 15:28
  images and repost on the other account.
• 15:32
  Bernie, that's not my area of specialty, but sure, I know that
• 15:37
  as of 2025, let's say you're listening to this and the year
• 15:41
  is 2087, maybe Instagram has made some changes, but in 2025,
• 15:45
  you can't migrate followers. Your followers on one account
• 15:48
  are your followers, full stop. Then let's move up to the next
• 15:52
  question. Question is, should she build
• 15:55
  the 384 follower account because it has more followers?
• 16:00
  Apart from that, the thing seems to be growing rapidly but The
• 16:04
  thing is lacking engagement. Pay attention.
• 16:08
  Even though the 3841, the followership is higher and The
• 16:14
  thing is growing quickly, but engagement, it means people are
• 16:19
  not watching, people are not liking, people are not sharing,
• 16:24
  people are not commenting. What that means is lots of
• 16:28
  people are jumping on, but they are not really interested in the
• 16:33
  content. And eventually it affects the
• 16:37
  algorithm. It affects deliverability in the
• 16:39
  future. Because if Instagram sees that
• 16:42
  lots of people are rushing to your page, but then when they
• 16:45
  get there, they do absolutely nothing.
• 16:47
  They don't watch, they don't like, they don't share, they
• 16:51
  don't comment. The algorithm will think OK,
• 16:55
  this content is not valuable and it will not show it to other
• 17:00
  people. That is a thing that this lady
• 17:03
  has not realized. Now yes, this other one has more
• 17:06
  people and The thing is growing, but the engagement is 0.
• 17:11
  It is a bad sign and eventually it will cause things to slow
• 17:14
  down because these people are not engaging.
• 17:19
  Instagram is going to show the handle and the content less and
• 17:22
  less and less. So in my own opinion, switching
• 17:26
  to one that has a higher audience, even though you know
• 17:29
  that engagement is 0, is a very bad idea 'cause remember, at the
• 17:34
  end of the day, we are trying to sell something.
• 17:37
  We are trying to promote something.
• 17:38
  We will not have the opportunity to sell or to promote.
• 17:41
  If engagement is 0, if people are not watching, if they are
• 17:45
  not sharing, if they are not commenting, if they are not
• 17:49
  sliding into DM, then what's the point?
• 17:54
  So on restructuring the 301 follower account which has more
• 17:59
  engagement, please pay attention.
• 18:02
  More engagement. That means on the three O 1 on
• 18:04
  the smaller handle, people are watching, people are liking,
• 18:09
  people are sharing, people are sliding into DM, people are
• 18:14
  engaging. The problem is just that she
• 18:18
  thinks it is disorganized. That's what's giving her
• 18:21
  heartache. But please, from a sales and
• 18:24
  business development perspective, or I know that it
• 18:27
  is somehow to have an Instagram handle and the thing doesn't
• 18:29
  look sweet. It doesn't look nice.
• 18:31
  Especially for those of us who are creative.
• 18:33
  We want everything to look sound, you know, very appealing,
• 18:36
  very nice. But from a sales and business
• 18:39
  development perspective, the main thing here is engagement.
• 18:43
  That is all should be paying attention to.
• 18:45
  So The thing is not growing. Yes, we are mid and the number
• 18:49
  of people here is smaller. Yes, we admit, but the
• 18:52
  engagement is high. The people who are here, they
• 18:55
  are watching, they are viewing, they are liking, they are
• 18:58
  sharing, they are sliding into your DM.
• 19:03
  Engagement is high from a sales and business development
• 19:06
  perspective. When engagement is high, you are
• 19:08
  on the right track. Please listen.
• 19:12
  When engagement is high, you are on the right track.
• 19:15
  Your neighbor might have a bigger restaurant than you and
• 19:18
  500,000 people go to his restaurant, you know, every
• 19:22
  year. But of the 500,000 people that
• 19:25
  go, if 80% of them leave and never come back, he's only
• 19:29
  retaining 20. He is not on the right track for
• 19:32
  you, it seems somehow because you're looking at the big
• 19:35
  restaurant, you're looking at all the cars that are coming
• 19:37
  through Jeep today, bench tomorrow, this and this that and
• 19:41
  that. You'll be feeling somehow if you
• 19:43
  have your own small restaurant, you're not getting 500,000
• 19:46
  people every year. You're only getting 100,000.
• 19:49
  But over that 100,000, your retention is 95%.
• 19:53
  That means people are coming back and eating over and over
• 19:56
  and over again. It does not look like it now,
• 19:59
  but actually right now you are the one who is in a better
• 20:01
  position. Your engagement is higher, your
• 20:03
  retention is higher. So that means that when you have
• 20:06
  the money to expand to other locations.
• 20:09
  To add your menu, to open in another state, to open another
• 20:13
  local government, you will end up doing Better Business because
• 20:17
  your retention, your engagement, the metrics that matter, your
• 20:21
  own is high. So from a sales and business
• 20:24
  development perspective, these are the things that we are
• 20:26
  paying attention to. Social media are people
• 20:29
  watching, liking, sharing, sliding into DM.
• 20:33
  If they are, you're on the right track.
• 20:35
  Even if you only have 10 followers, you're on the right
• 20:38
  track because if you're doing it well when you have 10 followers,
• 20:43
  eventually when you go to 500 followers to 1000 followers, you
• 20:47
  will still do it well. So let's be paying attention to
• 20:50
  the metrics that matter. Then in our case, like I said,
• 20:58
  it's content. There are services that she's
• 21:00
  selling on the content. She's selling voice acting,
• 21:03
  she's selling podcasting. So having an engaged and not
• 21:07
  short audience is all make it easy for her to monetize in the
• 21:10
  future. The higher Instagram handle.
• 21:14
  She admits that yes, there's nothing there about voice
• 21:18
  acting. There's nothing there about her
• 21:20
  coaching, There's nothing there about her acting.
• 21:23
  So why you, why pay attention to that one?
• 21:27
  The people who are there, the reason why they gather there.
• 21:30
  Well, anyway, you know, she just read in the group, but it was a
• 21:33
  private coaching session between me and her.
• 21:35
  You know, I would have, I would have asked.
• 21:38
  OK, that big one. Then what exactly are you
• 21:40
  talking about over there? If you're not gathered around
• 21:43
  the thing that you're trying to sell, then please stop wasting
• 21:47
  your time. But however, here are some
• 21:49
  interesting things to consider. And this is one of the reasons
• 21:52
  why I tell creatives, and I'm talking to creatives now, if
• 21:56
  you're a photographer, you're a painter, you're a video person,
• 21:59
  you're a fashion designer, you are a sculptor, you are a, you
• 22:03
  know, creatives, creative, creative creatives.
• 22:06
  We spend a lot of time focusing on the wrong thing.
• 22:10
  Let me give you an example. In this case, the lady is pining
• 22:15
  over to Instagram accounts. Do the math.
• 22:18
  What's the difference? The difference between both
• 22:21
  accounts is only 73 people. I repeat 73.
• 22:25
  Only 73 people. That is what all this emotional
• 22:28
  heartbreak is about, 73 people. The difference in the accounts
• 22:32
  is not 7000 people. It's not 700 people.
• 22:36
  It's not 7 million people. It is only 73 people and the 73
• 22:42
  people self, they are not even engaged.
• 22:46
  They are not engaging, they are not liking, they are not
• 22:48
  watching, they are not viewing, they are not sharing, they are
• 22:52
  not sliding into DM. Why would you go through the
• 22:55
  mental anguish and the mental strain of worrying about 73
• 22:59
  people who are not even engaging with your content?
• 23:01
  What's the point sometimes you creatives who are paying
• 23:05
  attention to too many vanity stuff, it's not even worth the
• 23:11
  mental strain. For me it's a non issue.
• 23:13
  The account that has all the engagement.
• 23:15
  Focus on that account because the other one it only has 73
• 23:20
  people more and the other one people are not even engaging.
• 23:24
  It's a no brainer in my own opinion.
• 23:26
  If you're selling the voice acting, the podcasting, the
• 23:29
  coaching, the whatever. If I go and delete the other
• 23:31
  accounts, the higher one, you're putting your energy in two
• 23:36
  places. You're wasting your time.
• 23:38
  It's not worth the stress. Then creatives, we focus too
• 23:43
  much on fanbase. It's not about fanbase.
• 23:47
  It's about huge bank account. I repeat, creatives, please wake
• 23:52
  up. It's not about a fanbase.
• 23:54
  It's about a huge bank account. Like creatives we talk about.
• 23:57
  Oh, this was a good movie. It opened to critical acclaim.
• 23:59
  Which one is critical acclaim? I need some critical cash in my
• 24:03
  bank. In my bank account.
• 24:05
  Is it critical? I came.
• 24:06
  I claimed I'll pay for my children's school fees because,
• 24:10
  you know, we're dropping movies on Netflix and things like that.
• 24:12
  And people are like, oh, and this movie sold more, but this
• 24:15
  one has has better critical acclaim.
• 24:18
  Well, is it critical acclaim that I would shop?
• 24:22
  What's the point if there are two movie directors, one movie
• 24:25
  director every time he drops something.
• 24:27
  Ah, critical acclaim, critical acclaim, critical acclaim, win
• 24:30
  award up and down. But then sales is 0 and then the
• 24:33
  other person, no critical acclaim, no awards.
• 24:36
  But then the person is cashing out 1,000,000 billions in the
• 24:40
  bank account. I'd rather be the second fellow.
• 24:43
  But of course the truth is somewhere in the middle.
• 24:45
  We should be creating art that we are proud of and that people
• 24:48
  can speak highly of. And there's no point in being a
• 24:52
  painter, you know, if you're going to be a rubbish painter.
• 24:55
  So yes, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
• 24:57
  But please, creatives, let's stop focusing on how many people
• 25:00
  like us. It's not about how many people
• 25:03
  like us, it's about how many people pay us.
• 25:08
  It's not about how many people like us, it's about how many
• 25:10
  people are paying us. So it's not the huge fan base,
• 25:13
  but it's the huge bank account. Creatives, please, let's, let's
• 25:16
  focus on the main things, on the right things.
• 25:20
  We have bills to pay. You have to fix your car.
• 25:24
  You have to pay house rent. Your children need school fees.
• 25:27
  Your wife's birthday is coming up.
• 25:30
  Your boyfriend's birthday is coming up.
• 25:33
  You haven't seen mums in a while.
• 25:35
  You have to travel to the village.
• 25:37
  Your siblings are in Australia. You haven't seen them in five
• 25:40
  years. Would be nice to travel to
• 25:41
  Australia, go and see your nephews and your nieces.
• 25:46
  You haven't made any contribution in church in the
• 25:48
  last seven years. Would be nice to drop something
• 25:51
  in the coffer. Or you're a Muslim, you will
• 25:55
  have building, you know, a new mosque in another location.
• 25:59
  You haven't contributed anything.
• 26:00
  Will be nice to send something into the bank account.
• 26:05
  It's not about fan base, it's about the bank account.
• 26:08
  Please. So creatives, let's be focusing,
• 26:10
  please. So to get a huge bank account,
• 26:14
  since that's the goal, we need a highly engaged and nurtured
• 26:19
  audience. I repeat, a highly engaged and
• 26:21
  nurtured audience. Those are the things you should
• 26:24
  be tracking on Instagram. Our followership count is nice,
• 26:28
  it is good, but so long as engagement is high, we are on
• 26:33
  the right track on Instagram. On social media, as long as
• 26:37
  there's a way we can nurture the audience we already have, we are
• 26:41
  on the right track. So I repeat again, in case we
• 26:45
  haven't gotten it, clearly there's no point in having 5
• 26:49
  million followers on Instagram and engagement is 0.
• 26:55
  You're better off having several 100 followers on Instagram but
• 26:58
  then your engagement is off the roof.
• 27:00
  You will have a chance of selling something to the 700
• 27:03
  than selling something to the 7 million.
• 27:05
  And apart from that, you keep doing a good job.
• 27:08
  Over time, the 700 account will grow to 900, grow to 1000, grow
• 27:15
  to 2000, grow to 3000. But if you hack this whole thing
• 27:19
  of engagement and nurturing the audience, then as the account is
• 27:22
  growing and you're getting better chances to sell to
• 27:26
  promote something, the revenues will also increase.
• 27:31
  Business is not a popularity contest.
• 27:33
  Creatives, please listen. Business is not a popularity
• 27:36
  contest. Then your Instagram does not
• 27:41
  have to be pretty. It doesn't have to be elegant.
• 27:45
  Creatives, your Instagram does not have to be pretty.
• 27:49
  It was based on prettiness. People that are popping off
• 27:52
  right now are making money, would not be popping off and
• 27:55
  making money. So yeah, if you wanted to be
• 27:58
  pretty, yeah, do your thing, make it pretty.
• 28:00
  But please, what you're checking is not your own subjective
• 28:03
  standard of prettiness and elegance.
• 28:06
  What we should be checking is how engaged the audience is.
• 28:11
  Now the reason why I'm pointing this out is because some people
• 28:13
  change the Instagram handle until it gets pretty, but then
• 28:17
  things become quiet and then they're confused.
• 28:20
  If you're tracking the engagement as you're making
• 28:23
  changes, I see that engagement is dropping.
• 28:25
  Please stop. Anything that you do that is
• 28:28
  affecting your engagement, please stop.
• 28:31
  If you're making it prettier and prettier but then less people
• 28:34
  are liking, sharing, sliding into DMS, commenting, then stop.
• 28:39
  Please. Because yes, if I did, what
• 28:43
  happened to me in my photography career, at some point I thought
• 28:46
  everything was not alright. I wanted everything to have a
• 28:48
  very uniform look. I took down all the old pictures
• 28:52
  overnight, Yeah, deleted everything.
• 28:54
  And I put up a new set that I thought made sense based on my
• 28:58
  own artistic sensibilities. And the engagement just crashed.
• 29:03
  Yeah, people stopped liking, stopped sharing, stopped sliding
• 29:10
  into my DM because I wanted to make my Instagram prettier.
• 29:16
  It's not about pretty, it's about engagement.
• 29:20
  So remember when you're in this situation that the decisions
• 29:25
  we're making here, we are making business decisions here.
• 29:31
  We're not just making aesthetic decisions without social media
• 29:36
  aesthetics. You know, it just means, you
• 29:37
  know, which one is fine, which one is sweet, which one is
• 29:40
  smooth, which one is correct. Those are not the decisions
• 29:43
  we're making here for people like my wife.
• 29:47
  My wife doesn't run a business, Mom, she doesn't run a business.
• 29:49
  They can do whatever they want with their Instagram handle,
• 29:51
  make it clean, make it whatever. But we are business people here.
• 29:55
  When we are making changes to our Instagram, to our LinkedIn,
• 30:00
  to our TikTok, we are making business decisions.
• 30:07
  So anyway, I'm not take up to of your time.
• 30:11
  I think I've really stressed, but let me say it again, a
• 30:13
  general no to creatives everywhere.
• 30:15
  You're a creative, you like things nice and pretty and
• 30:17
  perfect. You're focusing too much on the
• 30:19
  pretty side of what you do. Don't focus on the pretty side,
• 30:22
  focus on the business side. Chances are you're really good
• 30:25
  at the pretty stuff. And please, today I still hear
• 30:30
  about this whole thing of suffering artist and something
• 30:32
  something nothing is a delusion and is a lie from the pit of
• 30:35
  hell. This whole suffering artist
• 30:38
  thing like Van Gogh and the rest of them.
• 30:42
  When you are live penury nothing.
• 30:44
  When you die, then your artwork starts popping off.
• 30:46
  To whose benefit? I am dead.
• 30:48
  How am I going to get the money from it?
• 30:53
  Let's stop being suffering artists, please.
• 30:55
  Those of us who have artistic bands, you know, we have a craft
• 30:58
  we're trying to pursue. We're trying to get this money,
• 31:03
  get this benefit in the here and now.
• 31:05
  Let it benefit me, let it benefit you.
• 31:07
  We should not die in penury. We should not die in poverty.
• 31:11
  That's offering artist thing is rubbish.
• 31:13
  You have voice over artist. You deserve to have a wonderful
• 31:17
  life and to make a wonderful living.
• 31:20
  You're a sculptor. You walk with wood, you walk and
• 31:22
  move with metal. You deserve to have a wonderful
• 31:24
  life as well. You will only get that if you're
• 31:28
  paying attention to the things that count.
• 31:33
  It's not a popularity contest and we're making business
• 31:35
  decisions here. So long as there is engagement,
• 31:39
  people are engaging with your handle, engaging with your work
• 31:42
  of art, engaging with your whatever.
• 31:44
  People are seeing, people are viewing, people are liking,
• 31:47
  people are sharing, they're picking up the phone, they're
• 31:50
  entering into your DM. All is well, even if your
• 31:53
  follower base is low. So let me stop there.
• 31:56
  And that's all for today, folks. If you have any sales or
• 31:58
  marketing questions, bring them to me.
• 32:00
  You can call, you can SMS, you can WhatsApp me on 08064662140.
• 32:06
  Thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 32:07
  I'll catch you, dear listener, at the next episode.
• 32:09
  Oh, don't worry, this is not a podcast for creatives and
• 32:12
  artists. You know, I talk about all kinds
• 32:13
  of business problems. It just so happens that the lady
• 32:16
  who sent in the question happens to be a creative.
• 32:19
  And then, since I have a creative background as a former
• 32:22
  wedding photographer, sometimes I like to hop on the microphone
• 32:25
  and scold my people because my people are still stuck in a very
• 32:33
  one kind way of doing business. My font is correct.
• 32:38
  My brand color is correct. My this is correct.
• 32:41
  My that. Is that correct?
• 32:42
  Does everything look pretty? Did everything line up?
• 32:45
  Stop focusing on the wrong things, please.
• 32:47
  If we have an engaged audience, we're on track, we're on course.
• 32:50
  So I'll catch you guys in the next episode.