Latest / The Daily Writer / Marketing Expert Ruthie Gray on Instagram Strategies for Authors

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Marketing Expert Ruthie Gray on Instagram Strategies for Authors · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: As a writer, you know that social media is essential.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: If you've ever wrestled with the most effective ways to use social media and build your brand to connect with followers and readers, today's guest is here to share a ton of wisdom that's really going to help you.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_03: Ruthie Gray is a wife, GG, empty nester, and marketing coach for Christian female entrepreneurs specializing in Instagram and newsletter strategy.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: Her hobbies include Florida beachwalks, RVing with her husband, and voraciously reading historical fiction.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_03: Ruthie is the founder of the Authentic Online Marketing School and Insider Mentorship and podcasts at Authentic Online Marketing, which is so easy, your mom can do it.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: Connect with her on Instagram at Authentic Online Marketing Pod or on her website, which is authenticonlinemarketing.com.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: In this conversation, Ruthie reveals why Instagram is so valuable for writers.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: She gives us lots of strategies for using it well and not spending a lot of time doing it, how to use personal and professional accounts in conjunction, and the difference between posts, reels, stories, and much more.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: This was a super helpful conversation that cleared up a lot of confusion that I had about Instagram.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: And I think it's going to be helpful to you as well.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: So here's my conversation with the amazing Ruthie Gray.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: Ruthie, welcome to the Daily Writer Podcast.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: It's great to talk with you again.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm so excited to chat about Instagram because you are one of the experts out there on Instagram.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm glad that we've connected.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I've got some questions for you.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: But before we get to those, welcome.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's really good to chat with you again.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've been looking forward to this conversation with you, Kent.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always up for uh a little chat on Instagram and how to market.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: So let's let me put myself into the mindset of people who don't like Instagram.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: And what I that's kind of an odd way to start this conversation.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: But what I mean is I think social media stresses out people to some degree.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: It stresses out most people to some degree.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: I'm kind of working off that assumption.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: I'm also working off the assumption that most writers would prefer to spend their time writing than being on social media.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm kind of beginning with those assumptions.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: So I guess my first question is why should writers be on social media in the first place?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think we all intuitively know it's important.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: But from your perspective, as somebody who's thought about this a lot, you've created lots of resources around it.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: Why should we be spending time on social media in the first place?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: And then we can get to more Instagram-specific stuff if that works.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, social media is not only the place to make the public aware of your writing and your book or your podcast, wherever your writing is, but it's also the place to network.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a big networking event where you meet.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you chat, you know, and you get to know each other.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you kind of follow each other and find out more about that person and maybe behind the scenes and her family and what she does.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think the problem though with writers, like you said, um, we want to stay in our hole and just write.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and not really, we don't really care if we find out about Susie and her English bulldog and her Christmas tree.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: But or what she had for dinner or lunch or right.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And whatever.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: But that is how you forge important relationships that are integral to your book launch and getting the word out about your writing and what a great um resource you have to offer.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: So it really, in some respects, does it go back to the question of whether or not we want to put time and emotional energy into relationships?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: That that's really the fundamental question of social media, isn't it?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: To some degree.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Social media is social.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you can be on Google and do your SEO work, and that's important.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think that social media helps you build your authority better because as other people uh give you shout-outs and as they come to know you as a person because you should be sharing as well, then you earn their trust and they become, for lack of a better term, one of your super super fans.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how you know they share your work.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: They tag you and share your work on Instagram, and um, others see that and start following you, checking you out, reading your blog, or listening to your podcast.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just like a never-ending circle of networking.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's good.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: That's really that's really good.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: And it's such an important reminder because a lot of us are introverts and we would prefer just to kind of stay in front of our computers and not have to engage with the world and just get in our own little bubble and not have to spend that time or emotional energy interacting with other people.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: So for writers who who are introverted and who perceive all of this as kind of a pain in the behind, what is there a certain attitude adjustment that you would recommend or something that we can shift on ourselves that would make us have more fun with this and value this more?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um I hope that my question even makes sense.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not even sure that it does, but hopefully I'm getting across kind of what I'm asking.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I get that because I there was a time when I was just like, I just want to write, I just want to get my work out there, and yet I realized that if I didn't actually interact with other people, they could care less about my content.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's that's a great point.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so how to make it fun.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: You have to sort of determine that yourself.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: You have to first be committed to carve out a time niche to uh build your community.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And there are different ways you can do that.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: I know for us, we offer a free Facebook group where Instagrammers can come and um interact with each other and share threads and polls and things like that to get to know each other and gain followers and interact.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where I would recommend you start is somewhere where there is already community or possible share pods or something like that.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, something that's established already with someone that you respect that you can go with and you can do that sort of thing, but that's not gonna take up all of your time.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_03: And is that a perception that that many of us have sometimes is that this is gonna take up my whole day?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna spend hours and hours on social media wasting away my time.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't really have to take that much time, does it?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to take that much time, especially when you put systems in place and boundaries for yourself because it it ultimately comes back on you.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how much time do you have and how much time are you willing to spend?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then you just cut it off.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let it overtake your life.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it can give you a rush once you get on social and start gaining followers and you see the comments and you see your numbers rising and you want to build more numbers.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that can be a rush, but that can also be a time suck.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I am not one to tell you get on social every single day and post every single day.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: You will never hear that from me ever, unless you're in a launch.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, which can be really important.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: I do not let social run my life because there is the important work of content creation to focus on.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, that's a really helpful foundation.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: And I I I wanted to spend a couple of minutes at the beginning of this sort of laying that foundation and getting your help with that to set the context for why we should be spending time on really not just Instagram, even though that's what we're here to talk about today, but also Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest or LinkedIn or whatever, whatever app it is that we're using.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but let's dive into Instagram specifically.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I guess my first question is why Instagram, as opposed to LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter or a lot of the other popular social media apps, what is it about Instagram that makes it special and something that's worth spending our time on?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think that Instagram is the best social media tool to cultivate and interact with community.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I yes, I do.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: I I and uh okay, granted, I am not super active on the other platforms that you mentioned, although I have been in the past.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I study Instagram that therefore, you know, I try to stay in the loop with that.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: That is my specialty.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: But there are so many forms of we sort of call them neighborhoods that you can use over there.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: And my favorite one is stories.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got the stories, you've got video in your feed, you've got the reels, which honestly all video is turned into reels.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um but um, and then you've got the static posts.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody knows right now that social is is pushing video, yes, and especially Instagram has just gone over the top in pushing reels.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: But all of that can be have your own authentic spin on it.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's why our name is authentic online marketing, because we want you to put your own message out there in your own authentic way.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And with stories, it's a it's a special place, it's a place where your true core people will watch you because that's a place where you can share behind the scenes of your book, of your product, of your podcast, of whatever you're doing, but also a little bit of your life.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: People like that because the purchasers on Instagram and the people that come over to your Link and bio are those people who watch your stories.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: They're the people that are invested in what you're putting out there.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say, let's say I go for a daily walk and I take a snapshot of me walking in my Florida neighborhood in palm trees, and it's December, and I'll say, Is it warm where you are?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I make a poll, yes or no.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Most people are gonna say no, and they're also going to say ugh in big letters in my DM.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: True.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is something that causes community because it starts with conversations and the conversations start in the DMs, and the DMs start with stories.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you may not think that those kind of things are important talking about my dog or my neighborhood, but it's super important to build that trust and it builds on that, and then the conversations gravitate naturally towards your product or your book.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, okay, that makes sense.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_03: What are some of the best ways that writers can use Instagram to promote their books or or engage people in the book writing process?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_03: So we have some behind-the-scenes things, but can you give us some examples of specific types of things that we can share?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: Because I'm I'm motivated to do a better job with this, but most of the time I just don't really know what to share.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, for instance, what is your uh what is your system for writing?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Do you write every morning?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have a um a daily writing practice?
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: So set up a ring light with your camera and put it on fast motion or fast speed, you know, and just a little clip of you doing that, you know, or even if it's just in your stories, same thing.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or a picture of it.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: So you're doing that, but you're also doing all these other things like meeting with agents or even being on podcasts, because I know that's a big deal for writers, they need to be on podcasts.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to take a picture of yourself.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm getting ready to go on Kent Sanders podcast.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh, if you're going to the printers, is if it's if it's the day to go to the printers, or if you get that manuscript in the mail and you sift through those papers and you just like do a little run through of the papers, all of that stuff is probably um integral to the writing process, but something that maybe you don't think about.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, all of those things are what you want to take the the follower on the journey of.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: Gosh, that is really good.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: So you give it literally if you hear clacking, that's me typing.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: I don't I try normally try not to type while I'm doing podcast interviews, but this is really, really good stuff.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_03: And you've given me like 10 really good ideas.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_03: I had never thought about this stuff.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the thing.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's the thing about um sharing.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's how you develop trust is by doing the things that are so close to you, almost like breathing.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, why would anybody not know this?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Or why would they want to know about it?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: They want to know about it.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: They need to know that behind the scenes.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: People are nosy on Instagram, and that's what social is all about is sharing your life and um developing those relationships.
• 15:15
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• 16:16
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• 16:21
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• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: And now back to our conversation.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I want to ask about personal versus business and specifically my daily writer brand versus my own brand.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_03: But I wanted to ask a question about something that I saw on Instagram recently.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, I'm not going to name the person.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I shall not incriminate the guilty, not that they're guilty of anything, but I'm curious about something because you're all about authenticity and sharing things that are a real part of your life.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: So I have a friend who um has been going through a difficult personal situation, and I'll just leave it, leave it at that.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_03: A very difficult thing.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_03: And she posted a video a while back.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: It was kind of like a montage of dealing with this difficult situation, and she had several shots in this sort of sort of montage thing where like it was her crying, and I think you know the tears were real.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: I don't have any reason to think that she was faking this, but then there were a couple shots in the montage where it was like she had set up a camera, then she had sort of got on the floor in front of her bed and was like weeping and stuff, and it just felt super like posed.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_03: Even though I I know this person and I know the situation, and I know that if this is like a legit, really difficult thing.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like, how do I how do I how do we think about those things when someone is posting like videos of them crying, but it seems like they've kind of set it up and it's posed.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: Like that doesn't really seem authentic to me.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_03: Or am I have I just become like an old cynic?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think a lot of it has to do with personal preference.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: I that's probably not something that I would do myself, but it depends on, you know, there there's a thing out there now called you you have a persona for your Instagram.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so that that may be what she's doing.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's not really um something that I'm really that I teach.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: I teach more, yeah.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: It did, it worked.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure it worked for her because it uh it's all about what is your goal?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: If her goal is to build a certain type of audience that is um gonna get that pain point, then for sure, if she is comfortable with that tactic, then that is the technique she needs to go with.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_03: So well, she's in a a very business-oriented space.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, she deals with a lot of like finance stuff and and things like that.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_03: So she's not normally like a dramatic person.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I think she was doing this to show here's the human side of life.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_03: So it's not all business.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: So even though I kind of intuitively know some of the shots in her montage thing were like kind of posed, I it's one of those things where you kind of know what somebody's doing, but it still affects you emotionally.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: I thought it was super well done.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_03: But I didn't know if that's like a common thing or it is something that people do.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think you just have to decide um what you know, what is that?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Is that your strategy?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: And is that the way you you want to do business?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: And even something like that um would work well in just stories, just you know, okay, super behind the scenes if you want to do that.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think we have to choose what we are going to share and what are we not gonna share?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because you definitely need to have that line.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I am definitely not gonna air my dirty laundry on my authentic online marketing site because I am I am teaching people how to be positive and authentic, but I'm trying to teach them how to do it with boundaries.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: See, this is this is a really, really timely conversation.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, I had it hadn't even occurred to me to kind of talk about this on the with this conversation, but so something that I wrestle with is seasonal affective disorder.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_03: Like, and it gets worse every year, to be honest with you.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: Whenever it gets dark early and cold, I really wrestle with this every year.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: It feels like a little bit more, and I have to work harder and harder every year to kind of fight against it.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: And and I have thought maybe that would be helpful to share something about that, about how I deal with this as a writer.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but I don't want it to be like, you know, woe was me.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm kind of struggling today, I don't feel motivated.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: You know, because as a ghostwriter and somebody I'm a person that people are paying to produce their books, and there's a high level of trust and professionalism there.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_03: When you are trying to be a real professional, what is the line about what you should be sharing with your own struggles?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's kind of the main concept that it should it should relate to your brand somehow.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: It's okay to be authentic and real, but you don't want to like be a Debbie Downer on every post.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I think you know, if you were to share something like that, Kent, in your stories, I think your real super fans, the people who who love you and know you would so appreciate that.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: I know when I sometimes I just am like, I can't stand Instagram anymore.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's driving me crazy the way they're throwing us curveballs.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: And and at first we were getting so much reach with the reels, and then they dipped.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: And and and so I have shared that uh being candid, like I am sick of it, um, in my stories or in my newsletter.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because the people know I'm gonna be real.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: With them there.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: And yet they still follow me because they know, hey, she's struggling to, she feels the same way I do, but she's continuing to persevere.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: She's going to keep on doing what she is high, you know, what she's exhibiting that is the example for me.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's really good.
• 22:23
  unknown: Yeah.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_03: So in other words, don't just kind of wallow in the negativity, share how you're dealing with it or how you plan to move forward or demonstrate some perseverance to kind of whine or be negative.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's uh you know, I don't think that people uh necessarily really love negativity.
• 22:42
  unknown: Right.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think people thrive on hope.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's why I encourage, you know, my my people to share what is the upswing of it.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: What can you do now?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_03: That is that is so good.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_03: So you could really share almost any kind of personal difficulty within reason, you know, if you're also showing the hope of the situation and how you plan to deal with it, even if you're not sure how it's gonna work out, but you're demonstrating hope and perseverance, you're gonna figure it out, you're gonna keep on moving, because that's ultimately what really is helpful, isn't it?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: So here's an example.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it got to be during that whole reels dip and everything, and just everybody was going bananas.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: I said, you know what, guys, here's what I'm gonna do.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I sent this out.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I talked about it and did polls in my stories and also in my newsletter.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, I am not gonna post on Instagram for the next 30 days.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: I am only gonna do stories because stories is what I like most anyway.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and my my people are there.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to join me, let me know and we'll see where we go with this.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Tons of people wrote back, tons of people said voted yes in the polls, and I actually turned it into a challenge, which is a great idea for a writer to do something like that.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Just make a challenge if you're trying to build up your email list or something like that, or just community on Instagram, make some kind of a challenge.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm sick of writing, but I know I need to do it.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna write for 10 minutes for the next 30 days, you know, something like that.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: And make it positive.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: I had so many people join me on that, and we and they learned the value of stories and how to use them correctly.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then the great thing was at the end of that challenge, Instagram decided to throw us a curved ball again, but it was a good one where they put the reels icon in your story.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually in your story, and you can tap on that icon and make your story into a real.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: So anything that's not super sensitive that you want to share with the world that was a great story that got good response, we can just do that in five minutes or less.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: Can you dive into the difference between stories and posts and reels?
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_03: Because I think that's a source of confusion for a lot of people, which is really my code language for saying that's a source of confusion for me.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm just extrapolating that out to everybody, probably unfairly.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I know I know they are different, but I'm not sure the best ways to use one of those because I know they are different things.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: So stories disappear after 24 hours.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: And when you share a story, your profile image, the circle around it kind of lights up.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: And and um the people that have recently watched your stories, you pop up there next to their um their image, their profile image there.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and they see, oh, Ruthie's made another story.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go watch and see if she's on the beach again.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so I can tell her how much I can't stand that she's on the beach and I'm in six feet of snow.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a story, and those stories will disappear after 24 hours.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, however, they do go in your archives, which is great.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can reuse, repurpose, reuse those later if you want.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: So they become a post?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: No, or archives is something different than your posts.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Archives is where everything lives your posts and your stories.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, and can people can anybody access your archives or just you?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: No, just you.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't know any of that existed.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so archives are for well, your previous posts that you've archived or your stories, because the stories do run out.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: So now, okay, so reels are any video that you make is really turns into a reel.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, now if you're actually making a real, a real reel.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: You go to reels and you're gonna make a reel.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's five to seven seconds, or you can do it up to 90.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Then you make that real, you could talk, or you could do a trending sound, or whatever you want.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's your reel.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's the real.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing is you can go live and then the live turns into a real.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it just looks like a real, like all video is real, basically.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, except if you do a carousel, like if you're doing a post and you want to add more than one image, right, or more than you can add up to 10, or if you want to add more than one video, your videos can be like 60 seconds or less in that carousel, then that video within that carousel is not considered a real.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: Should we keep video to 60 seconds or less as a general rule?
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think it should be at least 60 seconds or less.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so so the max is 60 seconds.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: For for your carousel feed, yes.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: For um, for a real, it's 90.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: But honestly, it's better if you can get in there, say a hook right away instead of like even if you're going live or whatever you're doing, whatever you're gonna say, if it's just gonna be a short video or even a long one, you want to come in right away with three reasons why you should use Instagram.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're just uh there's a hook.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: As a writer, you know what a hook is.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so you you don't want to say, I just wanted to come on today and share with you guys, you've just already lost them.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so get right to the point immediately.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Immediately get to the point.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Immediately.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_03: That makes sense.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm making notes and all the words are misspelled because I'm typing too fast, but I'll worry about that later.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_03: Nobody's seeing these but me.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_03: Let me ask about personal brands versus professional brands.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: Here's where I'm going with this.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_03: So I have two things on on Instagram.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_03: I have the Daily Writer, but I also have myself, Kent Sanders.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm a little bit confused about what I should be.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I know what I should post on the Daily Writer.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_03: That should all be stuff related to the Daily Writer because that's its own entity.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: But should I repurpose that stuff on my own Instagram account or should it be totally separate?
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_03: Or how should I use both of those in the most effective way?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_03: Because they are distinct things on there.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it depends on what your goal is.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to drive traffic each to the other, then absolutely you cross-post.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you and it sounds like that's what you're wanting, is you're wanting people to go to the Daily Writer.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, my ultimate goal is I want to drive email signups.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's really what I'm that's the most important thing to me is is really email signups because that well, that's what I'm doing on the podcast too, is the email list is the main thing that I'm trying to grow.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: I applaud you for that.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: And just uh a little aside here for everybody who thinks that I think Instagram is the end all be all.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: The end all be all is the email list.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's something that we also teach is that you want to drive traffic effectively off of Instagram onto your email list.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I love that you're doing that.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I I mean, I think it's good and worthy to cross post, but I do think it's also very important to talk about that email list and talk about it in your in your stories, in your feed, on your reels.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Tell them what they get because that's something that a lot of Instagrammers overlook is talking about the newsletter.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: Every time I talk about my newsletter, I get signups.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's just got to be part of the habit.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_03: Gosh, it's you know, sometimes I feel like uh, you know, I'm a person, I have two master's degrees, I'm a published author, I'm a relatively intelligent person, but sometimes I miss the most obvious things in the world.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_03: I really do.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, am I really that smart?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh some days I don't think that I really am because this is such an obvious thing to do is to talk about the newsletter on Instagram, which I never, well, I rarely do.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_03: So this is like so helpful because it's such a fundamental thing, but I miss it all the time.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm really you are not alone there.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Many people say it's like a big revelation.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, I should be talking about it.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: I never even thought of that.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: Duh.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_02: Isn't that crazy?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I it is, you know, and I even have to remind myself of that.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about it in every six to nine posts that I post, and then weekly in my stories because I'm very active in stories.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_03: Every six to nine posts, uh, plus weekly in your sort.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_03: This is like the cardinal scent of podcasting, you know, one of the is like I shouldn't be typing out and taking notes while I'm doing this interview.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but this is so good I don't want to miss it.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think it's good to kind of reinforce so that others can, you know, kind of get it in their brains too.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_03: So okay.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm actually getting ready to redo all my email stuff.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_03: So right now I have this thing called the Daily Writer Starter Kit, which is basically I think it's seven or eight uh short ebooks on different topics for writers, but I'm actually going to be switching that out next month.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm getting rid of that, and I'm just doing a free book called How to Build a Writing Habit, which is the main thing about what the Daily Writer is all about.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_03: So that'll be a full length, a short but full-length free book, free audiobook.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'll have a print version available for people who want to buy it.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that's a better value proposition than saying a starter kit, in my opinion, because it's a one single book that solves a real specific problem.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: That is more the trend than ever.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: It used to be give them an ebook and they will come, but the ebooks got bigger and bigger, and the people are overwhelmed with email already and all of their online tasks.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: So the best thing you can do is to create either that short ebook or just a checklist, something that solves a pain point right away that will be so super valuable and simple that they're like, wow, if this is what they have to offer, um, just this short thing, I want more.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's good.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: That's really good.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, maybe along with that ebook, I should just like have an intro checklist or something because even if it's just like a one-page checklist, people still get a lot of value out of that.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: That would be fantastic.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh okay, what else did I want to ask about here?
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I made a whole list as we were starting this uh conversation.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so back to the professional versus personal brand.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: How how much should I repost?
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: Everything that I put on the Daily Writer, should I put on my personal one?
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_03: And just kind of treat them like duplicates or or what's the best way to go about that?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you want to post everything cross-pollinate.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: Are the are the audiences that different?
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: No, not really.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because you don't want to create too much work for yourself.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, that's true.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and maybe you uh maybe you decide, you know, the three pillars that you're gonna have.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Really, this is what you should um be doing anyway, is what are your three main pillars you're gonna talk about on each one.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then that way you won't overlap so much, but you will complement, you know, like maybe one of your pillars on your personal one is some of the struggles that you go through, like the seasonal effective and and the struggles that you know other writers go through.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe, you know, just writer's cramp, maybe that's your, you know, one of yours, you know, writer struggles.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's and so I I think that the pillars uh are something that you should gravitate to um for each of those.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think that would be that's really good.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_03: What do you think about the idea?
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: I've heard people talk about this before.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: What what do you think about the idea of having some kind of content posting schedule?
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_03: For example, on Mondays, I post about this particular thing.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_03: On Tuesdays, I post about this thing.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like you basically have, I guess, three to five topics that you just kind of rotate on a weekly basis or a regular basis.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_03: Is that a strategy that you recommend?
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, I do, because it's kind of like your scripture reading.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have um something laid out that you're gonna do, then you're probably some days gonna do it or not do it.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or some days you're just like, What should I read Ephesians today or should I go back to Job since it's getting so depressing, you know?
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I like to have, you know, a um a plan, a scripture reading plan for whatever, whether it's Advent or whether it's the whole year through the Bible or whatever.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: It those kind of systems are what keeps you consistent, and consistency is what brings your audience.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yes, I here's what I do, for instance, for my posting schedule, I post three to four times a week.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: No more than that, almost never.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: But Monday is always about the podcast, it's gonna be quotes from the podcast, it's gonna be a carousel form.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: Wednesday or Friday is going to be a reel of me either with a trending sound or me just talking about that podcast, but it's not not go watch, go listen, it's more a nugget of information from that podcast.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then I cite the podcast in the caption.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then Friday, it could be um a quote, like an inspirational quote.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of my audience, they're writers, so I love to post writing quotes and quotes about writing and just you know things of that nature, or a lot of them are also entrepreneurs, so entrepreneurial mindset, that kind of thing.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: My pillars on Instagram are Instagram, email marketing, and marketing mindset, because the mindset is what drives you to do all the other things that you should be doing.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_03: That's really good.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's really good.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_03: Is it possible to overpost on Instagram?
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_03: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_03: You said that really emphatically, so I'm I did.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I meant it's not possible to overshare your core message and say things over and over again that you believe in, like with your pillars and things of that nature.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_03: That that's a that's a really good thought.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, it's not possible to overshare your core message.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: It isn't because and this is something, it's just like the email sharing your email.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, people don't they they overthink.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I just said that in a reel.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: Say it again in a post, say it again in a carousel, say it again in your stories, say it a different way, but keep saying it.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: Writers think they have to come up with new content all the time and new captions.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and that's what makes it so hard for them to do it.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: I draw from my podcast.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: I literally on Monday with those quote images, I go grab copy from my podcast, I pop it in there when I'm scheduling towards Monday, because I do believe in a scheduler.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I pop it in there and then I just take out some sentences, put a hook in there and a call to action, and I'm good to go.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I do for my other things too.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what am I gonna share from the podcast?
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: Don't make it hard, just share it.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_03: That's see, that's a really good piece of advice because I think a lot of us as writers feel like we have to constantly be churning on a lot of new stuff or these new ideas or whatever.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_03: But if you look at the most successful writers, I'm talking about like top-tier writers.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_03: Let's say Stephen King.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_03: Stephen King really only writes kind of one, mainly one or two types of books.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_03: He writes horror books.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes there's some sci-fi in there.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, if you look at somebody like John Maxwell, John Maxwell only ever talks about leadership, communication, or personal development.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_03: Almost exclusively.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: He's done that for decades, but he just keeps cranking out books.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, he doesn't even write his own book, somebody else does.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_03: That's another topic.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um but I love the fact that he uses a writer.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's really awesome.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but he only talks about those issues, but every book is like a different exploration of the same topic that he's talked about a million times before.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_03: So it kind of takes the pressure off of us, doesn't it?
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_03: Where we don't have to come up with something new all the time.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: It really does.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that is the just the biggest, the biggest drawback for writers is they think they have to create all this new content, which you don't need to do that.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: You just need to repurpose.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that I teach my people in my communities all the time is repurpose your content.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: Once you write a stellar email, use that thing again in the next six months to a year.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's good.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: Don't have work smart, not hard.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: Go back to a post that received a lot of attention and um reshare it again with a different image or create it in the form of a reel, share it in your stories.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: Take the caption that you wrote, everything you wrote, and just repurpose.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's really good.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_03: That's really, really good.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_03: I do that on here on the podcast actually all the time.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I reuse content constantly because you have new people come in and listen to it.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_03: Especially if you change it up a little bit.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_03: Nobody, I don't even know what I had on my show last week.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, honestly, because it's the daily show.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what I talked about last week.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I actually do, but but sometimes I don't because it's like when you're cranking us stuff every day, you just don't remember it.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_03: So my listeners don't remember it, probably.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the thing.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: We are so close to our content that we're like, oh, I can't send that email again.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: They just they just got that in the last six months.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: How many emails do you get in your inbox every week?
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, no one's gonna remember, they're just not.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's important to repurpose and reuse what we've got because you're always getting a new new eyeballs in there.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, everybody, not everybody is seeing every single piece of content that you are putting out.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_03: And how many times have you, you know, if let's say if you're a fan of Seinfeld, the TV show, how many times have you seen each of those episodes or Friends or your favorite movie or your favorite song or whatever?
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_03: We exactly get something that you like and you just keep coming back to those same things over and over.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's how that's why I like stories so much because I tell a lot of my same content, but just in a different way, you know.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, here we are at the beach again, or here's my here's my uh ornament wreath that's on my um door here in front of my palm tree, you know, stuff like that.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: But they're like, they just keep coming back and watching it.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: And and so that's what you want.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: You want to just cultivate that community.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_03: This is great.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: This is great.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_03: It's almost like like thinking of yourself, uh kind of like the Hallmark Channel, where really they have one type of thing that they do, they're known for one thing, but they keep every movie is like a variation on the same set of core themes.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_03: Which is, I guess, true of any brand, isn't it?
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_03: Really?
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_03: Is you have a set of core themes and everything is like a a takeoff on that somehow.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so you just want to you just want to keep track of your your thoughts on things that are staying within your wheelhouse.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, like I use my iPhone notes all the time.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be walking.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be walking in the morning.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, wow, that's a great thought because my brain has finally had a chance to rest, you know, and that's when all the good thoughts crank out.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I could put this spin on it on my pillar.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, totally.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Ruthie, this has been phenomenal.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_03: I've had an absolute blast talking with you about this.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I've taken a bunch of notes actually, which I don't I don't do on every episode, but you are just like dropping all these great suggestions here.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_03: Before we wrap up, though, I want to ask about your authentic online marketing school because I know uh when this episode comes out, you're gonna have a wait list available for that that people can sign up for.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_03: So tell us about that and where people can find out more about that.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, all you have to do is go to authenticonline marketing.com and you'll be able to see there's a menu at the top, and the word school, when you click on that, you'll see the wait list, and uh you get a free reels personality mini mini course.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's not really even a course, it's very short.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that you can start creating reels uh according to your brain and your personality.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: We kind of interviewed all the people in our uh community and our mem mim mentorships that um how they go about based on you know what their Enneagram number is and their personality and that kind of thing.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just authentic online marketing school is the perfect blend of Instagram and email marketing.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we base it on the four things that never change on Instagram, which a lot do, but the one thing is you need a killer bio, you need followers, you need great content that's consistent, and then you need a good LinkedIn bio option to point to your newsletter.
• 46:10
  unknown: Okay.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's four weeks of Instagram training.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you get we have hot seats in, we brainstorm your bio and your content and all that to help you with your pillars.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then we transition into email marketing where you craft a welcome series.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: You walk away with a welcome series, a newsletter template, a story swipe file.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm big on storytelling in the newsletter.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't have to be long, but it sure does.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, people love storytelling, and I love storytelling with marketing.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: It works.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh that's what we do.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I give you input on your like I'll critique your welcome series and uh give you some insight on that.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a it's a blast.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's four weeks of that, and then you graduate and you're ready to move on.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_03: That sounds fantastic.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_03: And man, these are all topics that are so important nowadays, uh, particularly with social media, email marketing, and all the things we know we should be doing, but sometimes we don't because we don't really have a clear pathway.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm so glad that you've taken the the time and effort to put together a clear pathway for people to help them with these critical areas.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_03: So it sounds fantastic.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love doing it.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Ruthie, thanks for being a guest today.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, this has been really, really helpful.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm so glad that uh our mutual friend Kim Stewart connected us a while back.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you're just really serving people well.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I just want to affirm that you're doing super important work in the world because I know a lot of people don't think of social media as something that is deeply important, but it really is because that's that's how we connect with people in large part today.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_03: So you're helping people build their business, build relationships, get more successful with what they're doing, and all kinds of cool things.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_03: This is really, really good stuff.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much, Kent.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: This was fun.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_03: Fantastic.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thanks again.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_03: We'll talk to you later.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_03: Well, a big thanks to Ruthie Gray for being a guest on today's episode.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_03: I took a bunch of notes when we were having this conversation.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_03: Honestly, when I'm doing these interviews, I try not to take a bunch of notes while I'm actually listening, just because I want to be more engaged, obviously, and be a good podcast host and all that.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_03: But what she was saying was so helpful, and it was like every sentence, she was just dropping these incredible nuggets of wisdom, and I was just furiously taking notes.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_03: So I took a bunch of notes and I'm going to start putting this into practice, and I hope that you do too.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_03: You know, one thing that's so easy to do is when it comes to social media, it's easy to feel intimidated.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's easy to want to just go, well, I just don't want to mess with it or it's too complicated, or, you know, suddenly we all sound like 85-year-olds, no offense to 85-year-olds, but we all sound like we're 85-year-olds who just, you know, we don't want to play with these newfangled things and we don't want to learn new things and this kind of stuff.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_03: But I mean, we just got to jump in.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_03: We just got to jump in and learn things and not be afraid of social media and all the cool opportunities that it presents to us today.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_03: So take some of these tips that Ruthie has given us today, put these into practice so that you can begin being more successful on Instagram and have a more fun and successful author platform.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you next time.