Have you ever received hate online?
If this makes you feel any better, like I’ve, I mean, I do get some hate comments, but it’s just people that you wouldn’t really care about. And like, 99% of the time, people are nice. The only person that’s judging what you’re doing as closely as you are, is you. Yes, no one else really cares that much.
I always use this example. If you look, if anybody takes a photo and a group of people, if you ask every single person who is the first and only person to look at they look at themselves, yeah, they have no idea what else is going on. And it’s so true, isn’t it?
We judge ourselves far greater than anybody else charges us. And in relation to people making hateful comments. You’ve got to think of avenues. Like if, if you’re not going to ask that person’s opinion, on some boy, their advice and something you shouldn’t listen to their nonsense comments, I think that’s such a good point. And it’s really interesting to hear that you yourself didn’t start off confident, or maybe even competent in front of the camera.
And yet, almost every bit of your content is you showing yourself on cameras. And that’s really interesting and encouraging people.
If you look at people that create video content, a lot of them say, Well, you know, I’ve been doing this for three years. And when I started, it was really awkward. Like, it is really awkward. I did my first live performance yesterday. And, you know, it’s one of my first lives on my own. And it just feels like, you know, everyone’s watching you, and everyone’s judging you. But like, in reality, what’s just happened is, a few people have joined, you feel like the world’s watching you, but it’s really not like that, like, we all just, like make it off in our heads.
So just thinking a bit further into that there. Obviously, there’s going to be some people who are going to take comments in a certain way and respond in a certain way.
What sort of strategies do you use to deal with the not so positive comments that you might receive?
Just ignore them. I mean, look, these I’m only talking about, okay, so if there’s someone in your network that doesn’t agree, review, or what you’re saying, and that will happen, right? Because one thing I always like, tell my clients is, you’re not for everyone, you’re not for everybody. And if you try to be for everybody, you’re just gonna end up being, there’s no better word to describe it. But I describe it as my, like, you just end up being like me with your personality and all of the content you put out.
So you’re not trying to appeal to everyone, you are going to annoy some people, and they’re not going to gel with you, in which case, they unfollow you. Like, that’s what happens. And then they don’t see your content. It’s not personal. It’s not anything like that. So if there’s someone in your network that doesn’t like your style, they can just unfollow you.
Now, do you get comments from people I don’t know? And that’s when I’m just like, I don’t know, this person. Like, and my way of dealing with that is just, you know, it’s things like, comments on your personal life. Like, for example, when I shared that I was I got the vaccine, I got like a lot of abuse, that’s like, you’re stupid and, you know, things like that, that you’re not going to listen to in real life. So I listened to it online.
But yeah, just a caveat that I’m not saying it’s easy at all. And I think the more you raise your profile, again, the more you grow, you attract more criticism. And I think that’s just part of the gig. So I don’t think there’s a solution to that you do have to have a thick skin and just just grow thicker skin.
Are there any other accounts that you could kind of direct people to?
Yeah, that is a great question. I actually think there are so many people in property that are doing great things. I will just stay clear of kind of looking at people that just have large followings.
So I think a lot of people kind of shoot themselves in the foot when they expect that kind massive of growth. When it’s like the plot, Instagram has moved on, it’s not as easy to build an audience. I’m not saying it was easy at all, but it’s just different now. So yeah, when you’re looking at profiles for inspiration, like don’t just look at the followers. And there are so many properties to name.
But another thing I’d say is to look outside your niche as well, because a lot of us will look at other property accounts for inspiration. And I think that’s great, but it kind of makes all the content the same. So think about how you can apply what you’re seeing in other people’s accounts to your own. Right.
Is it worth paying for followers?
Absolutely, no, it’s the stupidest decision you can make.
So what’s the point of being on social media?
To get visibility to help your business grow? So is your business going to grow? When those people aren’t real? Like, are they going to buy from you?
So that’s an interesting point. So the followers that have bought aren’t real people. When people buy followers, it’s their bots. Or even if they are real people, it’s not people, you know? They don’t give a crap about what you’re doing. They’re never gonna buy from you. I don’t want those people in my audience.
Firstly, like, I get why people do it. It’s like the, you know, they look popular. And it does work to an extent because when people come on your profile, they’re like, it’s the social proof aspects. It’s like other people follow this person, therefore, they must be good. But I think people can see through that now. And it’s just a really bad business decision, because you’re going to your engagements going to go down. And then you’re not going to be able to get your content to your real people, like people that actually will become clients and investors. So I don’t see the point in it.
The industry seems pretty crowded in the property world on Instagram. Is it worth even getting into it?
Yeah, I mean, again, it’s a question of like, is it worth it? In what sense? Like, you know, there’s, it’s not like, there’s a finite number of people that can have a brand online. And you know, everyone’s gonna build their own community, and people, some people are gonna resonate with some of us and not others. So there’s always opportunity to build an audience. It’s not like a, you know, there’s not like a saturation point. And the benefits are very much there.
I think it’s just a case of not like, if you’re, if you’re just on here to just grow. Instagram isn’t the platform right now, to be building a large audience. It’s really good for connecting with your existing audience. And, you know, slowly growing, but it’s not like, tick tock where you’re gonna just blow up. So if you’re expecting that, then no, it’s probably not worth it.
I guess, I guess it boils it down to why are you on Instagram? What do you want to achieve? Right there? The I guess the critical questions you need to be people need to be asking themselves before they get on. And that I guess that applies to platforms as well. So depending on what you’re looking for, will depend on what platform you use, and how frequently is that fair?
Instagram, obviously, I’m biased because there’s just so many tools on here for businesses to connect with their audience. You know, it’s designed for business owners, and it’s really effective at that. It also has a low barrier to entry, meaning that if you were just starting out on social media, it doesn’t actually take a lot of your time to create content for Instagram. Versus if you were like, I’m going to do YouTube.
That’s like a big commitment in terms of time and resources. So I think that the first thing to consider when you’re using a social media platform is what’s the commitment? And the second thing is, where do you feel comfortable?
Because at the end of the day, you are going to get uncomfortable. And if you absolutely hate being on video, and you can’t, you don’t want to improve on that, then YouTube probably isn’t a good idea. Versus if you don’t understand TikTok, and you just think it’s stupid, then? And it’s not inspiring for you, then that probably isn’t a good idea. So I’d say those are the two main things, but really like, where do you feel? What kind of content do you like, creating? And where do you feel more comfortable?
Any practical tips you can give to get somebody started a little bit more?
When I work with my clients, it’s what type of content to do so. But for someone just getting started, and what I do tell my clients when you know, if they’re very new is to just get started. So it doesn’t really matter what content you’re doing to just make that commitment. Like I’m going to post three times a week, and I’m going to go on stories every day. And to just make that commitment, and then just do it. And then after you’ve been consistent then to start looking at okay, what am I actually saying?
Equally, if you’re not even sure. So for example, when I started on Instagram, I had no idea what my business was going to be, you know, what kind of people I was attracting, I just built my audience. And there’s beauty in that. Because when you build your audience, you can then build your business around them and around what they want. So I always say, I always say just, you know, build your audience. And then you can go from there, you don’t need to have a business, you don’t need to really even know what you’re doing at the start. Just build that community and then go from there. It’s about three people.
Can you share some of your successes, as well as some challenges you’ve had with social media?
Yes. Um, I think, for me, were just like getting started. And as I said, it literally took me a year to get started. And it’s, I work with my clients on this now, but it’s all to do with putting yourself out there. And it just brings up all this, like internal staff about being judged. And I’ve just remembered what I wanted to say.
We forget, we go back to this bit. And one of the internal, like, things that was coming up for me was, well, I’m, you know, I’m quite young. And I don’t actually have that much experience, I’m not an authority in anything. So who am I to go do a post on social media about property or about social media at the time, like, I was just at the very beginning of my journey, like, I didn’t have any, in my mind expertise. And what I realised is that people don’t want you to know everything.
It’s like, you’re going to be more relatable if you are one step ahead of someone, rather than if you’re like, miles ahead and years ahead. And social media or, you know, whatever you put out isn’t about knowing it all. It’s just about sharing it, like, unless you are, you know, saying that you’re a guru and an authority on something that you know nothing about, then it’s just about sharing, and sharing your learnings. So that was like a big kind of way when I had when I realised that and then that’s when I started because I was like, I don’t have to know it all I just have to share.
I love that, because that’s, that’s very real, that’s real for everybody everybody has, whether it’s imposter syndrome, which is obviously fully blown kind of doubting yourself and your position, or whether it’s just that little voice that sometimes creeps in of, or that person knows more than me. So there’s no point in me speaking, because they’re already speaking, is irrelevant, isn’t it? Because people want to know the person behind the activity.
They want to know what you know, and where you’re at, like you say that the step from me to somebody who’s just starting is much, much closer than somebody just starting to Warren Buffett or somebody, so they would much rather hear from me, because I’ve walked that path much sooner or much more recently than anybody else has.
I think it’s such a key point and it makes everything, it distils it all down and makes everything very normal, doesn’t it? I think there’s maybe social media being like this. Because it’s very exposing, because we are ourselves on it. I think people put a big crown on it. But reality is we just sit and talk nonsense anyway, like everybody doesn’t say anything, we’re just putting it out there a little bit more. And then you get to speak to other people that you wouldn’t otherwise do.
I think how you position it to yourself, and the language you use is really, really, really critical. It’s about sharing, it’s not about being an expert. It’s not about being this or that or the other, you just sharing. And that takes away a lot of pressure. And that’s just the word you just said sharing is done. If I’m really good at something, or you know that it’s that expectation that just disappears when you’re ready to share something really, really critical. Yeah, really good.
I knew I wanted to start a consulting business, but I didn’t know. I didn’t know I wanted it to be in social media, but I just started my Instagram account. So I was like, I can’t do that. And what I realised is okay, you don’t have to consult on or teach the whole thing, you can just teach one part of it. I was good at copywriting. So I started doing copywriting. Then, as I got more experience, you know, I started talking about social media because I actually had the experience.
So if you are feeling that, you know, like imposter syndrome coming up. A lot of the time, you might be talking about things that you just don’t feel like you’re an expert in and just look at that critically and be like, Okay, can I just talk about one part of this, that I do actually have the experience and then eventually talk about the bigger thing.
That even relates to when you go into your property. Everybody thinks that’s one bit of content, don’t they but actually, with much love what you said there like you don’t have to know the whole thing equally. You could break that down into about 50 different pieces of content. Everything can be just one post on the bit that you’re talking about at that time. And no one’s expecting you to the very next day at the very same time.
In the next instalment of that they’re just quite happy to see whatever you want to post, I think people are generally just quite happy to see what people post rather, people are nosy by nature, people want to see what other people are up to. Instagram is a great platform for that.
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