Together Digital Power Lounge, Women in Digital with Power to Share
Digital is a demanding and competitive field. And women are still grossly underpaid & underrepresented. But we are not powerless; we have each other. Together Digital Power Lounge is your place to hear authentic conversations from women in digital who have power to share. Listen and learn from our amazing guests along with host Amy Vaughan, Owner and Chief Empowerment Officer of Together Digital. Together Digital is a diverse and collaborative community of women who work in digital who choose to share their knowledge, power, and connections. To learn more, visit www.togetherindigital.com.
Together Digital Power Lounge, Women in Digital with Power to Share
Short-Form Video for Business Growth | Keenya Kelly | S3 E15
Welcome to The Power Lounge, your go-to place for engaging conversations in the digital world. In today’s episode, we delve into short-form video marketing with Keenya Kelly, CEO of Keenya Kelly LLC. We explore the impact of vertical videos on business success. Keenya shares her journey from network marketing to TikTok fame, where she amassed a massive audience and generated $22 million in revenue. Discover the power of targeted video content, tackle marketing nuances, and uncover future trends. Whether you're just starting out or already established, learn how to leverage short-form videos for success.
Featured in the Episode
Keenya Kelly
Marketing Strategist & Professional Speaker, Book Author, CEO of If You brand It
Keenya’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/keenyakelly/
Keenya’s Website
Amy Vaughan,
Owner & Chief Empowerment Officer
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amypvaughan/
Takeaways
- Introduction to Vertical Video Marketing
- Strategic Insights into Video Marketing
- Effective Communication and Representation Strategies
- Crafting Content for Engagement
- Adapting to Changing Platform Dynamics
- Navigating Challenges in Video Marketing
- Enhancing Audience Engagement with Authenticity
Quotes
"Clear goals drive video marketing success, shifting focus from viral fame to delivering substantial value." - Keenya Kelly
"Engaging authentically on platforms like TikTok or Instagram involves sharing genuine experiences that deeply resonate with your audience." - Keenya Kelly
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
03:05 - Overcoming Adversity: Poverty to Success
09:29 - Understanding TikTok's Algorithm
15:00 - Effective Communication via Email and Social Media
21:14 - Unleashing TikTok's Business Potential
24:33 - Crafting Engaging Content for Audiences
26:52 - Building Lasting Connections through Authenticity
38:40 - On-Camera Confidence and Representation
39:51 - Diversity in Marketing Efforts
46:14 - College Marketing Class Sparks Innovation
53:53 - Navigating Online Sharing Decisions
55:25 - Outro
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Hello everyone and welcome to our weekly power lounge. This is your place to hear authentic conversations from those who have power to share. My name is Amy Vaughn and I am the owner and chief empowerment officer of Together Digital, a diverse and collaborative community of women who choose to share their knowledge, power and connections. You can join the movement at wwwtogetherindigitalcom. And today we have a true powerhouse joining us. Kenya Kelly is the CEO of Kenya Kelly LLC. Kenya Kelly is the CEO of Kenya Kelly LLC. Based in sunny San Diego.
Speaker 1:Kenya is a force to be reckoned with in the world of vertical video marketing and consulting. She's not just about business. She strategically empowers entrepreneurs to develop winning video and funnel marketing strategies. In just three short years, kenya has built an audience of over 500,000, ranking an impressive 2 million in revenue in her business. That's a million. 200 million 2 million that's amazing. That's not all. She has been the secret weapon for thousands of business owners, helping them scale and thrive in the online marketplace. Kenya's magic doesn't stop there, folks. Recently, her work has done wonders in the TikTok marketing platform, helping clients soar to over 2 million in just 10 months. Partnering with Kenya means tapping into a powerhouse of influence. Her brand resonates deeply with strong female influencers and entrepreneurs, making her a game changer in the digital world. Buckle up listeners and get ready to be inspired. Kenya, we're so excited to have you here with us today. You are in the right place, in the Power Lounge, because this is your audience. These are your people. Right here we're so excited to have you with us.
Speaker 1:I'm so excited to be here, thank you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and we've got some very timely things to talk about, don't we Today as well? Right as in all things digital, the world never stops changing. But first, you know, we always love to kind of come back to the space of grounding ourselves in. You know where we all got the start, and I would love for you to share a little bit with our listeners about your career journey and what led you specifically to focus on video marketing and, in particular, even vertical, like. If we want to get that nerdy, like let's do this. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:So I, you know, I think my entrepreneurial background kind of started when I got into network marketing in college. I got recruited into a company and they were my. My mentor was very, very, very good. Um, he, I mean, I had a lot of success in the company, but he was, um, he was someone that forced me to read books. You know cause I just, you know, all I knew was what I had been taught in school and he really forced me to read books by John Maxwell, uh, robert Kiyosaki, zig Ziglar and all them, jim Rohn, and like I started doing these big presentations and like just being this kind of personality in my company and eventually I left that company.
Speaker 2:But I was, I still had this knowledge of, like, what people, what I saw people do, like I had never seen somebody make a hundred thousand dollars in a month. And then when I got into network marketing, I was, like people make that in a month. It just wasn't on my radar because of, you know, I just grew up, you know, poor and so, because I was at my jobs, making whatever I was making, I still had this knowledge that there was something more and I just made a decision one day that I wanted to get into entrepreneurship, so my first business was actually a trade show out of Virginia where I would get hundreds of people to come to learn how to care for curly hair, and I just became this event producer, so that was like my first career.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Career, yeah, yeah. I think what you were just stating there reminds me of a statement that a fellow Together Digital member once said to me, before I myself even landed in the path of entrepreneurship is what you can make for others is finite, what you can make for yourself is infinite, and sort of once you kind of open your eyes to that and you're like, oh wow, especially again like growing up in a lower income family, it's like, oh wait, what You're telling me? That there's more out there to be had. Yeah, okay, yeah, I'm curious. My interest is piqued. Let's talk about making that money and building that generational wealth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. So it's kind of like I just knew that there was so much more you know and like with the digital world, like what happened for me was that I started I think it was like 2016, there was an app called Periscope that. Twitter had put out and I started seeing people doing this thing called live streaming and I was like what is that and how?
Speaker 1:are they?
Speaker 2:making money and so I was. I had my job and I was like I'm just going to get on here and see what's going on. And through that timeframe I just started teaching people everything that I've ever known from my jobs and people really wanted to hire me to consult with them and I was like I didn't even know anything about the consulting world, none of that. And the first person paid me $25 for an hour and I realized I'm onto something. It's time for me to start building that and not continuously building what I had going on with my job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so interesting, I totally, it's so funny. Periscope I 100% remember it. We were so jazzed as marketers about it because it's like there's so many things, again as as industry folks, that we get excited about because we see the potential and the opportunity but then the consumers aren't ready for. And you know, I said we're gonna, we're gonna talk about some things today in the world of video marketing and vertical tiktok, obviously, um, but like vine, vine and periscope, those were huge and we were ready as marketers but the people weren't, were not not quite yet Right, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness. So how have you wait? I jumped ahead into my questions, I'm sorry. So, okay, yeah, let's let's talk about what inspired you specifically to focus on vertical video marketing in particular and what do you think sets it apart from other traditional marketing methods? Because obviously, video is pretty vast and there's a number of ways right in which you can use it. There's long form, there's short form, there's traditional, there's cinematic. There's so many different ways in which we can leverage it. What is it about vertical and short form in particular, that gets you so excited For?
Speaker 2:sure. So when we first started building my business for the longest time, it was like more so horizontal, vertical video. We did a lot of live streaming and it wasn't until 2020 hit and we all knew something was happening in the world. We didn't know what was happening, and I'm somebody I always pray for creative strategies and all that and while I was praying, I felt like I'd heard God told me to get onto TikTok, and nobody was talking about TikTok. I only knew about this thing called the baby shark challenge from like 2018. And but I was like, well, the worst thing that could happen is that I get on this app and nothing happens. And so I really just spent the whole 2020, like learning about the app and trying to create content there, while still doing what I was doing with long form, horizontal content.
Speaker 2:And once I had my very first viral video, I realized that there was something special that was happening on this platform that wasn't happening anywhere else, and so the brand that I had been building on all the platforms I said, well, let me add TikTok to that mix, and TikTok was the only one of them that made everything that made me explode.
Speaker 2:I kept watching my influence and all this stuff just dramatically, just go through the roof in a way that it had never happened before, and so, for me, I doubled down on it and everything we just kept growing. And then Instagram Reels came out, facebook Reels came out, linkedin Shorts and all the others, and I, just, the more that I've been learning it and teaching it, I realized one of the things that's happening with vertical short video is that the average person has a very short attention span, and so when you've got short content that's vertical, everybody's always carrying around their phones. Um, you've got people who always have access to content and they can watch a 20 second video, a 30 second video, a lot faster. They can watch many of them than watching one long video.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you make a couple of good points and it makes me think about that time span too, right in between when we had Periscope and Vine and when TikTok came about, right. I think the impetus of COVID really sort of kind of pushed certain things into play into consumers and it's part of it sometimes native technology right, kind of being built into our phones better lenses, better cameras, better storage right so we can capture content and videos that you know, and we kind of tend to keep our phones vertical versus horizontal when we're capturing, even just kind of by nature, and the way we hold our phones, the quality, the usage of our videos kind of throw all those into the mix. Plus, yeah, we're all stuck at home on our phones and we can't connect, but then the way we feel connected and more human is by sitting down and seeing each other do funny tiktok dances or, you know, relating through each other through these tiktok stories, and I think that the, the algorithm specifically within tiktok, as far as like the kinds of content that it was delivering and things like that wicked, smart and and what it was delivering and what we kind of wanted and needed to see kind of at that time and place um. So I think that in that instance you know where vine and periscope were just a little too soon. It was just like that perfect storm, right for tiktok to sort of be there right time, right place, um.
Speaker 1:And I do remember some past um webinars and conversations we had where it was just really cool to see folks that again, like you said, you just kind of hopped on there and you started noodling around and you had this wild opportunity. It's like I love, this is what I love about digital. It can feel like the wild west. You just get out there and you do something lo-fi and it's like boom, like a million views, exactly. You know, it's so, so cool and I think that's such the that's, that's the fun thing about it. It's like it's you're out there, gold, you're mining for gold, right, and sometimes you strike it, you know, and that's why you kind of have to, just you have to play, you have to get out there, you have to try it um I think, sometimes we get fatigue right.
Speaker 1:We see stuff and we're like, oh you know, another video platform, another video platform. I'm not going to bother, you might be missing. You might be missing that opportunity.
Speaker 2:I agree. I mean, there's so many people who wish they would have jumped in on TikTok when it was like the moment in time, so to speak, in 2020 or whatever, and they haven't missed the boat, or whatever, but it's still. There's a lot of people who wish that, when they saw it, that they actually did something about it, or even last year, and now they're like oh no, you know Right.
Speaker 1:Yep, you might've. Yeah, you missed a little bit of opportunity, that window of opportunity when the API is most friendly and maybe not quite so pay to play. I remember those days too, on Facebook. I was a content creator for Pringles for a while there.
Speaker 1:And we were able to take our fans from like 7 million to 20 million in a year and it was like no, no problem whatsoever, and it seemed like such an easy thing to do because it was no pay to play. It was great. So which platforms and we talked a bit about TikTok already, but which platforms outside of just TikTok obviously do you find effective for video, vertical video marketing, and what strategies do you try to employ to maximize engagement on these platforms?
Speaker 2:For sure. So I definitely think that Instagram is definitely the second Instagram Reels because, you know, people are, millions of people are already on Instagram and they already are, they already have a habit of purchasing using on Instagram. So if a company is like, where do I start? Where are people already used to making buying decisions, then definitely face. I mean Instagram is the number one that I would say from a vertical video standpoint. The one after that would definitely be Facebook Reels.
Speaker 2:Now Facebook, I feel like it's still a little bit clunky. It's still a little bit like how do I actually find what I'm looking for? Like how are they actually sending content to people? But that would be the. I guess TikTok would be one, and then Instagram two, and then Facebook third, and then, of course, youtube shorts. Youtube shorts still kind of skews, young for the most part still, and it's still extremely behind on all the features that all the other platforms have. But now LinkedIn just launched shorts and so everybody doesn't have it yet. I don't have it, but they just launched it. I think that they're going to be quite the competitor in the business space. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's great. You know, what I think I might've seen somebody actually a connection of mine just take advantage of that Cause she was doing women a plugger. Brooke bites. Brooke sell us. If you don't follow her on LinkedIn, she's great.
Speaker 2:Um, she owns her own social media company.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, yeah, I think that's, that's fantastic Cause I think there's a lot of opportunity, especially with LinkedIn, right For education, um, so I think shorts make a lot of sense in that space. That's exciting, I agree, love it Something, something new to take action on today. All right, I jumped ahead to this question because I I keep alluding to TikTok right.
Speaker 1:Yesterday, was it yesterday? Just yesterday, right, Congress signed a bill Biden, saying we're going to ban TikTok. It's likely to happen after the election. How are we feeling about that? Kenya Like. What kinds of things do we need to be thinking about as marketers, when we're talking to our clients, when we're talking to our internal teams? Do we need to be freaking out? How do we stay calm and carry?
Speaker 2:on. So the one thing that I have been telling our clients, and even when I'm doing live streams, is like what Congress is? Basically what they're saying is that we're not trying to ban TikTok, we are trying to force them to sell it to a United States company, and so I think that the positioning that they have they've had for so long is is a threat to national security. But if it's a threat to national security, like, why is President Biden like?
Speaker 1:campaigning on the app. You know they're like that's kind of weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, we really think it's a money player. What have you? I think that it's going to take if they're going to ban it. Actually, I think it's going to take quite some time for that to be able to happen.
Speaker 2:I think that marketers should continue doing what they're doing.
Speaker 2:They're probably ramping it up and then utilizing the community that they're building there and getting them off of the platform, not onto another platform, but onto their email list, because if you're pulling people off of TikTok to your email list, you can control, like one, being able to sell to them, but two, if you're going to go to an Instagram or YouTube, now you've got them on email and you can go and tell them what to do, and you can tell them as often as you want to and you have control over how they get the message.
Speaker 2:So that would be the top things that I would say, but I definitely would not stop posting on TikTok, because I think that, with over 5 million American businesses being on there, like that's a huge issue from a financial standpoint of affecting that many Americans, and I think they've actually got a really bigger problem on their hands that they don't even realize as it pertains to the election, because if you've got 150 million Americans on there who become very upset like you've got to have a problem when it comes to whoever needing votes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, exactly. Yeah, I agree it does feel like a money, power and privacy play and again, hopefully it's just sort of a political move almost, in the sense of trying to get them to sort of acquiesce to the demands of the United States, to kind of make the moves that they need to, to feel like there's more security in the data and the information that they're taking. Because it is.
Speaker 1:It is a massive platform, right, and I mean us as consumers, we're like I love it and we're on it and it's fun, but if there are safety, security, privacy concerns and it's completely out of our hands, like I mean, I definitely see both sides and I love your thought of this kind of stay the course, and I think it's smart. And it might just be a matter of positioning too. It's like, okay, yeah, we've got all these great TikTok users and communities, these great TikTok users and communities, but how, instead of freaking out like why don't we talk about a strategy of how do we move these people down deeper into our funnel? How do we actually bring them closer to that point of purchase, versus just keeping them in our TikTok space? Right? So let's look at this kind of ripple or disruption as an opportunity, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it, and just as much as I just plugged Brooke, I think, um, kenya, I just started following you as well on Instagram. Go follow her y'all. Seriously, it's such great content. She's like she's going live all the time. So if there's like critical things going on, but then also just like great fun advice on how to grow your followers, vertical video content and then just really relatable content, as an entrepreneur as well, I will say I appreciate that. As a fellow entrepreneur, I appreciate that it speaks to me. So thank you, all right, and then let's see. My next question was what inspired oh nope, which platform? So I'm going to get this right eventually. I'm so glad it's Friday. I even highlighted my next question and then I still went right past it twice. Have you seen the landscape of vertical video evolve over the years? I mean, I'm sure the answer is yes there, but what trends or changes do you anticipate in the near future with vertical video?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so a lot has happened over the over the years. Like it's been four years since we've all been really learning about this, and the first thing is it used to be so fun and trendy and just challenges and dance challenges and all that. Then it became more skits and pointing. Now businesses have learned the art of advertising to consumers in a creative, quick way. So one of the things that's been happening lately is they've been using a lot more influencers the people that have like big platforms on social media to help with their advertising spend. We've also saw where the Emmys and the Grammys and all them they've started going and getting influencers from TikTok and Instagram reels to actually be on the red carpet and draw attention to some of these shows that are like not doing as well. Like the Grammys and the Oscars and all them, the the ratings have been down, but now you've got these influencers who are talking about the Oscars and it's causing it's bringing life back into, uh, into all those things.
Speaker 2:Um, I think that one of the things that's probably going to happen if TikTok stays is I think TikTok is going to start launching a thing, and this is just my own prediction um, that there's a lot of creative people on the platforms on vertical video and they are creating these different like series types of things on the platform.
Speaker 2:I think that they're going to turn these things into like a subscription series, kind of like a Netflix style on TikTok, because TikTok has been really encouraging you to do more long, horizontal content and they had this thing called TikTok series, where it's basically paid to watch, and right now they've hidden it and they're revamping it, and so I'm like you know, with all of what they're doing, I think that, um, you're still going to be watching shorter content, but I think you're going to get more of the things that, instead of you watching television, you're going to be on places like Tik TOK, uh, to do that. Um, youtube hasn't quite done a lot of the updates yet, but I think that eventually, that they're going to make sure that they are in the ball game when it comes to short, short, vertical video.
Speaker 1:They're kind of third right now, um, but I think that they're going to really like cause it's YouTube, it's Google, you know, I know, I was so floored by that stat to hear that, you know, the younger generation especially is using YouTube as search, more so than Google. I'm like what it just? It's such a visual generation that that's where they're starting to do their search and, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how it evolves over the next few years. It might just be that, yeah, you're subscribing and that's like your reality reality TV. Yeah, exactly, it's going to be interesting. Like I said, buckle up, folks.
Speaker 2:I mean, when you think of all of our news from Facebook're, there's a generation that's getting all their news from TikTok. So I'm getting more of my news now from TikTok than I am from Facebook.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Well, because it's just more bite-sized and concise too right, and I think it's sometimes more grounded and more real and it I don't know like it just feels less overproduced and less sensationalized, sometimes Like yeah.
Speaker 2:I get it. Yeah, I get it, exactly, I get it.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about a short form video in the context of benefiting businesses. What are some common misconceptions when it comes to using short form video for business? Because I think a lot of companies kind of shy away from it or they just don't really explore it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so one of the things that you know that they tend to feel like because many business owners knew about it in 2020 when they were stuck at home or their kids or their grandkids were showing them these funny videos and so they still have the thought of, oh, we have to dance, we got to be goofy, we have to do things that are off brand for us in order to have success, and that's because they haven't really gone back to see what is it today versus what it was, you know, four years ago.
Speaker 2:A lot of businesses also don't think you can sell products and services there, but they don't realize that, like some of these, people in their thirties and twenties are making millions of dollars selling their products and services on TikTok using short, vertical video, because it's so easy to digest, it's so easy for a person to just see it, click it, buy it in a way that they could never experience on an Amazon. I love Amazon, but the way I can experience a product on TikTok or on Instagram is just totally different, and so I think businesses don't really understand the power of what is going on there and they think that people aren't really making money on there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I read a headline the other day about an 11 year old girl who just retired because she's made several billion dollars selling bows and something else online. Wow, like YouTube, it's retired. Wow, I have not heard that.
Speaker 1:Good for her and good for her parents, Like it just tells me that she's got like some good money management and parents who don't just take her money. But yeah, I mean, I'm like, if preteens can do it, man, oh man, do you think best companies could? So you know, for those who are interested in starting to kind of look at short form video as a way to maybe grow, scale their business or even just begin to leverage it for their business, what would you say are some of the most important elements for a successful video marketing strategy, then For sure.
Speaker 2:So one of the first things is really understanding what platform that you're on. Okay, so if you're using a platform like TikTok, it's important to know that you can't act like you're on Facebook. You have to come over to the TikTok platform and you've got to spend some time watching content there. But, like, you don't have to watch just any kind of content, but you really need to watch content of like watch some of your competitors, watch people who are in the whatever your product space is or whatever your offer is, and like, just really start digesting. Um, what is happening there? Uh, but not only that. You want to, uh. I always have our clients.
Speaker 2:We say take a look at the video that caused you to stop and watch to the end. Why did you stop and watch this video? What were you experiencing? What made you watch that? What made you want to take action? And then do that a bunch of times until you really start to see a theme of what you're experiencing.
Speaker 2:Like, a lot of businesses don't realize that when you're creating content online, like, people have so many things that they want to see and want to experience and they don't come online to experience us.
Speaker 2:They come online to experience what they want to experience and we are the commercial to their entertainment.
Speaker 2:So we've got to show up in a way that when they're scrolling on social, that they actually want to stop and watch what it is that we're doing. And so businesses have to learn the art of creating what I call scroll stopping content. Okay, Um, and it doesn't mean it has to be anything goofy, anything off brand, but it means that the whoever is doing the creatives and the production and editing has to understand that I've got one and a half seconds or somebody is going to scroll on by me, so that first one and a half seconds should do something for them, Like the text, what you're saying, the visuals. Something has got to stop your, your, your target audience and get them to want to watch your content. Again, all your videos don't have to be going towards 20 year olds or 30 year olds. It can go to whoever it needs to go to, but you've got to know your customer and know how to create content in whatever space you want to be on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. Makes a lot of sense. I just want to make a quick note. We've got a live listening audience with us here today, which I always love, love, love having groups listening in with us, because we've got lots of great questions here, obviously for Kenya. But I want to make sure that we're covering all the things that you all need and want to know. So if there's something that you just have a burning question about, don't be shy, drop it into the chat. We'll be paying attention and listening to that kind of as we go through. So I just want to make a note of that. Just make sure that you drop those questions in the chat. If you have any, we'll make sure that we get to them before the end.
Speaker 1:All right, let's talk about authenticity. You're talking about scroll stopping content. I think something that doesn't feel like an interruption right or an ad is important, but something that is also authentic. To like who you are as a brand, as a company, is important. How do we do this while also achieving our marketing objectives? Staying on brand? That's a lot to balance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure it is, and so that's why you know, I think, that most companies have here's how we have always showed up, here's how we've always marketed, which worked when it worked right. But companies have to go and revisit and go. Okay, what does being authentic look like to us? Okay, but also, what does being authentic look like to our competitors that are actually doing it really well on social? Because, like you know, I'll talk to people sometimes and they're like I feel like I got to tell everybody everything. I got to tell them what's going bad and this, this and this, but the truth is that you don't have to do all of that, you just get to go.
Speaker 2:Okay, how do we truly connect? How do we truly feel about what we do and who our customer is? So we have a lady that I know of. She teaches women over 40 and 50 about menopause right, and one of the things about her authenticity is I am in menopause right. I am someone who is trying to figure out why my body is doing this, why my body is doing that, because no one has ever taught me either, and so, the more she talks about her menopausal journey and all the women she has served, it is truly connecting with every single woman that is going through it. It's connecting with the men, with partners that are going through it and it's basically saying, oh, she's not superhuman, she's just like me and she's a gynecologist, doctor, all the things but it makes you truly, truly, truly connect with her and her brand.
Speaker 2:I've seen other social media strategists who have been like I don't know what's going on with Instagram today. My content is flopping too. I lost X amount of followers this month, and the more that you're just allowing people to experience the actual brand and not uh, cause. You know, a lot of advertising could be just made up. We just say things to sell things, uh, but instead of going sell insane things to sell things, what if we're actually talking about why we started this, customer testimonials and real, authentic things that are just true to people. I mean, I'm 43, and I'm dealing with perimenopause and menopause and I'm like I don't know, what's going on?
Speaker 2:I'm taking this vitamins and this vitamins and people can relate to that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. I think there's a lot to be said about relatability, vulnerability.
Speaker 1:Nobody likes a know-it-all you know, and nobody does know-it-all, especially about menopause, because you know there ain't a whole hell of a lot of research out there about it Because you know, we only really started doing clinical research for women in the 90s Exactly, and so I think just the whole idea of you know trying to figure it out together and being open to that and learning it and figuring it out together, I think that's such a such a great approach. And I was doing a talk yesterday about with the Better for the Better Business Bureau about brand reputation and kind of it reminded me a bit of talking about. You mentioned, uh, brand testimonials and I'm not like a huge chick-fil-a fan because of some of the things they've done in the past and I'm technically but not technically, I am a vegetarian, so I don't eat chicken. But I love the testimonial ads that they have been doing, where they bring in customers and then pay them to share their experiences.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of these like everyday little nuanced things, like this couple whose caterer, just like the day before their wedding, canceled on them and they were like we went to a chick-fil-a the first time. We like got to meet together in person and chick-fil-a came and catered their wedding. You know, things like that. I think it's just really cool and, again, authentic, authentic way to sort of, you know, bring that experience you know into light in a way that feels relatable, vulnerable and fun.
Speaker 2:So and it builds trust right, because it's not like you're like we're the best.
Speaker 1:Look at us. We saved their day. It's just them. And then, like the, the restaurant manager that they worked with in order to kind of make the whole thing happen, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly yeah, People we we love, we loved a good, a good person. You know everybody wants a good person and a company can be a good person by just being a good, being a good company. You know what I mean. And they just want to know, they just want to hear from you, they want to experience you. That's like when people on TikTok cancel companies or cancel CEOs because they've done these really bad things, and it's just like when are you going to just be human, Like just connect with the human? That's why Tom's have done so well, because everybody knows every time you buy Tom's shoes, they donate it and do this. You're like people just love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that model is amazing. Well, and I think too, it's like it's all in the execution, right. Like you know, chick-fil-a in that example could have just sort of championed themselves and pat themselves on the back as like the being the heroes of the story and, you know, kind of done a completely different execution in that video, but instead they just have a simple setup of like the white suite background, the couch and the couple and the restaurant manager. Right, like just keeping it so simple.
Speaker 2:I think makes a lot of sense. I love that.
Speaker 1:I agree 100 percent. It's all in the execution and how you own that. All right. You've shared a couple of examples, but I wondered if you could share maybe some other success stories where some of your strategies maybe have helped businesses achieve high growth through vertical video marketing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have one specifically I love to talk about. Her name is Dr Anna, and she is a pediatrician and she sells different products like naturopathic products for moms or families that have children. And you know, one of her things was she wanted to be able to reach people that you know on TikTok and on Instagram, and so I told her I was like, well, tell me some of the things that you believe. And she told me, you know, that was kind of conflicting with, you know, traditional medicine. And I said, okay, well, why don't you go ahead and take that stance? You know, like one of the things was about food and potato chips, and so I said, take a stance and say I believe this over this. And so she basically went into the grocery store and she said, uh, I know, we know that potato chips are bad, but did you know that these are not actually vegetables Like you know, those little, those little veggies strips?
Speaker 1:or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so she showed them and she's talking about them in the grocery store and she posted on TikTok. She goes away.
Speaker 2:Well, in three days she gains 80,000 followers because the people who were like what, were like who is this and what are you talking about? And when they all reached her, they were like we want more of this and, as a result, her business started to grow. But one of my favorite favorite ones is probably Mercedes. Mercedes, she had a full-time job as a VP of marketing and she started in mystery shopping. You know where you go to a store and you're like they don't know, you're a shopper and you get paid and she was playing around with her business. She was just like oh, whatever.
Speaker 2:So she came to us and we taught her how to create short vertical video. She was basically in the line at Target getting ready to check out and she said let me just do one video. So she goes around Target really quickly recording herself, spying, looking at different things and she edits the video posted on TikTok different things and she edits the video posted on Tik TOK. She went super viral and she made $20,000 in seven days, more than she had ever made in her business. She doubled down on it and started using that same marketing on Facebook and Facebook reels and, fast forward, she's now made over $2 million in her business, wow.
Speaker 1:That's incredible.
Speaker 2:That's incredible.
Speaker 1:I think it's amazing and it just I love that you said this and I think I've said it before in past episodes. It dawned on me several years ago. I was working at a video marketing company and we were doing short videos that we used on social media and for our clients. It just really kind of struck me at some point in my past life I was a copywriter in marketing and advertising and it just struck me that it's like I think if brands looked at the opportunity of having a tone of voice, for as much importance and effort that we put into a tone of voice for a brand as a point of view, a POV, take your TOV and turn it into a strong POV, like you did with those veggie straws, people respond to that. They want you to have values, they want you to have a point of view in the world and it's going to help you find the people that are your truest, most loyal, most likely customers.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that example Because, yeah, I mean as much as I like those veggie straws. Yeah, she's right. Yeah, a lot of the time I'm breaking my brain in my world.
Speaker 2:Like nope, that's not good for you, it's true.
Speaker 1:All right, we do have a question that came in from our live audience. I've got a few more questions for you, but I want to get to this one because I think it sounds great. What kind of data do you look at to help determine if your marketing strategy has met its mark or hit its mark, and where do you source that data? Via the application or the platform itself, or another source? This is a great question, paula, one that I didn't have on my list, so this is why we ask you all yeah.
Speaker 2:So my number one thing is, first of all, what is your goal? Okay? So I have had clients that say I want to go viral, I want 10,000 followers, and I'm like is that the real goal? You know, we have an attorney she's an immigration attorney and she said I want 10,000 followers. And I said do you want 10,000 followers or do you want more clients? She said I want more clients. I said, okay, so our um, all right, let's develop a strategy where, no matter how many followers you get, you get your desired results.
Speaker 2:So we did a video. I think the video had like 6,000 views on it. That was it. And she came in Monday morning. Her team was going crazy and they were like what did you do? And she was like what do you mean? I said we got 121 calls over the weekend and they got 10 paid clients. Now she only gained probably three followers from that video. So she was like I don't want followers, I want the calls, you know. So if you are, whatever it is that you're doing in your business, you've got to determine what is what is going to tell you that this is actually working. So for me, I don't care if I go viral, I don't care if I have a million followers. I want more people joining my email list and purchasing my products and services. And then we use Google analytics on our all of our socials and we know all these leads came from this place and converted into a paid client.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, I'm like talking to our producing team right now. I want that segment cut and I want like captions in bold over that and then I want the volume up louder for the people in the back, over and over and over Exactly.
Speaker 1:I cannot tell you since, like 2010, like even before that like we want a viral video. If you want to break agency people's brains, ask for a viral video, Because again, it's like what is the point, what is the goal, what is the objective? And you're right, Kenya, ultimately, what we want is is we want sales, we want leads, we want closes and we want new clients. You know, we want products off the shelves and we need to look at measuring that. It's not necessarily about those views, it's the views. Yes, views are great. It's not about the followers and it's not about the viralness of it, Because even finding and figuring out what viral is, that's an interesting thing to measure.
Speaker 2:I would probably say one is having the right person on video. I was watching a video of someone talking about one person was the chief marketing officer and the other one was the CEO, and they kept trying to help the CEO get more confident on camera and they were just struggling and the interviewer said well, why don't we stop trying to get the CEO on camera and get you on camera, when they actually should hire someone or source someone that is confident to be able to show up and deliver what needs to be done? Because it's important to know that it's all about us, because if we are consuming you and we don't like you, we find you repulsive or you feel awkward to us and we're like uncomfortable. Nobody's going to stay in a place where they're not comfortable when they don't like a particular person. So that's one huge thing that a company needs to understand that you've got to have a comfortable person there. The second thing is that it's going to sound kind of you know I don't know kind of what's the word controversial, but you know I don't know kind of uh, what's the word controversial? Um, but you got to have a diverse group of people in your marketing, you know. So if you're going to do video marketing and you're saying we are for the people. You've got to have the people you know in in your marketing.
Speaker 2:You know, like I have um, one of my friends. She sells um plant things and things that plants can be in, and all of her marketing looked like her, you know, and it's just very muted and plain and like a minimalist type of things. And I'm like that's beautiful, but if your audience is not a minimalist and they're not the way that you are, then you're missing them. And she said what do you mean? And I was like what about the college student in your marketing? What about the man in your marketing? What about the Asian person? What about the Muslim person? What about? How can you? What about the woman who's wearing a hijab? What, like, how do you? Are you connecting with those different people? And she was like oh my, my products are for them and I'm like they want to see themselves.
Speaker 2:It's like, more than ever since 2020, everybody is like hey, if I can't see that you are for me, then you are against me. And that's kind of like not everyone. But there's this like stance of how people look at marketing now and so if a company is going to be implementing video marketing strategies. It's really important that they are, you know, standing by that you know we are for you and you know you should show up in their marketing. That's kind of like Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-a has made it clear because they have had like I've seen so many commercials of like employees and they're like um instances with like employee did something for someone and like or like you said about the couple that like had Chick-fil-A cater their way. It's like all these different stories that you never would have known about Chick-fil-A. All you know is that they got chicken and their clothes on Sundays, you know. But now you're learning all these other things about what happens at Chick-fil-A with people because they are putting it to the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I agree, I think it's all great smart storytelling and strategy. And, again, we love as humans, we love, we love, we love good stories right about people, make it about people right, make them, make them the hero. And, um, having been a former creative director, having had to do two days worth of shooting with, uh, talking heads of executives for a major bank that shall remain, namely, nameless, I can totally appreciate not forcing, not just for the sake of those who are having to create the videos or view the videos, but even for those executives themselves. They did not enjoy that project any more than the rest of us having to get in front of the lights and, you know, in front of the camera, and just be fed lines, you know, and then forced to read them again and again, because it's like you're just never going to get any kind of intonation in their voice or like variation in their tone or anything. It was like, oh, you know, they just some people just aren't meant to be in front of the camera and that's kind of okay.
Speaker 2:That's not their job.
Speaker 1:That's not their day to day, so don't force it. By all means. Don't force it correct.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm like I love the camera put me in front, but like my best friend is like I ain't no way, I ain't ever, so don't force her, you know. Yep, yep absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So we talked a little bit earlier about video marketing trends within vertical, but do you see any other like overall trends in video marketing that are kind of on the horizon and what are some of those things that maybe we can begin to capitalize on, like in the broader space of video marketing, would you say?
Speaker 2:Um, what else would I say? I would say that live stream is becoming even bigger than it was before, but not just, not just streaming, but like making your streams feel like a show, okay, okay. So, for example, like I'm here in my, in my home office, or whatever, and, granted, this wall could be white the way that it is when I first moved in, but I painted it and I put different things behind it. But I'm getting ready to move to Houston in three weeks and when I build out my office, that time I have way more intention. I'm putting lights on the bottom so that way I can change out lights at different times. There's some of these tools that you can have, like sound effects. You can use a tool called Ecamm and there's like these clapping sounds. There's these like different things you can do.
Speaker 2:So when you're streaming, if you're like you want people to feel like something else is happening, like giving people those types of experiences, um, I feel like that having um, like doing lots of interviews, kind of like what you're doing here, um, but also I think that what's going to happen at some point in time I don't know how people will do it, but I know, because on TikTok and Instagram, you can bring in people from the audience to come in and like, answer questions or whatever. I think we're going to experience a lot more of that as time goes on. I mean, we're already experiencing it, but I think it's going to be a lot more where you've got people that come in and go out and come in and go out. But, lastly, I think that a lot of this is going to start translating into TV. Um, I've been predicting this for a little while um because with the TikTok app.
Speaker 2:It's on smart TV and last year TikTok has been focused so heavily on long horizontal content and I said why would they be focusing on horizontal content? And I was like television, because many people watch YouTube on TV. They're like in their house and they're scrolling and watching YouTube on TV and I'm like people don't watch TikTok on TV because it's vertical. But if people are making way more horizontal content, then there's a likelihood that people will start watching more content horizontally on TikTok, because that app also is in Tesla's and so it's right now. It's vertical, but if you're driving, you don't want to watch something on vertical. You're like you want something that kind of like you know this big on screen, you can focus on the road and see little things here and there. So I think it's going to be more horizontal content and TV.
Speaker 1:I see it now. This was a live stream podcast slash TV show. I'm Oprah and it's like you get a car, you get a car.
Speaker 1:Oh, and I could see that too, where it's like, you know, when you get this opportunity to kind of create like almost like a game day, live game day experience, right when you turn on to the.
Speaker 1:I had a in in college when I took a video marketing class. The guy that taught my class did a lot of this like game day on the ground production and I had no idea. You know, you watch football games and you take for granted the, the live screen graphics that are on there, the commentary, the number of cameras and camera angles, and, granted, it's gotten a million more like light years more sophisticated than when, when I graduated from college which we won't go into how long ago that was, but you know the amount of production that goes into that. But I'm thinking, with all of the technology, the advances we've had, just how much cooler that could even be to sort of those, like you're saying, those live stream on the ground type of experiences with events and things like that, that you could kind of, you know, start to make that sort of a thing, you know, not just in these kind of cool NFL experiences, but, you know, concerts and other on the ground events and things like that. That's really cool yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause I remember like I think TikTok did a what was it? It did a huge like concert. It was all on streamed on TikTok. It was like they were in some type of arena and there were people there, but it was streaming like all these different artists and you're just like what is happening, you know.
Speaker 1:But yeah, yeah, fantastic. All right, what advice? This is my last question, so live listeners. I know we've got some chat going on here. We've got some horizontal the video fans FYI in the chat. If you guys have any other additional questions, don't be shy about asking them, but I believe this is my last question that I have for you, kenya. What advice do you give to our entrepreneurs or influencers who are looking to leverage short-form video to grow their brand, their business and their reach?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So my first advice would be come hire me, I can help you. But seriously, um, the the number one thing that I would say is like, if you're just getting started doing it, I would 100 start watching content on tiktok and don't watch it from the standpoint of oh, I like cats, I like dogs. Go and search for your industry or a couple other professional industries and start binge watching the content there and how they're doing it, like how they are engaging with people, like how they're starting their videos, the middle of their videos, the end of their videos, because you really gotta come up with a framework of what in the world is happening before you can actually start creating, because the average person, when they start, they feel like they just have to point and click and say whatever they're going to say outside or whatever.
Speaker 2:But it's really important to learn. So first, don't just point, shoot, pose, thinking it's going to do what it's going to do, and then you're going to get frustrated when it doesn't do what you want. You really want to spend some time going okay. So if the Wall Street Journal is doing this and Delta Airlines is doing this, chipotle is doing that, and start watching and getting a theme that's going to help you kind of get started.
Speaker 2:The second thing is you've got to learn how to utilize whatever platform that it is. It doesn't matter which one you start on to actually create, but you've got to spend some time learning how to use the features on the platform, because to go live on YouTube or post a YouTube video or create a Facebook post, it's very different than creating an Instagram reel, than creating a YouTube short. You want to spend some time learning how to use the different features because for you as a company, you want your campaigns to be successful, you want your videos to be successful, and the best way for them to be successful is for you to actually spend some time learning how to do what it is that you want it to do, versus just wishing, hoping and praying and when it doesn't do what you want it to do, you give up on it.
Speaker 1:Yep Makes a lot of sense. Do some research, do some studying, know your platform, know your audience, know your business right. Stay true to you. Right, stay true to yourself. Don't go out there acting like everybody else. I think people are going to see that and be like ah yeah, who are you trying to be? What are you trying to do? You're not kidding me.
Speaker 2:You're not kidding anybody else.
Speaker 1:Um fantastic Kenya. This has been such a fun and awesome conversation. I love I guess you can't tell just nerding out over all of this stuff. You know this again, it's a constantly evolving platform. It is such an exciting space to watch as it continues to grow and evolve, because it's a constant space for opportunity. It's a constant space for learning and growth, which is, again, very much what you know I'm about, what our community at Together Digital is about. So I was so thrilled when we had the chance to connect and bring you into the community and onto our space so that you could, you know, speak with our group and our community. Let's see. Oh, we got one more question. We've got a few minutes. If you don't mind hanging out for another minute?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't mind. I'm like I got my hand over here because my cat is trying to get on camera.
Speaker 1:She can make an appearance, we don't mind.
Speaker 2:She is like hi, let's be here, and I'm like no, I'm playing goalie.
Speaker 1:So Julie was just really wondering how much should I concern myself with personal versus professional accounts or content? I'm assuming, julie, you're speaking from like a entrepreneur standpoint, so if I'm incorrectly speaking, feel free to correct me. In the chat there is some overlap and some divergence, audience wise, and this is a great question.
Speaker 2:How much did I concern myself with personal versus professional accounts or content? So I think it really depends upon what is your company. So my company is Kenya Kelly. So the Kenya Kelly brand can be personal and business. If I was creating content as if you brand it, which is our company name, then I wouldn't be sharing any personal content. I wouldn't be talking anything about my cat or anything like that. It would be 100% about what we do for our clients, who our company is, who we serve and things of that nature. So the Kea Kelly brand.
Speaker 2:When I'm creating content online, you're going to see me talking about social media, marketing, entrepreneurship, how to make money, systems, processes, funnels and things of that nature. You'll also see me saying, hey, I'm at this conference this weekend or I am getting ready to move to Houston. Here's some of the struggles that I'm dealing with as an entrepreneur. You'll see me be more emotional about overcoming divorce and all that type of stuff, because the Kenya Kelly brand is a human, it's not a corporation or what have you. So it's really important that you go okay, what is the actual? Because I don't really know what you do. Julie, you've got to determine who is showing up. Is it you the brand, or is it the company brand?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's important to think about that the goals and objectives for you and your personal brand versus your brand as a business. I think that does make a lot of sense because there is a little bit right, that's like almost a Venn diagram. There are some places where that might, and what I represent, my mission, my values, my purpose as a person. But then obviously there's a lot that overlap within that and the together digital space. But obviously we're two separate things so there's like that overlap. So sort of where I share and show exactly what you're saying. Kenya is like you know, those that personal aspects of who I am as a person and sort of where I express myself and share things, maybe more vulnerably. Is that being more personal brand? Right, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't put any of that on the together digital stuff, right, that would be something completely different. So hopefully, julie, that that helps kind of give you some of those more specific places where you would consider, you know, not sharing certain things versus other things. So like, if you even get more specific, like I have a and it's obviously I haven't. We have Instagram for together digital. I would never put anything Amy Vaughn brand in together digital, right, but I have an Amy Vaughn account for myself and then I actually even have my own like personal, personal Instagram that I keep private for just like my friends and family, because I would never technically like I have kids, so I wouldn't like put my kids on like that necessarily, like I might, but it's like you can't like see them that closely or anything. So a lot of it's just really kind of sort of going through the time and exercise and kind of deciding what's comfortable and right for you, right, yeah, exactly A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, thank you for the question, julie. I hope that was helpful. And thank you, kenya, again, for sharing all of your thoughts, ideas and advice. They're spectacular. Again, everyone, make sure that you follow her. Linkedin. Instagram is another great place to follow her as well. We'll include that in the show notes. Once we get everything posted up as well, we'll go ahead and call it a day, everyone. I think Kitty's trying to make another appearance.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, she's not kidding around, she's like hello. No later.
Speaker 1:She's like I've been holding out for like 50 minutes now. Come on, yes yes, I was like girl. What is going on? Fantastic, All right. Well, we'll let Kitty get her time, then We'll wrap it up here. Thank you so much again for your time. Kenya, Everyone, we hope to see you all next week. Take care, and until then, everyone, keep asking, keep giving and keep growing. We'll see you all next week. Bye, everyone.
