60. Building confidence on social media & the art of story telling with Alyona Social
In this podcast episode, I introduce Ally from Alyona Social, an Instagram and Reels expert who helps online business owners monetize their Instagram. She shares her journey of transitioning from TV production to social media production after moving to Australia. We discuss the significance of mindset in using Instagram and Reels effectively, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and evolution in the ever-changing social media landscape.
Ally talks about finding the right type of Reels content that works for you and advocates for speaking Reels as a way to build connection and trust with the audience. We highlight the importance of authenticity and being true to oneself in content creation, as well as the long-term benefits of consistent posting and attracting the right audience. We also discuss the importance of intention and serving the audience through content creation, in order to build confidence in yourself and within your brand.
Connect with Ally:
Connect in Instagram: @alyona.social
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Speaker 1 (00:00:01) - So welcome back to another episode of the Money Mindset Hub podcast. I am here with the gorgeous Ali from Aliana Social. And today we're going to talk about how Ali helps online business owners monetize their Instagram with the power of reels. So she uses her signature blend of strategy and content that allows her clients to bring in hot leads and sales in their sleep. Isn't that what we all want? So she is your go to Instagram and reels expert. So if you're sick of the cringe trends and you want to start showing up as the expert your audience actually wants to buy from. Then she's your woman should you go to. So she's also got ten years experience in production so she knows how to tell a story online so that people actually fall in love with your brand and become your loyal customers. Wow. Ali, I'm going to pass it over to you. But that's an incredible introduction. I think it actually sounds good. I love that it's all true at the same time. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:01:06) - I'm just actually really significant for me to be here because as we already talked a little bit before hitting the record, I love your podcast and I've been listening to it from, I think, the very beginning. I still have notes on my phone and it was very nice to read through them just before the podcast recording to kind of just like, Oh, so many memories and then really love how you talk about money, mindset and everything. What you are teaching is very close to me because I believe that reels and Instagram are also all about mindset, all about how you see it, how you feel it, whether you're aligned with the content you're doing or whether you're not aligned, and how you can little tweaks in your mindset that will actually help you stay consistent, stay productive and stay aligned, as I said, with your content. Yeah, very excited for this conversation today. Oh, me too. And honestly, that just blew me away that you were like an OG listener to the podcast. I just thought, Oh my God, I really so love that.
Speaker 1 (00:02:07) - Obviously we were connected for a reason. You're supposed to be here, so how fun is that? When you first listened and now you're like, Oh wait, now I'm actually on the podcast. I was listening to writing notes too. It's so huge for me. Love it. All right. So let's dive into that. Like, first of all, how did you get started? That's a great question. So I moved to Australia a few days before WA closed its borders, so I moved to Australia to be with my partner and before that I used to work in TV production. I used to work at an international TV channel and throughout ten years of my career I was everything wearing different hats from a writing journalist to a content producer to a video editor, literally everything, doing everything possible. And then when I moved here and obviously the whole world was in lockdown, nothing was really certain. There wasn't a certain what I'm doing as well. And so I was still working just remotely like the rest of the world for my company for a year, doing a lot of just production behind the scenes, whether it's collecting some content or whether it's writing stories or whether that's why I'm always teaching my clients about a lot about storytelling, because storytelling is it's a major, major thing when it comes to reels, when it comes to stories, when it comes to everything, when it comes to building your personal brand online.
Speaker 1 (00:03:35) - And so after a year, I had to quit my job, my career and that the big question came up what am I going to do next? And I was thinking for a few days, a few weeks had even called with a career coach and realized that there is so much in common between TV, between traditional media and social media. Literally all those methods that have been used for decades in magazines and newspapers and TV to grab attention, to hold the attention of the viewers, to really funnel them to watch more. Stay with us. More after the break or something. So I realized that I know how to do all those things, not for TV production, but actually for social media production. And plus the reels were on absolute rise at that point was 2021, and I did video editing professionally. So again, I knew how to grab attention, hold attention, how to do all those advanced media editing techniques. And this is how it started. And I absolutely feel in my own element, the thing I love doing even now, I still every maybe six months get a course, whether it's a course about reels, whether it's of course about Instagram from people in the same industry, just because it's so interesting what other people are doing.
Speaker 1 (00:04:59) - And I feel like a lot of people just stop learning. At some point they think, well, I know everything already. Like now it's time to teach people. But actually no is always good to upskill uplevel yourself because there's just so much going on and even with reels, right? So we used to be all about viral reels, so we used to be all about transitions. We used to be all about trending sounds. Now it's different. Now it's speaking reels, now it's expert reels, Now it's easy reels like behind the scenes and all that. So it's all evolving and it's so important to just evolve with it and roll with it. Yeah, I love that you touched on that too, because think you are spot on. I think that one of the worst things anyone can ever say to themselves is I already know that. And they move out of that situation of remaining as a student. Like I always think in life, you are always a student, you are always a student of life.
Speaker 1 (00:05:55) - And even in your own business, there are always things that you can improve on. And like you said, things gravitate and evolve and there's different strategies that work, and sometimes you actually got to actually focus on the strategy that works for you, not what everybody else is actually doing. So what is consistent for you? What works for you? What do you enjoy? Like when you are scrolling on social media, what kind of reels do you gravitate towards? And I'll be honest, I was a pretty like light coming to the reels because I think it was it was all like the trending audios, the dancing reels, and that's just not me. It's not me. However, now what I'm like, No, I'm just going to snip my podcast and that is my reels because it's me speaking like this and this is me. This is what you get. I found that more gold comes out of the podcast episodes like just naturally flows out when it's totally not scripted. And that's what I find is really working for me.
Speaker 1 (00:06:48) - So I don't know if you've noticed that too, with different things, working for different industries, different professions, but I'm finding like that one's really working with me. It's like the little nuggets of gold that just come out of my mouth. They're the reels that people, they reply to my DMS like, Oh my God, I needed to hear that. I love that. And then they go and listen. And then I've noticed honestly, almost a doubling of the downloads of my podcast since I've started doing that. So that was cool. It was fun to play with that. I'm sent. Sometimes I do record when I'm a guest speaker on the podcast and then use this material for my reels as well. Everything is content. It used to be a trending sound and knowing everything is content and everything. But it's it's it's. It's true. It's true. So definitely I'm a huge advocate for speaking rails when you actually talk on reels because I think this is the best format in 2023 because the main goal with reels now is not on going viral or getting views or lies, all this vanity metrics, but it's actually building connection with your audience so that the person who comes across your page just starts binge watching all your content, all your reels, and then spends maybe like 20, 30 minutes on your page binging and just like really getting connected to you.
Speaker 1 (00:08:10) - And then they decide basically whether they vibe with you. And then it can actually just makes the whole selling process easier, the conversion process easier because if you post a lot of video content, it can save you time. For example, jumping on a discovery call with a person because person already made a decision whether they want to work with you or not from your content. That is why it's so important to show up in your content, in your reels, just the way you are. Because if you're dancing in your real, obviously if dancing is your thing, do dance. Absolutely. But if you are a business owner, you don't have to be an entertainer all the time, right? So it's your Instagram, it's like your storefront. It's like it's a place where you sell and it's okay to do it. It shouldn't feel like cringey or it shouldn't feel like to salesy because this is what it is. And of course, it's important to infuse some personality in your content to help people make this buying decision easier.
Speaker 1 (00:09:17) - And this is why it's so important to speak on your reels as well, because your voice, the way you present yourself, the way you look when you talk, it's it really, really can have a really big impact on their decision making process. So it's also important to understand that reels are a long term gain. So we all we need to do is not worry about views that they're getting, because everyone probably noticed that Instagram stopped pushing reels that much. Its reels are getting less views, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is new people are still coming. And when you post consistently and consistently meaning not every day, but like whenever you feel like high quality content and a new person that comes to your page, keep scrolling and keep getting new information, new value, and keep just falling in love really with you and your content. And this is where the magic happens and this is where sales happen. Exactly. And do you know what? I couldn't agree more. And what made me think of when you were speaking was the more fun that you actually have with your content and the more that you are purely putting it out because you've got good intentions to serve, to educate, to inspire, to just make someone laugh, whatever it is, whatever your intention is for your post, your real, your story, whatever form of content that you enjoy doing, whatever your intention is, as long as it is not just to gain a sale, just to go after the money, because that hands down will not work.
Speaker 1 (00:10:54) - And also remembering it's about planting the seeds. And like you said, eventually you're going to find your people and this is the way that you either attract or repel. And that's good because you only want to attract the people that are your ideal client, that are people that vibe with you and your energy. So the more authentic and no, that word gets thrown around a lot, but the more authentic you are, the way you speak, the way that you would normally speak, you laugh the way you normally laugh, the way your energy is. If it is just you and it's effortless to be just you, right? We're not putting on a facade. We're not trying to talk more professionally if that's not how we normally talk. This is a journey because at first it can sort of feel like, Oh, I need to be this certain way, or this is how people in my industry are kind of acting. So I need to be more like that. I think you get to the point you just don't care anymore and you realize, well, I get to make the rules because in your own business you get to make the rules.
Speaker 1 (00:11:49) - So you decide how you show up. You decide how you speak, how you act, what kind of content you enjoy, and that will always resonate with your people. And like you said, that's naturally how they're just going to build that know, like and trust that staying on your page, that engaging, that enjoying just your energy and then it's like a no brainer when you put out an offer, a no brainer that they think. This is something I need support with. This person is at the top of your top of their mind. That's who I'm going to go to. Like you stay top of mind. Then I think the more consistent you are. But I understand for some people it's overwhelming even to speak to camera, even to show up. And this is where I love to give this advice of first, always look in the lens of the camera and always imagine just one person as if you're not speaking to everyone to 100 or 2000 people who follow you, but only one person. And imagine this person is either your ideal client or even your friend, whatever is easier for you.
Speaker 1 (00:12:50) - And that is why it's also important to avoid using professional terms or complicated sentences or, as you said, trying to sound a certain way, sound more professional or sound more serious or whatever. Just be yourself and use simple words. Use just simple terminology and speak. Look directly in the lens of the camera as if it's the eyes of your ideal client and or your friend. Whatever is easy, and this is where it's going to be so much easier to speak. There's so much mindset work in reels. It's so important to look at them as as well, not some uninspired obligation that you have to do because everyone else around you're doing. But it's actually, if you think about it reels are this free and unlimited marketing and advertising tool that didn't have even a few years ago or imagine like ten years ago to advertise your business, you actually had to like apply for an ad in a local newspaper or go to the local radio station or TV. It would cost you a fortune. And also you never know who you're going to actually hearing, who you're going to actually react to it, where they will reach certain people.
Speaker 1 (00:14:17) - How much money do you need to spend on it? This term was very popular last year or my real flopped. It's not true. There is no such thing. It's a long term game. They don't go anywhere. They're always on your page and they keep advertising your business in your sleep. Yeah, so they do. Don't put it up and expect the instant gratification. This is something in our era, I suppose. Everyone wants everything now, all the success, all the clients, all the money, all the accolades. But it doesn't happen like that. It truly is this consistent game. And to be honest, this could go against a lot of marketing coaches, but I don't look at my insights. I don't look at how many real views I got, don't look at how many likes I got. Don't even look at the most engaged content. I just focus on putting out content that I like. There's certain clips that I'm like, Oh, that just that's a good one. So I literally put it out and don't overthink it.
Speaker 1 (00:15:15) - And I just explain and that obviously it's always leading someone somewhere. Maybe it's just to build that engagement, that community, maybe it is to funnel them to the podcast because that is your main form of content. Whatever it is. Like you're always going to have some main form of content, but I think not to. You can't lose track of the fact that it is going to pay off for your future success and overnight successes take years. Yeah, but that's something that we can forget because there is this. Yeah, it's instant gratification. It's seeing a lot of wins online and seeing a lot of successes. And then I think a lot of people can get a bit stuck in, Well, why aren't doing that yet? How come my reels flopped? You know, what's a flop? It might flop the minute you're looking at it. That's your own perception of what's a flop. But then in 12 months time, that could be the reel that goes viral. You don't know that yet. Like, you just got to wait and see and enjoy what you're doing and be committed to it.
Speaker 1 (00:16:09) - What would be your advice for someone who is just like they just do not like their content at the moment? They're looking at their content. They feel like it's a bit flat. They're just not having fun with it. What's a good sort of starting point or strategy for them? I feel like the first thing that you need to start, if you feel a bit lost with your content, is to do like a massive market research and also just to see what people who follow you or not, even people who follow you. If you go, for example, to Facebook groups and do market research there, what people are interested in when it comes to your industry, because it often happens that we think that we don't talk about certain topics because we think it's obvious and people already know that and people are not interested in that because it's like, duh. But actually this is the stuff people want to hear from you and this is the stuff they want to know more about. And sometimes we complicate things. I used to do it myself.
Speaker 1 (00:17:12) - I thought, I don't want to talk about the basics because people can access this basics everywhere. All the experts are talking about the same stuff. I want to give more advanced things to people who follow me. But then I realised that actually it's the basics that people love to hear because all the experts, as we already discussed with you, they're different. And that's why this is the beauty of Instagram and this is why I believe that competition doesn't really exist because everyone's different. You take, for example, me and ten other reels and Instagram coaches and we're all going to be different and some people will vibe with me. Some people will think, Oh no, I'm going to go to someone else and this is fine. This is what actually works and this is what create yet doesn't create this competition on Instagram because there are different coaches, different naturopaths, different chiropractors, everyone. And you are allowed to choose someone who you like. This is why, again, the video content is really important because people will decide whether they buy with you or not through this video content.
Speaker 1 (00:18:20) - So the market research, if you feel a bit lost, I think it's the main important thing to do and not just some like throw a few questions on stories with yes and no answer, but maybe create a Google forms or something with questions that require actually an answer, not just yes or no, but actually telling you so that people can tell you what their issues are, what their struggles are, and then probably offering an little incentive, like a quick discovery call or a freebie or something in exchange to motivate people to help. And this way you will first find so many topics for your content. And after that it's really just trial and error and see what's working for you and see what's not working for you. But I would really recommend trying speaking real, speaking on rails, making it short and sweet and nice if it doesn't flow for you. For example. For me, English is not my native language and so I write scripts for my reels and I think this is like perfectly fine if you're just starting and if it doesn't flow for you yet.
Speaker 1 (00:19:31) - I have actually like a three sentence formula that I use for my reels and I teach my clients. It's super easy, so its first sentence is usually a problem or a problem that your potential client might have a pain point. So I was struggling with ideas for your content. Then, for example, goes a quick line with a solution and like then you need to do a market research to find what your audience is actually interested in. And then it becomes a call to action, like drop medium market research. And I will send you exact list of questions that you need to ask your people, potentially hypothetically. So three sentence formula that I use for my scripted reels really works wonders. So like pain, point, solution and call to action, that's fantastic because it just simplifies the whole process. And I think what happens sometimes is people can really overcomplicate what they need to put out, what they need to create, or they think, I don't know what to do with content. Another a block that comes up all the time.
Speaker 1 (00:20:31) - As you were speaking, it reminded me the market is too saturated. That is one of the biggest blocks I hear all the time. And I always go back to them and say, But no one is you. No one is you. And I think that's what you're highlighting here, is that's the power of showing up in video. That's the power of speaking, because people will align with you and they will align with your energy or they may not and that's great. They'll find someone else that they align with, you know, and you just feel that gut instinct like, Yep, that's the person for me. Yep, that's it. No, that's not me. I'm gonna look elsewhere. It's fine. Like there is. There's no such thing as the market is too saturated. There's no such thing as competition because no one is you. And the more I think that you embrace that the essence of you, your power, that's where you realize that everyone can dominate. Everyone can be successful. It's just.
Speaker 1 (00:21:22) - Where are you? Placing these rules on yourself or where you're overcomplicating it, where you're overcomplicating your content, where you're overcomplicating this, the whole process that it is from building a brand, and I love that earlier mentioned that too. It's about building a brand. So when people actually think about your brand, what do they think? What do they feel? And from there, that's how you turn clients into potential clients, into actual paying clients, because they already resonate with you and your brand and your energy and the way you show up. And and I honestly think that hands down video and audio content is so much more powerful than a picture every single time. Definitely. So right now, what you need to send down. Yes. Is video content, your voice, your message? Because again, another mindset thing that I work with my clients when it comes to reels is that scared to show up, really scared to show you their face. They're they're scared to be judged. Too scared to be like their voice might sound weird because we're so not used to the sound of our own voice for me.
Speaker 1 (00:22:25) - Took a few months to get used to the sound of my voice when I started actually speaking in my content. So I think it's really important as well to keep that in mind that your content can be seen by thousands of people. And that means that with your knowledge that you're giving in your content and your speaking content, you have the power of helping thousands of people all around the world. And it is so powerful to think about that that you can spread your message, your unique way of doing things, unique technology, you're unique, anything you can help people heal, people, whatever, whatever depends on what you're doing through the power of content. So once you're building your personal brand as well, as you mentioned, you can sell anything on the back of it. And so this is another thing. It's so important to infuse your content with your personality. So not only talk about business, but also talk about what's happening in your life. And that could be a challenge because sometimes people say, Oh, but my life is not interesting.
Speaker 1 (00:23:35) - There is nothing interesting going on. Like, I don't do that. I'm guilty of that sometimes I'm not going to lie. Yeah, yeah. To hear this, I'm like, you know, I've got three kids, so my life's pretty standard. I love my life, but like, you know, I'm a people want to hear about. Yeah, I compared that even like if you compare the stats, if when you post when I post personal content, anything that is happening in my world, I don't know if someone broke into my car or something. This to distance views, comments, shares, DMS so much more than when I'm just trying to, I don't know, promote another freebie or something because people are so interested and that's your kind of job to make sort of like a Netflix TV show out of your life and just posted online because people love stories. Our brains are wired to listen to stories from when we were little kids. And so that is why any story that you're telling online will get so much more interest and so much more involvement.
Speaker 1 (00:24:43) - And if you don't want to share your personal content on your feed, because feed could be like a bit more sort of for your audience that they don't know you yet. You can keep your feed for just your business content, but stories, they disappear in 24 hours. Nothing will happen. Even if you change your mind and delete your story and think, Oh, it was too personal. But just experiment. Stories are an amazing place to experiment. Amazing place to story tell, amazing place to show your boring life, which is actually not boring and people really aren't interested in that and like just following you and like, stalking you on your stories and see what's happening in your life. So yeah, you need to get into a habit of posting personal content, but it really pays off even for your statistics and engagement and all that. Oh, absolutely. And as you were saying that, I was thinking about an example of when my daughter lost her tooth and like the tooth fairy came and asked like, does anyone else's? Like, what is the tooth fairy bring your kids these days? Because mine's been affected by inflation as well.
Speaker 1 (00:25:51) - She got five bucks. I was like, not for every Tuesdays, but it was so funny. The amount of DMS that I got in response to that was so many and thought, Oh, so funny. Like they always watch and you know, like along and react to my stories. But then boom, here's a question about the tooth fairy. And it just went it just went inside. And that was all my the parents who follow me as well and thought, Yeah, you're so right. It's more so I think sometimes that social media, we forget that it is literally just a place to connect and like what you said. Earlier how when you're speaking to stories and when you're speaking to reals, you're speaking to someone. And I always picture actually speaking to my friend, I picture that the person I'm speaking to is another friend of mine who is in business, who who needs to hear what I have to say. And I'm speaking to her. And it is literally how I would speak to my best friends.
Speaker 1 (00:26:42) - This is how I would speak to them. And that's made it so much more easier for me because I used to, back in the day, talk very general, think like used to not picture one person and actually don't even have any particular person in my mind. But I just know whenever my face is on that stories, whenever I'm on camera, I'm speaking to someone and I don't even know who they are, but I know they needed to hear it. And it was just, I don't know, it's just divine or something. And that has made it so much easier and such less pressure to show up. But here's one thing I want to ask for your advice for anyone who is maybe they're hiding behind their social profile at the moment and they know they need to do video content because, you know, that is the way honestly, that's the quickest way to build, know, like and trust and convert and build a business because we're building businesses here, not hobbies. So what do you say to the people who are kind of hiding behind their profile and they're terrified to show their face on stories? Because I certainly was a few years ago, absolutely petrified.
Speaker 1 (00:27:46) - I knew I needed to do it. So overcome that hurdle, sweating bullets when I was telling a story and introducing my face. And obviously, of course, it just got easier and easier and now doing this. But I remember past version of me just like terrified to go on stories. What's your advice to someone who was like me back in the day? First, I guess. Yeah. It's so important to understand that we all went through this stage. You don't think you can be born being confident on camera? It's. It's a skill. It's a skill. Even even TV presenters I know personally they develop this skill as they go. So when you look at those people on a TV and thinking, Oh wow, they're so confident, they're so they are not like the camera goes off and they're like, Oh damn it, I forgot that. Oh, I didn't say that. Oh my God. I was so like. So it's it's just I think when it comes to confidence on camera, fake it till you make it.
Speaker 1 (00:28:53) - I think faking it works with confidence really well. But at least for me, everyone's different. But like, if you try recording yourself even without posting for now, like record yourself and send it to a friend, to a mom, to your partner or something, just get used to the way you look and your sound, the sound of your voice and the look how you look when you when you're actually speaking on video. It's very important thing. And so just don't post it. Just try recording. Just try speaking. And like in the end of the day, record a video of you describing what happened to you throughout the day. So all those little exercises without actually maybe going on Instagram and posting straight away just to get used to, as I said, the way you look or the way you sound. And then just remember, everyone's going through that and like all those confident people that you see online, they're not confident or it's not that they always been confident. It's just it's just a skill that, like any other skill you can build up as you go.
Speaker 1 (00:30:03) - It just takes practice, doesn't it? Because it's like you said. I mean, I was terrified, terrified to show my face on stories, sweating bullets. And then guess what? I just kept practicing. I just kept practicing, practicing, practicing. And now it is nothing to me. I even remember I used to be terrified of, like, speaking in front of my classroom back in high school. Like I'm going back to high school Days was terrified. And then last year my sister got married and there I am up on stage in front of everyone there. And I just did my speech completely off the top of my head. Yeah. And I felt so confident. I had no goosebumps, nothing. I was just like, yep, in front of all these people and thought, Oh wow, I've come a long way. Two years ago I used to when I just started my Instagram, I used to batch record stories, so I would do my hair, I would do my makeup, I would just change clothes and record stories for like a week, like talking about different things.
Speaker 1 (00:30:57) - But it would take me like two hours because literally I was just recording and deleting, recording and deleting. And back then the stories were 15 seconds, so it was like it was pain to do it. But I was so exhausted after like an hour or two. But then literally I've just been doing it for like maybe a month, a month and a half. And then it just started to get really flowy and started to get really natural. And then, yeah, just it's so important to understand that everyone is a human. Everyone's is afraid of being judged online. Everyone has the same insecurities. When people seem confident or seem that they have all the stuff together that actually probably 99% of the time not so. Yeah, just it's so important to just relax and try to be as aligned with what you're doing online and what you're posting as possible. And I guess that's the secret that there's no secret. Yeah, that really isn't like think we've got to stop trying to put people on pedestals, you know, because really we all dress the same thing.
Speaker 1 (00:31:58) - We all feel the fear. We all just move through it anyway. Regardless, we stuff up a million times. We fail forward. It doesn't matter. There is no such thing as failure unless you fully quit and give up and I know that our listeners are not about to do that. So I've loved this conversation with you and I really want everyone to know where can they find you? Ali Yeah, you can find me on my Instagram. I dot social, so I think the link should be in the show notes because it's hard to spell alone sometimes. And yeah, this is where you can find me and should medium. I'm always love to connect with you and just chat all things Instagram and reels and I know that you also do the simple sell out reels Masterclass. You have a masterclass that I'll also link in the show notes as well as Instagram business Strategy session. So if anyone needs any support with that, she's also your girl. So I'll put all the links in the show notes. But I have loved this conversation with you.
Speaker 1 (00:32:54) - Ali. Thank you so much for coming on and thank you so much for being an OG podcast listener. Such an honor to be here. I say love the conversation. Thank you so much. Thank you.