Grow by Building Your Personal Brand Online

See if our special guest is on. Yes. All right, let me do an introduction. We're going to get right after it. Let me record and go live on Facebook. Thank you to the guests that are joining us today. We've had so much interest for this call, so we were actually a little worried about the Zoom account, but so far we're looking. Okay, so if people message you and say they couldn't get in for some.

Reason.

Just tell them we'll, you know, help them out with a recording. Or we'll just have to have our guests on again. Right. Everybody wants to know about branding and social media and all the things. All right, let me go live real fast on Facebook, guys. And then we are ready to talk about branding and strategy and how we can show up more on video. So I am super excited to introduce you guys today. She's become a friend of mine, so I actually found her on Instagram. Her name is Donna Bowling and it's going to look like Dana, but her name is Donna. And I found her on Instagram like two years ago, and I saw or maybe a year and a half, and I saw her helping a girl that I had heard of before. And maybe some of you have heard of Patty Mellencamp if you watch Housewives, you know, if you don't, you know her dad, John Cougar Mellencamp. And so Petty is. Or Donna is friends with Petty. Good.

How about you?

Can you guys mute yourself? Jj, it looks like your audio's on. There we go. Okay. So anyway, she's helping Teddi grow her brand on social media. And so I was kind of watching what's happening and she was giving a few master classes. And lo and behold, I decided to hire Donna as my coach. And she really helped me show up more on video, which is the name of her. She has different. I guess you don't really call them classes, but, like, she'll have challenges and then you can be a part of her coaching for show showing up on video. So Donna has really taught me a lot about branding and strategy and not only how to just show up as an authentic self so you kind of don't have all of that imposter syndrome, but really how to let your personality shine through through video. So I'm super excited to introduce Donna. And Donna, I'm going to spotlight you here and then I'm going to let you take it away.

Ok? Ok. Well, do you guys hear me? I'm, like, wondering if I need the mic. Is the sound okay? Yes. Sounds all right. Yay. Okay. I'm so happy to have you guys here and be here. I feel like I'm back from the dead. I had the worst case of COVID the last two weeks, and I was so out of my element. I was really stuck in bed. So I am so excited to just have the energy. And there's nothing more that I love to do than this. Speaking to groups, coaching, and helping. And anytime Stacy gives me a text or a call and says, like, hey, you're free on this day to help, I'm like, don't ask anymore. Yes, absolutely. I always have so much fun. And also, don't you notice that, like, cool people hang out with cool people and fun people hang out with fun people and energetic hang out. Like, it's a vibe. And Stacy always has had a great vibe. I've loved working with Stacy. And so anytime Stacy brings someone new into my life, I'm like, bring it on. And I feel like the same. We do that back and forth. So Stacy and I have a lot of fun together. Stacy's right. We met on Instagram a couple of years ago. Yeah. Because I was. I'm friends with Teddi Mellencamp. She is. If you watch Real Housewives, she was on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. But she also has very, very big business. And she. Everyone has a crush on Stacy. I love the chat, and I do. And she had. She has a business that she has started. You know, she was a celebrity's daughter before she was on Real Housewives and she'd like to work out. That's all she knew. She liked to work out, and she was interested in losing some weight, and so she started to kind of. We became friends when our babies were really, really young. We have kids around the same age, and we became friends when our babies were really young. And she said, like, I want to do on Instagram. I want. I want to kind of like, include more people into this. And she started a brand that I helped her name called LA Workout Junkie, which was at the time she was using. If you guys know Class Pass, Class Pass is one of those, like, memberships where you can go to all the workout classes. And she was just filming stories and telling people, hey, we're going to this workout. So we used to. I mean, she really kicked my ass. I was doing 2A days with her for a second there. I was like, wait, hold on. I'm not trying to, you know, be a bodybuilder. So I had to slow down over there. But she took that brand L A Workout Junkie and turned it into what now is a million dollar, multimillion dollar brand called all in with Teddy Mellencamp. And so she and I, she always calls me her Instagram guru. I am not an Instagram coach, but I understand social media really, really well, so it actually works out great. I'm just going to give you guys a little bit of. I'm going to. I have some slides. So we're going to get into slides and. But just to give you a heads up, I am you. And when I say this, I want to be really, really clear. Tell me. Actually, like, by a show of hands, I can see a bunch of you put it in the chat. On a scale of 1 to 10, one being, you know, incredibly uncomfortable with being yourself on social media or showing up on social media, not just, like, posting a picture of a house. And 10, being like, I am all in on social media. Give me some scores. And like, how are you in terms of your nerves? How much do you show up? Yeah. Okay, so we got some mid range, lots of three sevens. Okay. We're all, we're all over the place. Okay. If you guys want, I would love. And I'm really, really big into interaction. This is why I love doing these things, these live things. So just please feel free to message and ask things in the chat. I may have to, like, blow my nose or sneeze in the middle. I feel sneeze coming on, so I hope I don't have to do it too often, but it never goes away. I'm going to mute. Hold. Done. It went away.

You're muted now.

I'm back. I'm here. Do you hear me? Okay. Had to get back into the zoom mood. All right, so I want to know from you guys if you are at the, like, five and under, if you are somewhat nervous or don't like to show up on your social media as yourself to stand out. I would love to hear some thoughts from you guys. If you, if you are willing to put in the chat, like, what's holding you back? What is the reason that you feel like you're not either willing or it's not working for you, Throw it in the chat. We're going to jump into that. I want to. Okay. You are very comfortable. Great. If you guys are comfortable, you're already a step above. But that doesn't mean even if you're comfortable, it doesn't mean that you're doing it the best way. Right. So there's a couple little things here. Not only do we have to get Past this feeling of being comfortable being ourselves online, then we have to understand what do we talk about online? What do we say? How do we show up? So there's a lot of things here. Okay, I have no problem. I just don't know what content to do. That is the biggest thing I hear. Number one is I'm nervous on camera. And number two is I don't know what to say. Time. Do people really want to see us on social media? Lack of response. Oh, my gosh, Wait, I need to save this chat because this is all my content for the next month. Like literally, this is my speech bloopers. I don't make time feeling like I have to show it made up. Okay, so just to give you guys a heads up, I here's my former past. Well, first, let's get into it, right? Let's get into my little slides here. Standing out in a crowded online world, I'm going to try to pay attention to you guys just as much as I'm paying attention to my slides. So don't. If you throw something in the chat, I will try to see it. I just want to give you guys a little bit about me, okay? I'm a former casting director. That was my life. I worked in casting here in Los Angeles for 15 years. Do you guys know who Zendaya is? The actress Zendaya? I discovered Zendaya when she was 12 years old. She came in for a little pre read. I was casting a Disney show. It was called Dance Dance Chicago. It then became Shake it up with Bella Thorne. I did a ton of casting for Disney, Nickelodeon, abc, Fox, mtv, all of the things. I grew up here in Los Angeles and was obsessed with tv, but guess what? I had massive anxiety about showing up on camera. That was not my thing. I was not the person in front of the camera. I was behind the scenes. And I loved giving people notes and feedback and seeing what worked, but I just didn't want to be on camera. So I used to be a casting director and I did that for about 15 years. And then I was an talent agent and I worked. I headed the adult theatrical department here at a big agency called Osbrink in Los Angeles. Did that for a year. And I realized, have you guys ever been here? I mean, I was 37 years old and I was like, I'm 41 now. I was 37 years old and I was like, wtf? I hate this business. Like, I'm out. I actually looked into real estate for a second because someone told me, like, donna, you're Great at talking to people you should be into in real estate. But I wasn't passionate about real estate. I didn't know what to do. I had like a midlife crisis at 37 years old. I had a little baby at home. I had two kids. I was like, what am I going to do? So I started coaching actors, and that's what I kind of. That's how I started my own business. I started just coaching actors. My business was doing okay because I had, you know, word of mouth referrals and whatever. But here is where it really changed was when I started showing up on my Instagram stories in 2018. April of 2018, I started showing up daily on my Instagram stories for like seven people because I didn't have a lot of followers on my new business account. And it was so uncomfortable for me and I hated every second of it, but I did it every day. And I showed up. I gave hacks, I gave tips, I showed them behind the scenes. I let them meet my kids and they got to know my house and they got to know what kind of Sauvignon Blanc I like to drink. And all of a sudden, next thing you know, my business was exploding and I hit six figures in under 18 months with no overhead. I had no. I was working from home and it did so well. But I wasn't passionate about that, you guys. And right before 2020, I decided, no, no, no. I want to help people like you. I want to help entrepreneurs and small business owners like me who are incredibly uncomfortable showing up online or don't know what to say or don't know how to show up. And I'm going to help them with it. So it started with the social media and it turned into personal branding and now video, because video is king. Okay, so basically my goal is to help you guys understand content creation and standing out online using my STAR method. And it really honestly teaches you how to do it. Fun and enjoyable and manageable and also, like, really quickly, I want to drive this point home. If you are feeling in any way like it's overwhelming, the idea of getting on video and showing up and creating content, raise your hand if it's overwhelming. Like, maybe time, maybe ideas. Also, maybe like, you guys are real estate agents, you're not content creators, you're not video marketers. Like, it feels like you have to buy all the equipment and the tech and the lighting and where am I going to do it and I have to look perfect. The answer to all of that is absolutely no. It's not the Case, I'm going to show you how to do it. We're going to talk about it, and then I'm going to. I'm going to open it up for Q and A, hopefully, and I'm going to teach you guys. That's my goal, is to teach you how to create content looking exactly like you look in the room that you have, using only one thing and one thing only. And that is this. Your phone. And that's it. And a window. If you don't even have a light, that's it. That's all you need. Okay, we're going back to my slides, my slidey poos. Okay. All right, you guys, today you're going to learn how to define your personal brand and what makes you stand out, the best ways to create content that is not only effective at growing your business, but fun and how video content can completely change the course of your business. So first, why do we need to stand out? Here's some stats for you guys. Are you ready? Okay. 5 billion people are online right now. 5 billion. So I'm assuming that means your clients or your ideal clients. There's 2.85. These are approximate, obviously. 2.85 billion Facebook users. Raise your hand if you're like, a Facebook person or show me some. Like, I'm not a Facebook person. I use Facebook sometimes. I like Facebook for, like, some groups that I'm part of, but I don't like posting on Facebook. 2.6 billion people are on YouTube. Do you guys like YouTube? Are you watching YouTube? Do you. Do you consume YouTube content? How about Instagram? 1 billion people are using Instagram at any given time, and 1 billion people are using TikTok. I'm curious from you guys. Seriously, I'm going to stop the share for this one. Who here is on TikTok? Like, okay, who here. I'm gonna ask this. Who here is watching TikTok, consuming TikTok? Tons of hands, right? Like, obsessed. Like, actually, I stopped watching TV because I found TikTok. How many of you guys are creating content on TikTok? Anyone? Oh, good. I'm so happy to see some faces and some hands. That's so good. TikTok. If you know me, you know that I'm a TikTok addict. And TikTok is 100% the best. I'm just gonna say it right now. The best way to get people in your funnel by far over any other way on social media right now. That's just an FYI. Okay, we can talk about that. I teach TikTok to all my clients. I teach a lot of my clients how to get From Instagram to TikTok because it is overwhelming at first and you don't know what to say and how to do it. I'm telling you, TikTok is insane. The growth potential over there, okay, 97% of home buyers are using social media to find their homes. Okay, maybe not only using social media, but are part of using that in addition to other ways. So your ideal clients are on social media. And only approximately 70% of realtors are using social media as of data I saw yesterday. Who knows if it's accurate, but I'm assuming it's somewhere around there. And I can guarantee you this because I follow a lot of realtors. About 55% of them are using it badly. No offense. Meaning not interesting. Right? So I'd say like 15 to 20% of real estate agents out there are really killing the social media game. You have to be active online to grow your business. There is no question. You have to. Because if you don't, unless the only other way. The only other way you can do it is if you have a plethora of clients. Like, I live here in Los Angeles. I'm in Sherman Oaks. If any of you guys are familiar with this neighborhood. I live in a very beautiful neighborhood. I have, you know, I'm the. I'm the smallest house in a beautiful street. And the woman who sold our house does not have social media, but she's also like 68 years old and she's been doing this for 40 years. And her clients are the Hiltons. You know what I mean? Like, she doesn't need social media. She's got her people. Her clients are not the Hiltons, because that would be. It's probably not. It's probably the agency that has the Hiltons. Mauricio. But. But most of most growing real estate agents really need to rely on social. Because how in the world can they show social proof, right? How can they show people that they know what they're doing, that they've had clients, all those things. Okay, so the first question you're going to ask yourself is this. Who am I? Now, I want to be very clear about this. There is a difference between showing up on social media and then showing up on social media. As you. We all. When you think of real estate agents. Hold on, let me see. Okay, hold on. Oh, you're from Sherman Oaks. How cool. Used to live in Beverly Hills. Yep. I went to Beverly Hills High School. Yes. Follow me on TikTok. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. They don't even use their family as a realtor. That's really funny, Stacy. You're probably right. Okay, so it's like the Shoemakers and the Cobblers Kids or whatever they say. Like, my husband, he's a camera operator, he's a dp and he works on reality shows. He works on. Right now he's on Love Island. He does the Bachelor, he does the Voice, he does all those shows. And like, if I could get him to film one video of me, like, and I'm saying, like, one 10 second video of me, like, just playing with my kids. I'm always like, babe, can you, can I be in our memories? Like, hello? Okay, so, yeah, it's not just about showing up on social media, but showing authentically with good content. If you show up on Instagram by showing a picture of the house that you, that you have on the market, and that's it. Trust me when I tell you, no one is picking you. No one is buying or hiring a real estate agent just because of the house that they have on the market. Now, of course there's going to be, you know, nuances to that. There's going to be times like, I hired the real estate agent that sold this house because I wanted in. So I was like, I'll, I'll use you, right? Like, there's going to be cases like that, but it, most of the time doesn't happen. You hire a, you work with someone that you connect with, right? I feel that way with everyone in my business. In my world, my accountant, I had to choose between two accountants. One of them I got on the phone with. I got to know. I saw his social media. He. He's with it. He understands my business. I liked him. The other one is like a dinosaur. Okay? He didn't, he didn't have a personality. He didn't have anything on social. I couldn't trust him. I went with the person that I got to know and got to like, this is how people choose who they work with. Okay, back to who. This is how you're going to figure out how you guys stand out. I want you guys to ask yourself, let me see what slide is next? Okay? In the crowded sea of real estate agents, why you? Now, I'm going to turn on my air here. It's going to be a little loud, but this, this bonus room gets warm. Okay? So let me ask you a question. If I asked you guys right now, off the top of your, the top of your head, how are you different than Other real estate agents, one sentence. Would you be able to answer that? What makes you special? What makes you unique? Would you be able to answer that, like, really fast and really obviously? And is the answer just because, oh, I have sold this much more than the other person? Is it all real estate or is there something else about you that makes you different? Okay, I'm going to show you guys a little clip from a YouTube of mine that I want you to hear. It's just a couple seconds, but it's just something that I found. I thought it'd be, you know, accurate. Okay. I think in our brains, a lot of times we feel that being a personal brand means having to be front and center in the spotlight like a star. Well, I'm a former casting director and what's cool about that is I take all these aspects of finding your star factor, but applying it to you as just an entrepreneur or a brand. You don't have to want to be a famous star to be the star for your audience. The goal here is to find what makes you special, what makes you stand out and build your personal brand. Okay. Whoops. There we go. I want you guys to ask yourself these questions. The number one question is, what problem do you solve? Now, I'm going to guess that the majority of you have one answer, or the main answer is, I help my clients, my dream clients or my clients find their perfect home, Right? And maybe it's a little bit more specific. Like, I help first time buyers figure out how they can, you know, afford a home. Or maybe it's, I help, you know, I help, you know, experienced homeowners find rental properties that they can invest in. I help divorced women rebuild and find their house. Like, let's be a little bit more specific. So that's the number one thing I want you guys to answer. So be as specific as you can there. Number two. Now this goes more into your personal brand and how you show up differently than everyone else. What are you passionate about? Now, I want to know from you guys, everyone, if you're into this conversation right now, put in the chat two things you're passionate about. That, I mean, they could be real estate related, but it doesn't have to be. I'll tell you what I am, okay? I'm going to see some of your guys love educating my clients. Education, okay? Helping others, being successful. Food, working out. Soccer, cooking. Here we go. Movies, tennis. I'm going to tell you for me, mine, working out. I love reality tv. I love Nutella. Not joking about that. That's Not a joke. That is literally a pillar of my personal brand. Fashion, interior design, Airbnb. Okay, These are things that your audience needs to know, because I'm just pulling you out. Megan. I saw Megan. Fashion and personal development. Megan, I don't know you from anyone, but if I am looking at a bunch of real estate agents or meeting a bunch of real estate agents, and I have a fashion business and I'm looking for a house, and then I meet you and I find out on your social media that you're obsessed with, like, cool real estate, real estate agent, fashion, or things that you should wear if you want to work out and then go to. I am immediately attracted to you. Like, immediately. I want you to work with me because I kind of want to be in your life. Like, I kind of want to. I want to drive with you. I don't want to. You know how many hours you have to spend with these real estate agents. And it's not enjoyable a lot of times because it's a lot of stress. So I'd rather find someone that, like, I feel like we can be best friends. Right? Okay. I'm making a custom painting right now as I listen. Great. These are all great things to know. Okay. What do you enjoy looking up, watching, and researching? These are also really important things for you. Like I said, I'm obsessed with reality tv, but when I am, like, when I have nothing going on and I just have time to hang out, I love documentaries. I love looking up social media trends. I'm actually obsessed with listening to podcasts about social media and about marketing. I love reading Colleen Hoover books. Like, what are you guys into? These are things that you have to remember and keep in mind. And it sounds insane because you're like, but I'm a real estate agent. Who gives a crap that I like reading, you know, murder mysteries? I do. I do. In fact, I would rather follow you to learn more about what you're doing when you're not working than when you are working, because we all see the work stuff and it's boring. Af. Got it. You guys know what AF means as F? Okay, I'm going to leave it at that. My kids, they're 7 and 9, and they tell me all kinds of things, and I feel so old. Like, the other day, Oliver goes, no cap. I was like, what does that mean, no cap? And he goes, all facts. I said, what? And he goes, no lies. All facts. Say less. I was like, wait, I'm sorry. What? I've never felt so old. Okay, no lie. All facts. Okay, there we go. Finally. What do you have results in? This is huge. A lot of you. This is not your first career. A lot of you have pivoted. Right? Let me know in the chat. Have you done something before you were a real estate agent. Remember? I was a casting director. I was a talent agent. What did you do before you were a real estate agent? Now, if you went straight into real estate, great. But what did you do before? Or what do you do in addition? Or what is a special skill or a degree that you have? Or maybe you're also a meditation teacher on the side. Entertainment industry.

Yes.

Catering business. Elementary teacher. These are all applicable. But wait, what does having a teaching degree have anything to do with real estate? I'll tell you. You help your clients understand what goes into purchasing a home in the most understandable teaching way. You teach us real estate as you go through the process. You know those. The difference between, like I mentioned, my cpa. My cpa who's like, yo, a thousand dollars in this versus my cpa, that's like, okay, so here's what we did. We're going to deduct this, and this is why you do this. And then you do this because you do. I like that. So that's how it connects. High end event planning. Oh, my gosh. If you're an event planner, you're organized. You're a producer, you understand all the ins and outs. You understand you're thinking ahead. You're already thinking about the problem before it comes. That's going to come up in your content. As a former event planner, I always know that there can be a problem around the corner. So I'm going to prepare you as a buyer. Does it make sense? Are you guys getting that? Okay, let's keep going. Ultimately, I want you guys to think about this. If I'm talking really loud, I'm so sorry. My ear is plugged, so I don't even know if I am. Okay, ultimately, I want you guys to think about this. What do you want to be known for if someone says, oh, my gosh. You have to hire Erica Rittenhouse. I just saw your name. Sorry. Erica. You have to hire Erica Rittenhouse. Why? Erica? Oh, my God. You didn't know this about Erica? Erica used to be a lounge singer. She's so amazing. She has a. When. When I hired. You know, when I hired Erica, she comes in there, she sings songy. She's happy. And then she left me. When I. When she sold the house, she left me with this beautiful basket. And. And Then I went with her to a show like, whatever. I don't even know that came out of a left field Erica. Erica's like I've never seen before in my life. I don't know what you're talking about, Donna. Okay, so how do you show the world who you are? Well, obviously the answer is social media, but let's talk working with real estate agents. What is like the biggest. Let me give you a little heads up what this is. I had a. I have a podcast called show up on Video. Everyone please subscribe. It's on all the podcast apps. And this is from an interview with my friend Chelsea, who works in social media for real estate agents. I love working with real estate agents. What is like the biggest struggle, would you say in 2022 of social media real estate agents?

Yes, I will say the top two biggest struggles. Most asked questions are either along the lines of what do I post? Or how do I take what I'm posting that may be good and actually make it great. That's going to attract ready to work with me leads and I'm going to enjoy it and I'm not going to feel like it's a horrible job and I have to make a post today and nothing happens. And like one person that I work with likes it and then nothing else transpires. So content always. And then the next thing is overcoming all of our hang ups about being on video, you know, or posting that content. I just made it real today about, hey, if you've got stuff sitting in your drafts, me, because I've been like, oh, this isn't very good, I'm not going to post that. And so it's the human vulnerability of putting yourself on these public platforms, which is, is a challenge for most people, I would say. And so.

All right, so I'm sure a lot of you guys recognize that, that being like you. Yes, Chelsea is a great friend of mine. We met on social media. I mean, I think we met on Clubhouse actually. And, and she's a great friend. We talk every day. We're on Voxer every day. And would you believe this? And she talks about this. Chelsea here, who teaches social media has a lot of imposter syndrome about getting on Tik Tok on video. And it's so interesting when I talk to her about this and she's, oh, Voxer is a. Voxer is a great communication platform. It's like texting, but it's video. I mean, sorry, but it's voice. So it's just like a walkie talkie back and forth. So it's great if you have, like, clients or someone that you just like coworkers. We use it as accountability. She and I. We check in with each other. Okay, so. So even someone like Chelsea, who's beautiful and so well spoken and gets hired to speak on stages left and right, has anxiety about showing up on TikTok. So it doesn't mean that, you know, we're not. We're all the same, is basically what I'm saying. And I didn't even share this with you guys. I suffer massively from panic and anxiety. Like, massively. I had massive panic attacks when I used to speak for 50 parents of child actors when I was, like, in my early 30s. Like, I had to run off stage type of things. And if I can get through it, if I can get through these anxieties and panic attacks and wondering what people are thinking of me, you know, I was the kid that was bullied in high school. Like, there's a lot of stuff that we all go through, but I got through it. So if I can do it, that's why I started this by saying, like, I'm you. I am you. I am not like, a trained actor. I never went to. I mean, I was a casting director, but that's the closest. I never went to act video classes. I know anything about any of this. I just started. Okay, so let's keep it going here. I want you guys to think about these questions when you're talking, when you're thinking about your strategy on social media, who are you speaking to? See, I think so many of us and a lot of your guys's concerns at the beginning of this, this conversation was like, I'm not getting a lot of responses. I feel like no one cares. Like, why am I speaking on my stories to Noah? Okay, I will tell you this right now. You think no one cares about the mundane things that are happening in your life. But when I post a silly little cucumber trick on TikTok, a hack, I'm going to tell you guys, do you guys know that Persian cucumbers? You guys know those mini Persian cucumbers? If you buy them at Trader Joe's, they go bad within four seconds. Okay? They literally go bad by the time you get home. And I was getting so sick of it, so I googled it, and someone told me to put a spoon in a bag. So I started talking about it, and I put together a TikTok. And that TikTok now has 150,000 views and has been shared 100,000 times and has given me a thousand new followers on TikTok. People care about the small, stupid things. Trust me when I tell you this. So the question is, do you get in your way or can you just get over that and pretend that every single person that's watching your content is interested in the small mundane? So when you're speaking on your stories, and I'm going to try to be really clear here, stories, first of all, Instagram stories is very different than Instagram feed is very different than YouTube is very different than Facebook. They're all different. Okay? So I don't want you guys to get a little overwhelmed here. Let's focus on Instagram for right now for this conversation. Instagram on your feed. Do you guys know the difference here, what I'm saying? On your feed, it lives on your feed. It's a post or a reel. That is something that should be for the most part value based. Meaning. Here's a tip for new home homeowners. Here's the first thing I do when I find a new house. When I, when I come into from a Persian girl putting a foil. You know what, Paria, it's so funny. So many comments said foil, this, that. But the only thing that worked for me was spoon because I. And by the way, Pariah, I don't know where you are, but you said that I'm mentally bachelor. I went to school in Beverly Hills, so I know Farsi. It's like shocking. Okay, it's the aluminum. There you go. So the feed posts on Instagram. I look at Instagram like your new website. Okay, think about this. When people want to look you up, they're not going to your website. It's very rare. I hate to say that for anyone out here that's put gazillions of dollars for your website. Most people now are going to your Instagram. They are. That's how I look up restaurants, that's how I look up businesses. I go to the Instagram. I want to see pictures, I want to see video. I don't want to go to a website where it takes forever to load. I mean, unless I need to see a menu, right? So make sure to go on your, on your Instagram and consider that a website. So what does that mean? There should be a post that says, you know, on Instagram. Now you can pin three posts to the top of your feed. That means that every single time, no matter how many times you post, if someone shows up to your Instagram, they're seeing those top three posts. Obviously, if you guys, like, you know, reached out to me or needed more help, I can help you with this. It's hard to do this like one to many, but I would if I were you. Create content in those top three posts. Who you are, who you help, what you do, special little hacks, tips, tricks for real estate or what you like to see in clients, or the top things you need to do if you're looking to buy a house or this week in housing or the trends of housing. Like something that when people come to your page, they're like, oh, this person knows what they're talking about. Now, your Instagram stories only get shown to a very small percentage of your followers. So if they're already following you, they can see your stories. Do we all know what stories are on Instagram? I hope so. If you don't send me a dm, I'll teach you. Stories are updated throughout the day and they get deleted after 24 hours unless you save them. And it's much more of a behind the scenes with stories, you guys. That's where you have the permission to do whatever the F you want. Okay? I'm serious about this. Now don't do anything like R rated or X rated. I mean, you could do it R rated, I guess. But let's not go crazy here. In my stories, I show you my workouts. I show you funny things with my kids. I take you to Disneyland with me. I take you. I talk about my favorite recipe. This morning, I ate obnoxiously, very loudly, banana bread. On my stories, I will show you everything and anything. Because you know what? That's how I know you're going to get to know me. And I want you to feel like you know me when you watch my stories. It's a reality show. It's the voyeurism in our, in us. Now, if I showed up on my stories every single day and only talked about personal branding from morning till night, guess what you guys would do next? You'd be bored. But when I talk about my favorite reality shows or when I talk about, you know, my favorite hack with coffee or living in la, and the celebrity I just saw last week, the engagements through the roof. Because that's what people like. Because guess what? They're going to hire you because they know you and then they like you and then they trust you, right? So back to my slides. Think about who you're speaking to when it comes to your content. You're not speaking to mom and dad. You're not speaking to your. You Know your kid's friends, parents at the soccer field. You're speaking to potential clients, so put yourself in their brains. What do they want to hear? What do they need to know? What kind of questions are you constantly getting asked? What's in your DMs? When you go to Google and you search real estate, what is the best real estate Blank. What comes up? These are things you should be talking about in your content. Answer the frequently asked questions. Solve the problems before they know it's a problem. Right. Does this make any sense to you guys? I hope it does. Also, think about this. Are you providing value? And we should all be providing value. When I say stories, that's a little bit less. That's not as important. But for your feed posts, for your Twitter, for your Instagram, for your Facebook, for your TikTok value, are you posting something that you think someone will either a save? Because this is really, really helpful information for when they're looking for a house. Be share to their friend and their family member that also is looking for a house. See, laugh at share. Because they want to share it with their friends. Like, oh, my God, look how funny this is. Or maybe say like in the comments, like, this is me. How did you know? How are you in my head? Think about that. Create content that you know your ideal audience member, your ideal client needs to hear right now. How do you know that? Because you either were them probably, or you speak to them all day. You know what they need. It's not about the house. Now, this is the hardest thing for real estate agents to kind of wrap their heads around. It's not about the piece of property you're selling and buying. It's about you. I can. I have a friend, he works for a very big agency here in Los Angeles, which is also part of the agent. It's part of the agency. And he's got a beautiful Instagram. Every single fricking video, every single freaking picture, every single thing is a gorgeous sweeping home in Sherman oaks overlooking a $25 million home. And I'm like, chase, you got to start showing up. And you see you. And I don't care that the house is there. That's beautiful. That's great. But I want you to show me why I need this house. I want you to show me the best place that you guys aren't looking for your. Oh, I'm going to take you guys behind the scenes. This house isn't even on the market. Or here's the biggest thing that I learned that, that people are making the biggest mistakes, how do you save money for? Here's what you have to spend for property taxes here in Los Angeles. Like, teach me things, tell me things, and then show me your life, show me your wife, show me your kids so that I can get a sense of who you are. Show me you working out with me at F45. And he has, and he does. And his Instagram account has blown up since he started doing that, and he felt uncomfortable doing it, too. Okay, let's talk about niching, right? Everyone says, what do I talk about? Do I only talk about real estate? If you only talk about real estate on your feed, you will grow faster. It's true, you will. But will you enjoy it? Will it be boring? Do you guys want to have a little more fun with social media? I believe the way the world is working with personal branding, it's not just about what you do, it's about who you are. And if I were you, I would try to show up authentically and have fun in your content creation. That means if you go to a concert, document it. Show us. Show us the cool things in the city that you're selling. Those houses. If you are selling houses in Los Angeles, don't just talk about houses. Do a burger tour of the best burgers in Los Angeles. You know, show us, like the smallest, you know, the first original bookstore in Los Angeles. Show us celebrity homes, you know, drive. Do a little Hollywood tour. Someone has to mute. And God bless you. Okay? So you need to enjoy your content creation or you'll never do it. It's just like a workout. How many of us I'm going to start working out and then you end up doing something that you absolutely hate. You do it for three days and you're over it. Or a diet, right? If you don't enjoy it, you're not doing it because it's going to take a second to get the results, by the way. So I want to talk about that too. But let me see really fast. Okay? For. Okay, what is your content? So I'll just go through this because I want to make sure. Do I have until 10 cease? 15 more minutes, okay?

Yeah.

Okay. Sorry, guys, I talk a lot. What is your content style? Here's a few options of content face to camera. We've all seen those, right? On Instagram Reels, on TikTok, where it's just. I do a bunch of those. Here's a hack for digital. Trying to monetize your social media. Are you nervous getting on camera? Things like that. Then there's Also, esthetic pieces of content. That means you're just going to go run and you're going to film beautiful homes or the city skyline or, or whatever it is, and you're going to edit it together. I teach you all that. And you're going to slap on some music and it's going to be this beautiful, real. Come with me to an open house. Want to see a $25 million house? Something like that, right? And it's like this gorgeous. There's also green screen, which is an option that a lot of people use on TikTok. That's where your floating head has a picture behind you of, you know, the top. Like, just say, you see in the news that Kim Kardashian bought, buys, you know, a house for $100 million. You slap that picture on there and you say, Kim Kardashian just bought a house for $100 million. Now let's talk about what this house would have been worth if she bought it last week. You know, whatever. I don't even know I'm making it up. But the point is, there's a lot of those kinds of content on Tik Tok especially. You see it on Instagram too, but that's a big TikTok thing. So a great way to talk about relevant news, but your face is like pointing it out. It's very visually exciting for an audience. There's also your voice where it's a voiceover. Maybe it's a time lapse of you working and doing the deal, or it's something and you're hearing yourself talk over it and think about also your visual identity. Okay? Do you want to be the Instagram or the TikTok feed? That's pretty. Do you want to be the funny person? Do you want to be the bright lights? Do you want to be the colorful? Think about all those things, okay? Pick one or two platforms and go all in on them. Please do not feel that you need to be everywhere all the time. In February, I did a challenge. Stacy knows us for myself. Just to see. I'm a one trick pony. I do have a team, but no one helps me with my content except emails. I do it all. I decided to create a weekly YouTube, a weekly podcast, emails. But I didn't do those. I did daily tweets, I did daily Instagram Reels, Daily TikToks, and weekly multiple a time, multiple a week, LinkedIn posts. Do you know what happened after that? I wanted to literally, like jump off a bridge. I was so burnt out. The only thing that Happened, though I will tell you this. TikTok exploded. TikTok did great for my business. And LinkedIn gave me one $30,000 client, so it was worth it, right? But I had to cut out the YouTube. I had had to cut out doing so many, like, I had to cut out things. It was too much. Pick one or two. Where do you pick those? Where is your audience? And which ones do you like to hang out on? Those are the two questions that you're going to ask yourself. If your audience is on Facebook and you feel super comfortable on Facebook, go. If you're feeling the same way about TikTok, do that. Okay? And then finally, I want to talk about community building. And this is really, really important. You are unique. You have quirks. For example, like, I like, Stacy knows my Nutella obsession. Every single night after my kids go to bed, I lay in my bed and I take a spoon with a jar of peanut butter and a jar of Nutella and I watch Real Housewives and I dip and I'm the happiest person in the world, okay? It's my personal Nutella stash. You have quirks, you have interests, you have passions, you have obsessions and approaches that no one else has, but you have to show the people. And you're going to worry that you're going to think this is embarrassing or this is weird or no one cares. It's. It's not embarrassing and it's not weird. And yes, everyone cares because it's 2022 and everyone is all up in social media and online. You're not doing anything that's so weird and strange that no one else is going to think, hey, that's so funny. I do that, too. Do you remember that episode of Sex in the City? Especially Ladies, I don't know, maybe Some of your Men where Sarah Jessica Parker talks about her favorite thing to do in the show Carrie is when she's home alone. She takes. She reads fashion magazines and she takes saltine crackers and she puts jam on them. And she stands alone in her kitchen. And that's her favorite thing to do when she's alone. How many people watch that and said, oh, my God, she's me, Right? I did not fashion magazines, but like, similar. Okay, so I'm going to. Because of time, I obviously can't get into detail. I want you guys to do a couple of things, if you don't mind. If you're on Instagram and TikTok, follow me at. This is Donna bowling. I'm also on Twitter. I'm also on Facebook. I don't use Facebook often. I'm kind of everywhere. Listen to my video, my podcast called show up on Video. If you would want take a photo of this, whether it's this right now, we could do a group photo, put it on your Instagram stories and tag me. If you don't know how to do that, I don't know what to tell you. And then what you're going to do is you're going to share to your stories. You can talk about it, you can say, I just did this class and I'm going to share it back over in my stories. The point is getting comfortable starting somewhere. Okay? The more you do, the more you'll do. Hundred percent. This is with everything in the world. If you ask anyone how do I get good on camera? You start. How do I get good at social media? You start. How do I get good at selling houses? You frickin start. Right? So that's kind of like the, the, the majority of what I was here to talk about. I just want you guys to get past the imposter syndrome and mindset that no one cares what you're talking about and no one thinks that what you have to say is important. They do and you need to show up for your business. It's like I always think about, I always think about if, if CBS came to you right now and said, and I'm just pulling someone's name. Okay, Jeff Lewis, by the way, love the name obsessed with like the Jeff Lewis from flipping out. Have you guys watched Hollywood House Lift on freebie Jeff Lewis's new show? So good. Okay, Jeff Lewis, if someone said, if CBS came up to you right now and said, Jeff, I'm going to give you a 30 minute, a 30 second slot for the Super Bowl. Super Bowl 23. You want it for free? You want it? Yeah. Okay. This is what social media is doing to you. They're giving you a slot to get on. Someone needs to mute. They're giving you TikTok especially because I think that that has the best growth ability in the world and there's no discrimination there. You can have zero followers and you can go massively viral. 10 million views. You are getting the opportunity to go in front of the world for free. And you're not. If you're not. Okay, can I post the last slide again for a screenshot? Absolutely.

Donna, I'm going to go back and just read a couple questions for you. Okay. So Catherine asked, why can't you repurpose the content for all the Platforms.

Oh, yeah. Well, I have something exciting to share with you. I actually think you can. Now, here's the thing. A lot of times, Catherine, are you here? I'm just curious, are you talking about like, TikTok and Instagram?

Yes, I am here and I've been doing Instagram. I just got 7,000 views on something I just posted.

Great.

And I can give everybody why I did it vertical, and I only did it 13 seconds. And Instagram is desperately trying to compete with TikTok, so they are now really pushing that content out. So I don't know how long this is going to last, but that was the first time I also posted something else and I wound up getting like 2700 views on that. One was a house. The other one was just me on a boat. But again, both times they were videos.

Okay, so.

But I didn't, I didn't have hashtag on anything.

But you want to, you want to repurpose from Tick Tock from Instagram to Tick Tock, for example. Is that what you were saying?

Yes, but I'm saying, okay, I create content. I love my content. I like to be able to use it on LinkedIn, Facebook, everything.

Okay, so here's the thing. The one thing you have to be aware of. And by the way, if you're creating video content, try your hardest. The first thing I always teach people, Stacy knows this, is do not create the content in app. Okay? What I mean is I don't care about the pretty filters. I don't care about anything like that. Film with your camera. Film with your photo app. Camera app on your phone. Okay? Why? Because once you create the footage, you can then piece it together in an app that I use. There's multiple. My choice. One is Inshot I N S H O T. I teach this all the time. Stacy knows I piece it together and now I own the video. It's mine now I use an app to caption it. You don't have to. So I'm not even going to tell you about that. But once you have that video, you can now do a couple things. You can post it. Just say first to Instagram. Great. You post it to Instagram. Awesome. Once you post it to Instagram, you have a choice of whether or not you can then repost it over to TikTok or something else. But I have a tip for you guys and I'm going to teach you. I'm going to show you this really fast. I want you guys to go in the chat right now and I want you guys to Use this link. No, no, no. Don't use that link. That's my canva link. Use this link. Copy. Use this link to. Try this. You'll get 14 days for free. This is freaking genius. It's called Repurpose. Okay, what you're going to do with Repurpose is it connects to all of your accounts. It connects to your Instagram, it connects your TikTok, it connects to your LinkedIn. It connects to everything. YouTube shorts, which is like the new YouTube version of TikTok. When I create a TikTok and I want to put it on Instagram, guess what I do? I go to Repurpose. I'll show you kind of what it looks like, you guys, really fast. Okay? This is what it would look like, right? TikTok to Instagram. I have it set on manual because I don't want them to do it on its own. But it refreshes. It takes all my TikToks. And I can go right here and just say publish, because I want it to go over to Instagram. I have a workflow set up. When I go to publish, it will ask me what I want to put in my caption. I can change the caption entirely. I can speak directly just to Instagram things. I can add hashtags, whatever. And then the most important thing is when you publish it, it takes off the watermark, which is why you really, really don't want to just download a TikTok and post it to Instagram or vice versa. You want to make sure that it looks like a native video. If that makes any sense to you guys, use that Link because it's 14 days for free. You follow this dude? His name is like honey or something, right? Mike? He's amazing. Okay, would I share my equipment setup I'm using right now? For the Zoom meeting? I'm using a laptop. I mean, a desktop. One of the big ones, you know, like a Mac desktop I'm using. And then this is a great one. This is just the only light I'm using. It's this small guy. And the reason I use this is because I like that it's small. I don't need a massive ring light. You don't see the big reflection. It's called loom cube. Let's see if I can get you to. Oh, gosh, I can't, like, turn it. See, Loom cube right there. L, U, M, E, C U, B, E. And you can buy one, you can buy two. They're not the cheapest things in the world. You can Change the temperature. But it sits right behind my laptop. So I look, I have a window in front of me, like across there. I have a backlight. I have a light right here, but I don't have that much light in here. But just with this guy, it lights me up pretty good. What other question, Stace?

Donna, can you tell them? Because I'm getting a lot of private messages about how they can work with you. So if somebody you really want help, like the step by step, you know, how do I show up on video, how do I use Inshot, how do I edit videos? You know, what's the best content strategy, when's the best posting strategy? Should I do trends, should I not? Like all those things are things that Donna has now condensed into like a 8 week or 12 week course. So can you tell them real quick in case they want to work with you directly what that looks like?

Absolutely. Okay, so. So I have a couple of ways to work with me. I do one on one. Of course that's going to be more expensive, as it always is when you work with someone one on one. If you want to work in a group setting, it's called show up on Video. It's kind of like all over the world is show up on Video, the podcast, everything. Stacy's in the, in the first kind of inaugural version of it. Right now it's 12 weeks. I'm going to be starting a new one. I don't know the exact date, but probably somewhere around September. I'm trying to think exactly. You can DM me and there's links in my bio. If you go to the link in my bio, you can jump on the waitlist for show up on Video. But it's a small group program, just like this, much smaller. I mean, like, I think I have 12 people in it. And this way we can really. We cover TikTok, we cover YouTube, we cover link, we cover Instagram, we cover video editing, we audit videos, we talk about strategy. There's a lot. We talk about live video. So it's a lot of video content. Oh, yeah. Yes. Stacy lost her Instagram. That's another thing about Instagram, you guys. Instagram has zero customer service. If you've been hacked, if you lose it or Facebook. I lost my Facebook last year, which is why I'm so anti Facebook. It's really, really scary. If you only are building on Instagram, you must be building other places. I'm also really big on teaching people on how to create funnels so that you not only get people to, you but then they use some sort of link in your bio to opt in, because you cannot. By opting in, I mean joining your email list of some sort or something. You cannot rely on the algorithm of social media to grow your business. It's too scary. It's too out of your control, you know? So, yes, you definitely want to hire. Hire me as your video coach for show up on video, if that's something you're interested in. But a lot of people just really need some, like, hand holding. So I do, like, VIP days or I'll do, you know, one on one for like, six months or whatever, three months, where we go through, we create video scripts, we talk about exactly how to show up, we talk about your content pillars, we talk about what you need to say here and what your bio needs to say, et cetera, et cetera.

Awesome. Well, Donna, thank you so much. I know that everybody loved it because, number one, we had such a super great turnout, great questions, and this is definitely a topic that we will. We'll most likely have Donna come back on if she will, because she has so many things she just couldn't cover today. So definitely follow Donna on social. Yes, her podcast to show up on video. She's everywhere. Social media things are sold, right?

I'm kind of like, yeah, I'm a little bit spread very thin, but that's my job. So a lot of people always say, like, how do you create so much client? I'm like, listen, if this was my. If this was your job, you would too. I enjoy it, though. I enjoy it. Yes. I am sorry to cut you off.

You can tell. You do. So we really, really appreciate it. Thank you for spending your time with us today. And everybody make sure. Take a quick picture. If you have not yet, take a picture of this gallery so that you can post it on your social tag. Donna, I'm gonna take one too.

Duh.

Do it.

Hold on. All right, you guys, everyone smile. One, two, three. Okay, everyone's faces, because it's only the first screen, but this is so fun. Thank you so much, Stacy and everyone, I hope.

Thank you.

Shoot me a dm.

Awesome. We'll see you soon. Take care, guys. Bye.