She Filled Her Cabins With TikTok (No Ads, No OTAs)

All right, everybody, welcome back. We've got a very, very special session for us all. We're going to talk about how to actually get bookings from social media. As anybody who has tuned in will know that I love social media. I think it's a big proponent of driving direct bookings. And the biggest sort of kickback but I get from all of you is, yeah, but how do I actually do social media? I've been posting for years and I've got nothing from it. So I wanted to go out into the world of TikTok and Instagram and into my little black book. And I've got one of the best to my right or to my left, however you look in this with Brittany Maxic. And we're going to delve in to a couple of topics today. So number one, talk about the journey, talk about how we got here, talk about the amount of direct bookings that Brittney has developed over the years. And then we're going to do some cool. We're going to share my screen and we're going to look at the TikTok account and the Instagram account for Mountain Mama Cabins, look at a few videos and delve into the story behind him and how the creation process came about. So got a really good session lined up today. Brittany, thank you so much for doing this. Just a super quick one. Just explain to the whole world where you are, how long have you been doing this? And a very quick, like, sort of story of how you become to developing one of the best social media accounts that I've seen online.

Thank you so much. What a compliment coming from you. So I live in mid Michigan right now. It's 11 degrees outside. I'm looking outside. There's just so much everywhere. And my main focal point of my business is in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. It got started there because my great grandfather moved down there after he. I'm sorry, he grew up in eastern Kentucky, met my mama who grew up in Tennessee. They wanted a new life for themselves, so they went to Michigan when the car industry was booming and he started a. A really successful life for himself. And once they retired, they went back down to the Smoky Mountains, and we grew up going there. So the Smokies was our Disney World and we loved it. And when the pandemic happened, I coincidentally was married to a real estate broker. And Michigan had these very strict rules where we could not travel. We couldn't do anything unless you could visit family. And so me always finding a loophole, I feel like anywhere to just justify Traveling or just getting out of my house. We went to go visit family down in Tennessee, and visiting family in that sense was like, my uncle and aunt still lived there, so, you know, just figured that out. But we ended up staying at multiple Airbnbs in the Smoky Mountains. And by the time that rental income added up, we were like, all right, let's stop spending money. Let's maybe dip into our savings. Because we love to travel. We're usually like the big hosts of our big vacation groups, you know, with our friends. And this Airbnb thing sounds really enticing. And I love organizing, I love communicating, I love connecting, and it just makes sense. So the numbers made sense. We made a plunge and purchased our first cabin, and we got it for a very good price compared to what's happening out now. We got in before the crazy Covid boom, which is what's referenced a lot in a lot of the hospitality industry. And when I bought it, of course, my Michigan audience goes to the Smokies, but I felt when I was in 2020, I was promoting it on Facebook and Instagram with text and pictures and reels. And reels didn't exist. It was just Instagram pictures and TikTok existed. But it was more of like this. In my opinion, at the time, it was more of a juvenile app with trends. And I say that cringing in my mind, speaking about it, because it sounds so judgmental, but I felt like as a new mother, as a 30, I think I was 31 or so. I was like, I can't be seen in front of my colleagues dancing on this app, but I can utilize the video to my. Or the video, I don't know, qualities to my advantage by. Instead of me dancing or doing things, I can take footage of the Smokies and put music behind that. And then once I started getting better at doing that process, I started putting my face more and more in front of the camera because I saw that's what gained more traction, and that's. That's actually what felt more aligned to me than always just hiding behind footage of beautiful mountains. And so I created that TikTok account because I'm also very competitive. I was a former Division 1 athlete here in the States, and when I do something, I'm not going to fail, and I also don't want it to look like I'm failing. So I was like, if I'm not getting any bites from my center of influence here in the. In Michigan, like, how do I reach a global audience? How do I get beyond what Facebook and Instagram are eliminating me now. So I made an account for my Smoky Mountains just kind of brand. At the time it was one cabin. And now we've turned it into a business where we are hosting multiple cabins, we're exposing multiple cabins. And yeah, it's turned in that one little TikTok has turned into a really great, really great entity.

And we are definitely going to go and look at the TikTok and the Instagram in a minute. But when you, when you started on, like, when you started doing this, you know, you had the one, the one cabin. Like, were you, Were you, like I say, you're very competitive. Were you, did you have a marketing plan or were you just thinking, I'll list and then I'll have social media in mind and we'll just see how it comes? Like, was, was there a goal in mind or were you just thinking this, I'm going to start this, I'm going to not do the silly tick tock dances, but I'm going to do something with a purpose? Or were you thinking, right, I've got a plan. It's A to B to C to D. This is how we're going to do it, and this is how I'm going to break the Smoky Mountains. What was the sort of process that you had?

Yeah, great question. I think I was just the way I wanted to convey the Smoky Mountains. I was not able to do with just a picture or six lines explaining my property or explaining the area. And I had so much footage of my children there at child at the time, with my kids, with me, with my husband. We got engaged there. Just so many pictures and videos I wanted to bring to life. And I feel like when I was explaining it to people, I wasn't doing the vacation area justice. So I feel like I started there, like, okay, I have to explain what this is and why they should vacation to my cabin. And once that got traction and DMs, and they were like, how do I book? And then I would just say, I would say, go to my Airbnb site. And then they. And then I would think to myself, oh, my gosh, I'm having them pay hundreds of dollars extra just to go through this site. And I was like, well, you can pay me on Venmo. And they were like, are you a real person? And I was like, okay, I have to create a system to like, prove my just authenticity and just validity to these strangers. Because when a video would go viral, you know, you get any content, big content creator knows this. Once you have a viral video. A lot of people think that generates sales. It actually doesn'. I even heard, maybe even you said this like you're sometimes your lowest performing videos are the ones that convert the most sales because you're educating. And with those viral videos comes a lot of anxiety. It comes a lot of misunderstanding. It comes you're a horrible person for taking up housing and you're like, wait, I just love this place. My grandparents grew up and. But honestly, with that does come a lot of chatter and, you know, I want to go to the Smokies. Tell me more about your cabin. So with all of that happening, I made a rental agreement on DocuSign. I had this process where, you know, I vet the guest and you go through me for Venmo and PayPal and Facebook Pay. You can sell me. And then I would have them put 250 down to hold their dates, so I know they're serious. I had three calendars going. This was before I used a PMS either. So I'm handwriting here blocking it off on VRBO and Airbnb here. So it was a mess for a while. Never have double book, though, knock on wood. And we've grown a lot since then. So to answer your question, I never really had a direction. It was more of like. And then I actually would follow some TikTok coaches because I got kind of addicted to the process. Like, if I'm going to do this, kind of like what I my everyday life, when I do something, I want to do it well and I want to be competent doing it. So I followed some TikTok coaches, like talking about a hook. What is retention time? Not going over a minute at the time is very important. Getting your meat and potatoes of what you want to say out first. And of course, we'll talk about that and the call to actions at the end. And I was a sponge. I'm like, okay, this is strategy now. So that finally that system started to come into play years and years later after lots and lots of practice.

So let's just break down the timeline. So 2020 is when you got the property. That right?

Yep.

So June 2020, when did you. So when was that moment that where you were thinking, well, basically it just all came together. So when was the moment that those people on social media started to message you and say, how can I book with you? Is that 2021? Is that 2022? When was that happening?

Yeah. So we closed on our cabin June 20, and then I started the TikTok account. August of I saw we were 95% booked in 2020, and then 2021 looked to be only 83. And I was like, well, this isn't perfect, so I gotta fix it, because we were still in Covid boom land. But August 2021 is when I started social media on TikTok and Instagram.

Cool. So 2021, when did you get your property management software? What year was that? 2022, 2023.

This is pretty embarrassing to say it was 2024. I think I was still living at the seat of my pants.

So two years doing everything manual. And I think I remember this time personally, because I think that's when I started messaging you on Instagram because I noticed a few things and. And I was like, hey, when you direct. And I remember going through this. This. This process. 2024. So that is, what, 18, 19 months ago. So 19 months now you've obviously got all the tools in place and the PMS that you're currently using.

I use currently. Hospitable.

Hospitable, Fantastic. So that's obviously a great tool. Does all of the things, puts you on all the channels so you don't have to worry about double bookings, which is. Which is fantastic. Okay. Really good. Thank you for that. All right. And when did it. So I guess from 2021 then to say 2000 now 2026. When did it actually hit you? But you're like, hang on a second, I can put a post out and it can result in direct bookings. Like, when was that sort of moment to you when you sort of flicked that light switch to go, oh, hang on a second. I can use this to fill my property.

Yeah. I think when I started following Those quote unquote, TikTok coaches or accounts that would, like, just promote how to do it, they would sell their own courses. I just, like, kind of gathered as much free information as I could. I actually posted about this the other day, actually. Ironically, I posted for five months, three times a day before my first viral video. And my first viral video was me dancing to this song. It was actually a more fun song, so I'm glad it was that video. But at the top, the song had nothing to do with what I was talking about, But I wrote, we have a cabin in Gatlinburg. And then that text would leave, we have a cabin in the Smokies, a beautiful view, Forbes number one travel destination book here. And then I think, gathered 10,000 followers overnight. And then that's when it started where people are like, I want to book this place. Show me more of this cabin. And I was like, ben, my husband, we have to get to the cabin to get more footage so I can show this place off. And so I think too, what gains followers is when you have an established account. You know, there's, especially nowadays if you go to follow people, it's hard to get a follow as a content creator because right now it's the season of social media of likes and engagement, and I feel like you're more susceptible to be followed if you have a track record and a resume of other educational or fun or content that people like, oh, I'm gonna go look through this. Or I know she's consistent so she's gonna post more. So I think that separates a follow than just a liker of you.

We are going to go and have a look at the account very soon, but before we do, can you just break down your ratio now of OTA bookings, diary bookings, and, and the follow up question is how much you can attribute to social media for that.

Yeah, I would say when I started keeping track from 2022 to 2025, we did between 63% and 71% of direct bookings. And this year was my actually least occupied year. January and February of 2025 was rough, but aside from those two months that kind of skewed that data, we were running between 85 and 93% occupancy. So only approximately 25 to maybe at the most 39% of my bookings were an OTA like VRBO or Airbnb. And everything else was direct.

Wow. And for you, as a, as a business owner, as somebody who doesn't live where your cabins are, you live out of state and, and all of that, when you get a direct booking and it's a guest that has come direct instead of like an OTA, somebody that has followed your social media, etc. How, in terms of stress levels, what is the difference? Like, for you, personally speaking, are you a bit more relaxed? Are you still the same? If it's an Airbnb guest, do you trust them a bit more? Do you know that they're going to love it more because they've already vetted you technically on social media before they've arrived? Like, how does it feel to you to get direct booking compared to an ota? The money, it's not monitorial.

Yes, direct bookings, to me, the first thing I think about, and I don't know if this is weird or not, but I think, great, they can't review me. I don't know, even though my Airbnb reviews are 4.97 after like, I don't know, so many, several hundred, it's always every. I still get that butterfly feeling like you're about to play a big match of volleyball game when they're about to review you because you just never know what their experiences. And with direct bookings, their feedback comes directly to you. I mean, of course they could go to my Facebook and review me. Of course they could leave a comment somewhere if they wanted to. And I think we even have reviews you can leave on my website. Please, guys, don't take that upon yourselves. But yeah, I just feel like they could if they would. But that direct feedback, if anything ever happened goes right to me and I can solve it right away. And so that part is nice. Just, I feel like just you get that more of connection, community and just relationship. And if things go wrong, there's been some times with my guests where they've had to postpone their trip or even cancel. And I feel like as a host, how you handle that speaks volumes. Number one. And then number two, you really can get them to come back because they're like, I have like my grandma, something happened to her, I got sick. Or my, my daughter's band rehearsal. I'm sorry those recitals got rescheduled. And you know, you just, it just.

You can move them down the line, you can give them a voucher, give them a credit, and it's so much easier to deal with. And I feel like this gets caught up in a lot of it because obviously direct bookings are very, very talkative at the moment. Very, very hot. And I feel like everybody focuses on the monitorial aspect. Like, I can make X more money when I have a direct booking or whatever, but I feel like there's the, the untalked about aspect of a diet booking that is just so, so good. And that is like you say you're not living by the review, you're not under scrutiny by a big brother. That is overlooking the whole booking process. And the guests, you know, whether we like it or not, they are savvy with Airbnb. They know how to get money back now by putting in like messages on the app that aren't true and, you know, and all of that. So direct bookings does give you that. And like you say, it's much more easier to talk to a direct book you guests and to, you know, if something happens, you can just give them a credit voucher and just move them to down the line. So very good all right, so let's. We haven't actually revealed like numbers in terms of followers. This is why I'm excited to share the screen now because then we can have a look at the, at the account. So we're going to dig into the next part. So this is Britney's Mountain Mama Cabins tick Tock account. 405,000 followers. 8. 8.2 million likes. In terms of your analytics, do you ever go and like check this? I mean, I know you said you're a very competitive person, so I assume you do go and check this. Like how, like how many impressions like on a monthly basis are you getting from just a TikTok? We're going to look at Instagram in a second.

Yeah, it kind of depends. You know, I would say about three, two to three times a year you get a viral video. And this past month I had this weird video about my furnace go viral. It got 8 million views, it got over 20,000 followers gained and that kind of skewed my data. But you know, when I'm, when I'm collaborating with brands and proposals and things I do have in my media kit, we're getting about 1.5 to 1.7 views a month across all of our, across all of our videos on TikTok. And I feel like, you know, once that data is out of the average, that kind of what I try to keep up with because that's what I sense is working in trajectory.

Are you still. You mentioned this before and I wrote it down, I thought it was pretty good. Is that for five months you posted three times a day. Are you still keeping up five free times a day for every single day? Or can you like chill out a little bit now that you've got like a big follower base?

Yeah, a little of both. So I kind of just do based on what the need is in my business. So if I have a few great meetings that you know, that week of listing people on our, sorry, listing owners and cabins on our website, I will have a lot of videos tailored towards new listings and house tours which actually don't do. They don't really become viral. I've had a few that do, but that's not the main purpose. It's more of like organizing within my social medias. If people want to book where I can place them under like mamacabins.com, making sure my owners know that their social media is going to get taken care of. But there are times where I'm sporadically making a video about something that happened or something that happened in my Airbnb, which I will say I enjoy when that happens, because people love those weird, sad, conflicted, controversial stories. And I always say, like, as long as you're aligning yourself with good character. Character, just your morals, your ethics behind it, how you handle things, I mean, you can always talk about something and it's not be super controversial. But anyway, that garners a lot of more attention over time to those tour videos, because when people come to your page, they're like, oh, she's talking about this, but look at all of these other things.

Yeah, I was gonna say, I saw here there's an Airbnb guest tried to charge back. That's what I'm looking at the screen here. 21,000. Yes, 21,000 impressions. Obviously, if you compare that to a few of the other ones as well, you know, it really hit home. And, you know, social media is all about controversy. Social media loves, like, a hot take, and social media loves a story as well. So when you can combine all three. And I think what's really important to remember here is that Brit isn't based out of where her cabins are. I mean, it is a. Is a journey to get. To get there. So how do you go about getting the content? When. When you do go to the cabins and go to the area, are you just taking tons and tons and tons and tons of footage and videos and pictures so that you can use it when you get inspiration?

Yes, that's exactly. That's exactly it. So when I go to the Smokies, it's usually because I have to leave the family. I got to leave my two kids, 4 and 2, my husband, who works 24, 7. And so it's a lot, but I make the most of it. So some friends have been like, can I come with you next time for your work trip? And I'm like, it's not very fun. I'm truly in the car all day in town getting content. I'm that weirdo that stands on concrete blocks just like this, because the fomo, the fear of missing out, is so big that I only have two days to get everything that the Smoky Mountains has to offer. And then now, in the most recent years, now putting cabins on my website, I have to drive to those cabins, and sometimes they're way up in the mountains, and it does take a lot of time. So when I'm in the Smokies, I gather as much content as possible within two days, and then I just bring it back home. And to what you said post, when I have inspiration, post. When I see a great song, I'm like, this would fit with that cabin. So just to have it on my phone.

Okay, so let's go and look at, like a piece of TikTok content that actually moved the needle or drove bookings for you. I can see that we've got three of the pinned posts up here. Any of them sort of like the ones you'd like to have a little look at, or is there another one from you like me to have a look at?

Yeah. You know, I even think my strategy of those three pinned videos are interesting because what I love to do also are those little 7 seconds voiceovers. Those don't get tons of views, but they are so aligned with who I am. And sometimes it shows my humor, my relatability, a situation. So I feel like I love Kendrick Lamar, the music artist, and so he had a great video. The first one where I said 22 weeks pregnant and I said, we're listing this. So it was a. It was a fun way for me to, like, dance along to that song just in my living room. Lighting wasn't perfect.

And you're a good dancer, so it obviously helps you.

So that, like, did fairly well. So I'm like, up in that. That shows a little of my personality. The second one, what is just like kind of more.

I mean.

Yeah.

So this is so what. We're through this. So this is really cool for TikTok, because I think everybody assumes video. So what have you done here?

What I did here is I. We got a $3 million cabin listing on our cabin website. And I thought to myself, to promote this, obviously it's a. It's a showstopper, but I also want to utilize it to. If you're scrolling through, oh, look at all the other cabins on her website at the time. Maybe for our first month or so. It didn't really have any hits, like originally on the algorithm, but I still felt pinning it is important because once random videos of mine go viral, people come to your page and they'll go to the top. And I want the top three to represent kind of who I am in my business.

And these are just pictures, right? And they just carousel scrolling through. And, you know, like you say the really cool thing about this is that social media lets you add a comment and an image as well. So people go in and that's even had traction. So, yeah. Awesome. And like I say, some of the comments. Are any of these near Dollywood? Is this property for sale or just, you know, there's loads and Loads of potential people in here. So that's, that's really interesting. And then, and then this one. Talk about this one.

Yeah, this one was a house tour I did. My husband and I visited a cabin together the last time we were in Tennessee. And I thought the video was funny, you know, me pretending to push him in. And that was like the hook to it. And that one went pretty big because it also has an indoor pool. It has a basketball court, pickleball court. It's one of our top cabins. And so showstopper effect. And I wanted people, if they come to my page to look at that. That's cool. And I want to know what else she has to offer on our website.

So it's also cool as well. You've mentioned it a few times and I'd like to delve into it just in case somebody doesn't know who's tuning in. But the hook. So yeah, talk us through the hook. And obviously you have soaked in loads of knowledge about this. You know, you don't come from a marketing background per se, but you've learned and learned. Alert. You listened to a few tick tock coaches. And how important is the hook with something like short form content.

Yes. So the hook is the make or break of the video. You know, I can say this from a personal standpoint and also as like a, just a strategist. When people come on their video and go, hey guys or good morning, I'm gonna talk to you guys. Scroll. The hook has to be whatever you're gonna talk about within that first three seconds. And sometimes you don't even get three seconds. So in a lot of my videos, if I'm doing a storytelling, I'll try to think of a strategic way that I would want to keep watching. Or if I'm showing off a cabin, I'm going to start with the mountain view first or I'm going to start with me moving first. Because psychology, for some reason people like when you start the video moving, it just captures your attention. So any action I can get first in my video and then go into kind of a conducive, fluid video of what I'm trying to portray. The editing is probably more important than how often you post.

So let's talk about that quick, great little transition which is going to be my next question. So you've got the footage, right? What tool are you using on your phone? I assume it's your phone to, to edit these videos?

Yeah, I use splice. I tried Capcut, I've tried a few splice. Has been nice because it's. It feels most professional. But it is for your phone. But I do pay $11 a week for. Is pricey because it offers a lot. But luckily that, you know it's a good business expense.

Yeah, well, $40 or $44 a month, whatever that is, is a business expense and I guarantee the ROI has been good for you. So splice is nice.

Yeah, splice is nice.

Splice is nice. I like that. We can cut that. So that's S, P, L, I, C, E. It's on all of the apps. Whatever phone you're using, go and go and check it out. It's got free trials. Go and have a little play around. But how often would you say that you take to edit a video, so to speak? Let's just say like a, not, not a massive video, but like a normal video that you would put up. Like how often or how much time do you spend Edit in that before hitting that publish button.

Yeah. If I do a typical house tour and it's three minutes of me going through a cabin, that'll probably take me 12 minutes front to back to edit and caption and book and cross post to Instagram and Facebook. It used to take me probably an hour. I've gotten better at pressing the red button on TikTok as soon as I'm done talking and that helps a ton. Yeah. So I'd say if I'm working on a video for anything over 15 minutes, that's probably because I'm gathering screenshots and preparing my video of what I'm going to talk about in front of a green screen. And typically those are like me talking about the cabins that are on my website. And I really. And those videos, I just want to be very accurate because you only get one shot. You get one shot to. My husband always says in real estate, you get one shot to list your property. You get one shot to really do these owners justice.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so let's just go look over the Instagram Mountain Mama's canvas and again Mountain Mamas cabins. Go and search it. It's the same on TikTok, on Instagram and again, same branding work. So if you brand it on these, on. On all the channels, it's easy for people to find you. So when. So what was the transition like? So first and foremost, so obviously started on TikTok and obviously moved over to Instagram. Like, how was the transition for you? How do you feel that the channels are different? How do you feel like the channels are similar and sort of A follow up question, a third question is, which is your preferred? Like which one do you love? Like which. Which one do you love more than the other? So let's talk a little bit about the old Instagram.

Yeah. Instagram started having reels and I'll be honest with you, this was a big personal issue with myself. I knew I could be myself on TikTok. Tick Tock was one that the, the camaraderie was different, the community's different, you're a little more authentic. And I feel like on Instagram it's a little, if you're a little more vulnerable. Instagram's vulnerability and acceptance of that has, hasn't really caught up, but it's so much better than what it was. I felt like I could see that my husband, I, you know, he's a local realtor, an associate broker in the area and I felt like it was my duty to do right by him too and not like be as cheeky online as I am. And that was an internal issue and you know, some external fact actors at the time that were in play. But I felt like once I finally just started telling myself, who gives a crap if you're not, if you're not doing something important? Like, no one's gonna talk. You know, the more, the more you rise and the more you do things aligned with yourself and the more successful, successful you are, you are gonna get those comments. But like that's because that's like pure just reflection of how well you're doing and just having that voice that you want to have. So anyways, I only had about not even 10,000 followers up until a year and a half ago. And it just literally took me putting the same exact TikTok on the same platform. Of course each platform gets different comments, views, attraction, but I was just starting to repost it and once I started doing that, I grew 30,000 followers this year just just by being myself. I'm glad that Instagram has now, is now catching up in the life of just being more storytelling videos and getting in front of the camera. Instagram is a little more esthetic and I try to also tailor my content both ways now where even my fonts, you can tell with the TikTok font, you can tell it's an Instagram font. I've now tried to be more neutral just to appease both audience without losing myself and also my sanity. Because I'm technically a stay at home mom. I work from home, my kids have sporadic daycare throughout the week and I used to envy the content Creators that get these big brand deals and all the time and these big follower accounts. But I really like the trade off of just kind of being where I am and having a life outside of my phone and online.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I love that. So you obviously do a lot, right? We can tell you do a lot, but you've managed to really get those systems down and you're obviously, you know, a parent as well and, and a partner and, you know, you want to have a social life and all those things. Right. So. But how does the current content system look like today? And I feel like everybody's breathing a sigh of relief to know that the content that you post on TikTok is more or less the same you can post on Instagram. You just change a few things here and there. But, like, how does it, how does it look like? So, for example, walk us through what like a day in the life sort of looks like now when you're creating content and running these social channels.

Yeah, a lot of my, the beginning part of my day is answering emails, attending to the cabin. I do a lot of social media for my husband's real estate brokerage. So I actually do a lot of that. And it. More of it's planning if they have a closing coming up, a listing coming up. A lot of my time is taken making the captions perfect of how we're using social media and SEO. And then I really do the bulk of my content between 2 and 4pm, right when I'm about to get my kids, it's where I get that coffee of the day. I can disengage from like the monotonous tasks. And I really do try to. If I got an Airbnb message and I'm like, this would be great content. Or if I see that one of my cabins have been sitting empty for a month and I'm like, you know what, I could promote them. So I try to take two, one, one and a half to two hours, not a day, probably three times a week to just really focus on making content. And I. And kind of like when I go to the Smokies, I make bulk content. I really do bulk content in one, because once that inspiration leaves you, it's hard to get back. And so I probably have 30 drafts of me in the same outfit with different sounds I've sent to myself and reuse or stories that are ready to go. Because I just know once you have it, you got to use it. And there's not really a consistent day to day where you can be like, all Right. What should I post about now? Because I feel like the big part of, I think why people relate well with me is because they can tell that I'm passionate about what I do. And this isn't just a job, it's fun.

I really, really like that. And I really just want to finish up by looking at a couple of things. Number one is, is the link tree. So I mentioned this before, we, we jumped on with everybody about your link tree. So link tr.ee mountain mama cabins. I think yours is one of the best that I, I have seen because the idea of a link tree or a landing page or whatever you want to call it is to direct them to the place that you want them to go. And please do go check out Mountain mama cabins on LinkedIn. You go to the Instagram, click on the first link. So talk, talk to me how you decided to, to set this up. What's your strategy? Strategy behind this? Very quickly.

Yeah, so I knew at the top, so a link tree, you know, I look at other people's and I would see like what works, what doesn't. The more I became a content creator and not just an Airbnb host who did content. You have partnerships that you want to kind of show your partners, like hospitable. I work with Air DNA, price labs. I want to make sure those are seen. And my, you know, just my partners know that I will promote them too and keep them visual. And I thought that was important to always have consistently. And I think in this time of life it's, you know, jumping on a podcast with you. This is going to kind of show up in my link. This is definitely going to show up in my link tree too. But being able for people to see different realms of me outside of this 10 second video, they might see and judge and who, what have you, but it's just kind of a good way to get to know me. And so I was like having my podcast be there with many different people of walks of life is very important. Important. And at the very top, I didn't want to have all my cabins in a row because kind of like retention in the hook, it gets lost. So I wanted to put my website on top. I promote one of Airbnb hosts right under it. And then you can always find what I feel like in that season. I want people to know about me or know about my business is kind of right underneath.

Do you find that now that you have learned a lot about marketing in terms of short form content? Because again, you mentioned the hook and how you put this into a link tree. Do you find that it has helped in other aspects of your, your marking? So for example, emails or for example, other things. Do you feel like now that you can take these skills that you've learned and put it into other forms of marketing that helps have a, have an impact?

Oh my gosh, I love that question. Yes, unfortunately, I would say, I wouldn't say it's depleted by attention span, but I'm actually more cognizant in the way I, I talk with people and also I talk with in sales because, you know, I want to. And sometimes I do feel like I ramble or want to over explain. But if I in the beginning can get to like the meat and potatoes and then explain a little bit here, it's kind of, you know, that beginning to end. When you learn that in school, you know, you have a topic sentence, those three points and the conclusion, it's so similar. And I find in conversations now, my poor mother. I'm like, mom, I love you so much, but can you. You started with this and I want you to get to this. Oh, okay. Sorry, honey. So it's helped me market other people with more of a system and also helped me be a better communicator. Honestly, overall, I like that.

And, and do you do any email strategy? Do you. Are you a big proponent of it behind the scenes, like from, from gathering stuff on hospitable and whatnot? Like, are you, are you dabbling email marketing or are you doing mostly social? Like, what's the sort of the, the usage?

Oh my gosh, that I. It was funny. I was driving here and I saw a notification. Avery Carl has her. I'm subscribed to her email list and I think to myself, I gotta get on that. I gotta make emails, go to my, you know, newsletter signups every day. And if you're really good at that, I'd love to do your help because that is my blind spot. That is gonna be my 2026-2027 goal.

Yes, yes, definitely. Well, I, whenever you've got any questions, just jump in the DMs. I'll be happy to help. We believe in it massively. Okay, so two final questions, ones that I've written down or we've been talking. So there is a bit. A big, Big Tick Tock and booking.com have done a partnership and they are going to start selling on Tick Tock. They're going to start linking up with, with booking.com so travel content creators can promote places and they can book on platform. It's the first social media slash OTA link up that we have seen. And I can see this being the start of more bookings on on on OTAs, which hopefully opens the door to integrated bookings with your website. Obviously they'll have to get integrated into Hospitable and your PMS of choice for that to happen, but let's just say that we're here in a year's time and TikTok have announced that you can now add in where you can book a stay directly on the platform. How would that impact how you utilize social media like TikTok and Instagram? And do you also as well want that to happen? Do you think that could happen? Have you ever. Have you seen any trends that that could be something that you could. Could foreshadow this year or next?

Yeah, I mean, for me, I'm at a point in life too where I know I can't compete with the big dogs and money and this and up to a certain point. So it's like if you can't beat them, join them. And it's like that. Having conversations already with booking and showing them. It's almost like you're applying for a job and I'm already doing this. Let me maybe even inspire you to teach you some things because this is what works for me. I've done this from grassroots. That is like a hopeful goal. That's like ideal, right? And they're like, oh, yeah, we want you to be our spokesperson for that. And then if it doesn't go that way, it kind of does scare me in a sense. You know, I say that with, you know, a catch 22. It scares me in a sense because I never want us to get oversaturated or like, like not be viewed as good enough to book because TikTok has their own system for it. But at the same time, if people find this is a very normal way to do things and they find me for the first time or they've been a silent follower and they're like, yeah, like, this is normal to do on social media. I'm gonna finally book with her. I think there's a catch 22 to it. And I think that's just the mindset of an athlete. It's like, you gotta figure out which coach you're gonna work with and which one will give you a chance to.

I like that. And okay, two final questions. If there's somebody that is watching this or listening this or tuning in on the replay or even live with us right now, like What? And they come to, they come to me or they come to you and they message you afterwards.

Right.

And they go, Brit, I really struggle with putting my face on camera. Like the mindset, I just can't get, get around it.

It.

Right. What is that thing that you would say to them to a. To give them reassurance and then what would be that first piece of content that you would recommend that they film and post to help get around that, that inside fear?

Yeah, I, I have this conversation a lot with the realtors and our brokerage. They're worried about putting their face on there because of what their peers might think about them. So I tell them, you put your face in front of strangers every single day, selling your heart out of why they should choose you as a. To represent them and why not? I mean, the worst thing you can be afraid of is getting poked fun at. But those people poking fun at you likely aren't doing it as well. And I mean a lot of people who do say negative things are scrolling on their duty free lunch for 30 minutes at their 9 to 5 and you have made a life for yourself that you are going to be above or be different or elevate in a different way. And of course they're going to say that. So once you kind of accept it and just post a line to who you are and then the second part of that, what I tell them to talk about is a first great starting piece of content. The market is saturated everywhere in sales, so why should they use you? Why. What makes you. What about your character makes you a. Let's take real estate for example. Love real estate, love the selling process, love people. And why should they choose you? And I think selling yourself per se is the best content a lot of. You know, my husband will send me things like we need to do this. And it's really funny viral trends that are like silly, but it doesn't tell me anything about the realtor. So when I go to choose one, for example, or when I become one, I want to, I want people to choose me for a specific reason, not just to get likes or engagement on my posts. So I always say start with who you are, not what everyone else is doing.

Yeah, that's, that's some very good advice. So now that obviously you've done this and got very good at it, do you find that your partner is more bought into it? Do you think that he comes to you like you said, he brings funny skits or ideas to you and say, hey, let's do this. It's like, has that been a change over time or is it always from day one being like, yeah, let's. Let's do this?

Oh, yes. Oh, gosh. The first few years, and I think it was kind of maybe what was around us in the sense of it wasn't accepted what I was doing in a very small town of Michigan. And what I'm doing now, I think has become more of a blueprint. And I see more and more agencies doing it, and it makes me super excited. But at first he was like, I don't know if you should do this. Like, what will people think? And I would, I would agree with him. I'm like, you're right. I don't want the. To impact anything with us. But it's so funny. In our office the other day, he was. There was a closing that happened and the other side of the buyers came in and they were like, wait, are you mountain mama? And I was like, I am. They were like, oh, my gosh, you're pregnant. Congratulations. And my husband was there and I was so excited. He was, because I. I wanted to nudge him and see, like, see, this is working out. So it's been a definite gradual process and I think the more conf. We both have gotten in our business and our marriage and we just realized too, as maturity as we're getting into our 40s soon, like, no one really gives a crap, so. Including me. So if you're just doing, like I keep saying, what's aligned with you and moral and good character, and you're doing it for the, you know, benefit of the greater good or even a spiritual level, you're going to be in great. You're going to be great.

Amazing. What a lovely place to end this.

This.

Brit, thank you so much for jumping in. Please go and follow if you're not already and go and drop a message on. On either Tick Tock or Instagram, say, hey, watch do on this. And any questions, like, fire away. But yeah, some really, really good takeaways from this. Just that, you know, don't give a crap and just be consistent. I think there's a. There's an overriding theme from all of these videos that, that we. We put together and, and that we publish is that consistency is key. If you are just consistent with it. If you try and do it once or twice or three times and it doesn't work, don't give up. I mean, it's just like going to the gym, right? You're like going to the gym. It's like you're going on day one, you know, you set those January goals, you go on day one, you walk out and you haven't got that six pack, you're like, oh, this doesn't work. I'm gonna give up. It's like, no, you gotta. It's consistency, it's hard work. It's just perseveration over time. Even at those points where you feel like it's not working, keep on going. Because you know what if. If the day that you keep going is the day that it's just going to get better. And if you can get 1% better time and time and again, good things will happen. So thank you. Thank you so much. Any final little words of wisdoms you'd like to. To leave us with, Brit before we let you go?

Thank you. By the way. And I feel like just off of that words of wisdom is, you know, when you're. There's no competition in a sense, when you get older, just like, I don't know, collaborating at the top with you and like, you're. I. You have so much benefit to me. And just like when you're at that place of. You just want success, collaboration is key. And it's been just so nice being with you after all these years, following each other. And I don't know, it's so exciting because it's just connection, relationship, and that's what business should be about, 100%.

All right, we'll let you go. Thank you so much for joining us. Take care.