Outta My Way Algorithm: Growing Your Audience Off IG

Ready to hear a hot take? You don’t need the algorithm. The algorithm needs you. Platforms like Instagram make their money selling ads against the attention that creators — including dope indie brands like you — cultivate. But you don’t have to spend your precious time making money for Mark Zuckerberg just to grow your shop!

In this episode, Janine unpacks why diversifying your marketing is so important — and how to make your content less disposable with the Platform Prism strategy. She also covers:

• Why Spring is a great time to focus on visibility
• How to make the most out of your content (with or without Instagram)
• Our favorite algorithm-agnostic strategies for growing your audience

This conversation is 👏 FULL 👏  OF 👏  ACTIONABLE 👏  ADVICE 👏  — probably because it came from our Building Moment Beyond the Algorithm workshop. Want access to the full workshop, including visuals & Q&A? Join the Library — a communal space for indie retailers to access resources and tools to support their shops!

And if you’re ready to go from ****stressed out shopkeep to sustainable growth with feel good systems, join us in Feel Good Foundations this spring!

PLUS— this season, we want to hear from you. Are you resourced in your retail business? Leave us a voice note & tell us about it!

🕸 feelgoodretail.com
📱 @feelgoodretail

 ✨ Thanks for listening to the Retail for the Rest of Us archive! There's tons of great advice in this episode, but you may hear about resources that no longer exist or find broken links in our show notes. Please head to feelgoodretail.com/podcast for our up-to-date offerings!  

Transcript

0:27

Music. Hey there welcome back to retail for the rest of us I am your host you need Malone the founder, feel good retail and the Indy brand cheerleader around these parts, I am so happy as always to welcome you back can't wait to get into this episode because it's actually an excerpt from a workshop I taught in April. Called spring forward building momentum beyond the algorithm so. Whether you love hate or are indifferent towards Instagram I think we can all agree that it's only one tool that you have available to grow your shop and it's never a bad idea to put your eggs in multiple baskets to diversify your marketing efforts and you know I was really inspired to teach this Workshop to our community. Because it feels very relevant right now. We're seeing changes to the algorithm we're definitely seeing like consumer Behavior change a little bit online and I think we're all just really burned out by like trying to please the capital a algorithm, so I wanted to offer a couple other suggestions that I've seen work really really well for Indie retailers to continue to grow Their audience and be discovered so if you're in a place where you're like I don't feel like we have enough customers I don't feel like enough people are aware of our brand I want to invite more people. Into this community that we're building this is definitely the episode for you if you fight with Instagram if you are feeling bird out maybe you just like abandoned that platform all together this is way of either adding to your efforts amplifying your efforts or you know kind of replacing that platform if that's something that you want to do. I love teaching these workshops I went into 2022 with a goal of trying to teach at least one free Workshop a month for Indie retailers starting in Q2 so we're one for one I do have a very exciting Workshop happening in May but you're going to have to just wait. For that one it's a little bit of a surprise right now but I did want to mention that if you're interested in making sure that you always have access. To our community courses extra bonus tools resources. Things that you can't get anywhere else and you want a little bit more support but at like our most accessible Price ever meaning five dollars a month. You should definitely think about joining the library we just released this new offering it's been something I've been really thinking about and dreaming up for a long time something that felt a little bit like a patreon, but was just a super accessible and communal place. For Indie retailers of all shapes and sizes to access resources and tools and get support. Without needing you know a huge retainer or you know to set aside a ton of time on their calendar I just want this to literally feel like a place where if you have a question ideally over time you go to the library and there's a tool that can help you answer it. So if you like some of the ideas and strategies that we talked about in this Workshop I definitely think the library would be for you because we are talking all about sustainable sales strategy this month and the stack that we just dropped in April, goes, even more into detail than this Workshop does we've got ideas to grow your audience we've got exactly a step-by-step of how to test a referral program and then we have even more resources coming in May and June around the same topic so. Highly recommend five dollars a month or 55 dollars a year he joined for the year you get a couple extra bonuses and you say essentially get a month free which is pretty cool so that's my big pitch it's definitely a way that we see being in relationship with our podcast audience in particular, we love creating this shell and we get so much good feedback about. How helpful y'all find it and that you love listening to it while you're packing orders are making products. That being said it takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of money to produce the show so if you want to support us and you want to get support for yourself definitely recommend joining the library which you can find. Of course. Did the show notes or at feel good retail.com library before we get into this episode I did also want to just share that as of right now when this episode is dropping through April 30th the doors to feel-good foundations are open, if you're not familiar Feel Good Foundations is our 8 week course it's kind of like. By brainchild of how to nurture operate and grow your retail business in a way that feels really good. We talked about brand and writing a sole statement for your business that will guide all of your decision making we create an amazing content calendar full of content pillars the platforms you're using something that's really easy to just rinse and repeat and feel amazing and magnetic with the content that you're creating. We talk about sales goals sales projections I share. A spreadsheet that has basically a cult like following at this point and we talk all about your customer experience journey to ensure that you're not. Acting transactionally with your customers you're always. Focus on retention building a great experience and adding more amazing customers to your community so. This course is five star we've gotten rave reviews we've taught it. I think this is might be our fifth or sixth time teaching and I also believe it will be the last time there were teaching in 2022 who knows things always change. But this is a great time to take this course because I'm thinking of it as like a get right for summer session where it's a perfect time to get your systems in order so that you can actually enjoy your summer and really take care of your business, heading into holiday season I think it's going to be a really crazy one so if you're feeling burnt out if you're feeling overwhelmed if you're feeling like you're on a hamster wheel. And you feel like you're guessing your way through your business I definitely recommend at least checking out Feel Good Foundations like I said the doors are open through the 30th April 30th if you're listening to this in the future. Sorry but if you're listening to it when the episode drops you a couple more days to get in and I we would absolutely love to see you there is an amazing group that's already coming together and I just can't wait to support you and help you grow your shop and feel good doing it so Feel Good Foundations if you want like a total business overhaul to feel like a confident badass. I mean CEO is like always feels a little girl bossy but CEO your boss right, and the library if you just want to support the show get some amazing resources and get a better Taste of how we approach strategizing for Indie retailers. All of that to be said let's get into the episode. As I mentioned this is an excerpt from a live Workshop so if I reference visuals or. You know answer some questions things like that because it's taken from that context I think you guys will get it but our amazing editor Amelia did a great job of not making it sound wacky so without further Ado here is the excerpt from our building momentum beyond the algorithm Workshop. I'll talk to you guys. Music. Let's get started this is building momentum beyond the algorithm a spring Workshop going to talk a little bit of shit about Instagram. We're going to talk about some Alternatives and we're also going to dive into just like ways to make your content life feel a little bit. More useful when we love that. So you're in the right place if you own a retail business whether that's online in person both if you want to grow your reach and get your brand out there. If you feel like staying up to date on the algorithm changes has started to feel like a full-time job. And the Instagram hustle is exhausting you you're in the right place and if you want solutions that will stick we're not talking about Trends we're not talking about fads no pointing and dancing unless you're into that sort of thing I'm a huge Tick Tock lover so there'll be no Tick Tock slander in this Workshop but I know it's not everyone's cup of tea so that's what we're going to be kind of diving into today. And I just want to talk about like who has felt like they've been here who is this who is felt personally victimized by the Instagram algorithm you know maybe you worked for an hour on a photo or a caption and the perfect emojis you like curated them and you're just like ready you're ready for that Shopify Bing to be happening you're like let's see it go and then Instagram shows your post to literally no one, like it sometimes feels like the post you put the most effort into are the ones that do the worst which also feels like truly torture. It's a bad feeling right so bad feeling so we're going to work on some Alternatives I'm not going to try and preach a. Changing your relationship with Instagram I think that's a long journey that we're all on but I want to talk about some Alternatives if you're feeling like you're dumping a lot of time and energy and all of your creativity and your art into this platform and it's. Just like chewing it up and spitting it out I hate that so during the workshop today you're going to learn why spring is a great time to focus on visibility why we're talking about this now Beyond just like. The changes that have happened to Instagram how to make the most out of your content with or without Instagram I'm not here to recommend anyone like leaves the platform entirely if that feels good to you amazing if it doesn't and you want to have kind of more of a healthy balanced we're here to make that happen for you as well and then a few of our favorite algorithm agnostic strategies for growing your audience so specifically we're going to be talking today about getting in front of new audiences so acquiring new customers growing you're following growing the awareness around your brand. Before we get started if you're new here. Hello I'm Janine I'm the founder of feel good retail in the host of retail for the rest of us are retail podcast I have worked with Indie retailers for over 10 years I'm a cancer sun and a Capricorn Moon meaning that I love the feel feelings and I get shit done and our company feel good retail supports in the Retailer's at all sizes and all stages to grow and Thrive without sacrificing your vision and values so. We want you to feel good we want you to feel like you're running the business of your dreams not crafting Your Own Prison you know what I mean. So why is spring the perfect time to get more visible let's talk about that first let's go to the witchy realm first you know in another life I worked full-time as a Tarot reader and is an intuitive business guy that's how I would have qualified that I still carry a lot of those principles in my work, as feel good retail at feel good retail and seasonality and the energy of different cycles and seasons is something that's super important to my business and I find really really valuable for businesses that I work with and small businesses especially who maybe only have one person your everything you do it all or you have like a small staff and you need to be really thoughtful about the resources and the energy that you have and can manage so when it comes to the wheel of the Year this is kind of an example or just like a brief review of The Seasons Winter is q1 its associated with the new moon Q to where we are right now is spring it's the waxing moon under or sorry yeah waxing moon energy summer is our full moon energy its Q3 and then in queue forward that fall season the waning moon we're coming to the end of the year. So without getting into a whole Spiel you know spring itself is associated with building momentum that has to do with the waxing moon right we're starting to see. See it back in the sky right we're coming out of the darkness and into the light It's associated with using your voice spring is associated with are energy if you're familiar with tarot it's the suit of the swords which means we're like communicating our needs we're using our intuition were kind of in that mental Realm. I'm communication is really key and also with blooming again right I don't know if anyone else has gotten super excited by like tulips starting to be in your yard or you know little buds on the trees just looking around at what's happening in nature is something that's really inspiring to me in terms of sustainable strategy and spring is the time that we're kind of coming back out of our shells taking everything that we've kind of thought about it integrated and. The conclusions we've come to the inspiration we have found during that winter time during that New Year transition and in the spring especially for retailers everybody knows q1 isn't the most fun time that it feels really good to start feeling that momentum and to feel like you're coming back out of your shell you're like. You know being visible being. Taking all the work that's been happening like underneath the dirt behind the scenes that takes so much energy but maybe is it seen and you're starting to see like, the fruit of that labor feels really good, so like I said we believe that part of building a sustainable business means honoring natural cycles and natural Seasons this allows us to focus on one thing at a time work with the resources that we've got in Mark our growth as those Cycles continue right next spring you'll be like wow I wasn't feeling like I was being that visible I was feeling so reliant on Instagram and hopefully after today when we get to this April Fool's kind of area next year you'll feel like wow I really have put in the work and I have such a healthy relationship, with putting myself out there and with getting the brand out there and it doesn't feel like I'm just an employee of Instagram that makes sense. So why do we want to move beyond the algorithm I mean. Let's be serious do I even need to do I even need to get into this I think we all know how we feel but why do we want to separate ourselves from. The algorithm capital T capital A maybe you're here this gift made me laugh. Literally so hard so you're tired you're sick of putting in effort and not seeing results you feel like. Instagrams rules and Instagrams changes are your boss and it's affecting your bottom line. You're worried that you are just relying too heavily on one platform maybe you don't even really care about the algorithm but you're like I don't know I feel like I should switch it up I feel like I should have my eggs in many baskets and frankly you just need a fucking break. Pardon my French. So what we want to do is we want to get here we want to get you excited about your marketing we want you to be able to see a direct relationship between your efforts in the results AKA you want to see money let's be real we're all running businesses you want to write the rules and you want to have fun. With your marketing like imagine actually enjoying creating the content and getting inspired and like making things that feel really cool and unique to you. You want to get yourself out there more without adding a ton of work to your plate maybe you're an introvert or maybe you just are wearing many hats because you're a sole proprietor or you know a single member LLC or something like that. But you really don't have a ton of time to spare but you need to see that amplification happening and you want things to feel easier smoother better. Here's my hot take you don't need the algorithm the algorithm needs you okay I'm going to say that again. You don't need the algorithm the algorithm needs you. Dead-ass platforms like Instagram make their money selling ads against the attention that creators, including dope Indie Brands like you cultivate on their platform. That's the hard and fast truth of it and while Instagram is a really cool tool it. You know maybe it was cooler a couple years ago but Instagram is a really amazing free tool that being said because it's a free tool the thing that makes the money for that company is out of our control and it means that there's algorithm changes that there's rules we have to follow that we don't own any of that data in fact. Our data is like what they're selling so there's a lot of complexity you know I'm sure I'm not saying anything anyone's unaware of that I just want everyone to sort of sit with that even. The next couple of days like you don't need Instagram right like would it change your business yeah it might. Drastically but if you're not feeling like there's an equitable or a healthy relationship for you there are other ways to grow your business and I know that that feels. Scary because Instagram has become like just ubiquitous with like. Small business and you know it's free right it's free how amazing but in reality it. Comes at a cost right you feel Shadow band you have a love-hate relationship you feel like your gambling you feel miserable. That's not a way to run your business right that's not something that's actually free it may be may not cost you any money but sure costing you energy right. And so that's the good news right. Instagram is only one tool so whether you love it tolerate it C is it see it as a necessary evil or have it etched in your burn book. Diversifying your marketing efforts is never a bad idea right so when we talk about. Instagram and algorithms you really need to remember that the algorithm is essentially a third wheel for you getting in touch with the people who follow you and your Brands and your businesses. Algorithms are bad third Wheels right they get in between it's like you go on a really hot date you're like super excited you're looking so good you put all this effort into your outfit and you're playing like a game of telephone across the restaurant with the person that you're there with like you don't know. You don't know who it's if it's going to get to the right person you don't know if they can see how cute you look you don't know like there's there's a disconnect you're not actually having a one-to-one connection. And that does make it a risk right and so without getting into like what is good for the algorithm and what's not I think that I just want to kind of exemplify that diversifying your marketing is really critical so this is how you put your eggs in multiple baskets. So at feel good retail we like to call. This like your direct in your indirect audiences you might hear from other people something like owned and borrowed audiences I don't love that terminology I don't think we you know I don't like to own things on people so we call them direct and indirect but you're Direct. Channels are ones that you don't have anything really in the way of you getting in touch with that person so think about in terms of a platform if Instagram went down tomorrow. You would not have access to all of those followers right you don't have their email addresses you don't have their phone numbers you don't have their addresses you don't have any way of actually getting in contact with them, which is why an algorithm is a bad third wheel right because if something changes you may not be able to contact the people even if they've opted into following you. And so your direct channels are things like your email list go directly to an inbox your web traffic that's a direct connection your actual visitors in person right there's nothing in your way of having a giving them a great experience and also if you're someone who's getting into SMS texting text marketing that also has no algorithm right it goes directly to the person you're talking to. Your indirect audiences are anything with an algorithm right so anything any free tool. Honestly that has. Rules or algorithms or something that needs to be like kind of activated if you will in order for you to show up right if you have 1,000 followers on Instagram you know every time you post not even close to 1,000 of your followers are seeing that right you're lucky if it's like 20% so there's just not a guarantee that that is. Being shown to your audience. So if you're thinking you know now we're talking about multiple platforms so if you're thinking holy shit it sounds like a lot of work I'm already doing so much I'm already so tired can I take a nap after this Workshop please help me. Don't worry basically I want to talk about some strategies that can 10x your reach you know maybe that's dramatic but. Tedx your reach without 10x in your effort right just because you want to get out there to more people I think this is the thing about Instagram that's kind of like rob it our brains definitely rounded by brain where I feel like if I'm not seeing results I just try so much harder like gritted Teeth I'm like okay I'm going to post more I'm going to do these reels I'm going to be on stories I'm going to use all their features I'm gonna like you know follow the rules of being active 15 minutes before I post and it's like. First of all. Any retailers are not content creators you guys have shops to run you have orders to place you have orders to pack you are doing so much the idea of just like doubling down on this platform that might not even be delivering any like return on that energetic investment makes me sick. Frankly and so. I think that we've gotten used to that where it's like okay if we want to see results we have to work 10 times as hard and so my hope is that that we're going to get to talk through some strategies that you can use to. Get in front of more people without having it feel like it's a ton more effort right because you're busy, I respect that I see that I know that and so the way we're going to do that is one by focusing your messaging. And two by exploring outside of the Instagram algorithm. So number one is something I want to talk about called the platform prism so the platform prism is the strategy or the system that we use it feel good retail and all of our clients use we teach it to them, we also teach it inside a feel-good foundations it's got two weeks worth of modules all about how to create a system of creating content where you can do a lot more with less right so. I think that this is a constant problem and let me know if any of you resonate with. Kind of what I'm about to describe which is that we have all these different platforms right I mean even within just Instagram there's feed stories lives reels shopping there was like guides for a while is that still a thing who knows but so. Even inside of Instagram there's like so many different ways to create content and that's only on one platform so say you also have your website you have your store you have a Twitter you have a Pinterest maybe you're experimenting with Tik Tok, that is a lot of content that you can create right. And so by using what we call the platform prism you have one message and you're projecting it out. To these platforms as opposed to just jumping on every Trend following every single rule on every single platform and feeling like you know on my website we're talking about this thing in my store we're having this event on Instagram stories we're talking about new arrivals but in the feed we're talking about you know, a trend it can feel really scattered and if it feels scattered to you it's definitely going to feel scattered to your audience you know like it's so hard to get people to even see something once and even if they only see it once it's hard to make sure that that's really hitting them and that they're really understanding because we're so passive when we're online what the platform prism does is instead of guessing what the algorithm wants it creates this like playground for your creativity and keeps your messaging super focused which saves you hours per week, it also creates a system in which, if you get to the point we were growing and you are hiring help let's say you hire someone to help you with social media or you have an amazing shop manager who says she wants to take on more responsibilities and you're like girl go I don't want to do this marketing thing anymore I don't want to be executing day-to-day the platform prism creates this kind of unique. Architecture for your business. And so again I'm going to touch on this really briefly like I said we teach this for two weeks and Feel Good Foundations but just to give you an idea of the way it works this is our this is like the most perfect photo I've ever seen to explain. What the platform prison is you. Think of your core message in your theme what is the thing that you want all of your audience members to know about this week this month this season whatever it is, going to take that message you start with the message because the message is pure from you right if we're just creating to please algorithm there is, a lot that happens that we're creating that we're just like I don't know that didn't really feel authentic that didn't feel like me I didn't really actually point to anything that felt valuable. I just like wanted my post to get seen and that's how Instagram is tricking us and brainwashing us all but anyways that aside then we think about our direct channels how am I reflecting this message in my store on my website in my email list maybe you have a Blog whatever that is anything that you on those direct channels that's where you go first. Then from your direct channels you get to play and kind of we call this in the prism refract those ideas out across your social channels so that's where you're going to have fun you create some platform pillars some you know standard categories that you want to hit every week if you love doing reels you know how are you exemplifying that core message in a real this week right as opposed to starting with like shit Instagram says we need to make more reels which is essentially like starting down here at the indirect channel right Instagram says we need more video content so I'm just going to make video content and hope that it comes back too close to what I was thinking I wanted to talk about. We love it because it does your efforts so it tells a super clear story and you're able to maximize your impact. To it allows you to do a lot more with less so if you are making the most out of the content you're already creating then you're not having to create. Tons and tons of disparate content and hoping that like the language is okay and that it's related to something and you can't really see in your analytics which you all know I love if your marketing is making a difference right which is another thing that's really critical if you're spending so much of your time working on it then yeah you want to make sure that like the things that work you can do again and the things that didn't work you just. Either fix or leave behind and it also I think stretches your creative muscle it allows you to get really excited and creative around expressing that core message multiple ways. So let's go through an example let's say our Core theme is florals for spring. Groundbreaking so on your direct channels you would create a florals collection on your website. You would write a blog post potentially about inspiration like some florals you love maybe you round up some local florists whatever that could be maybe you have an event you know, it depends on how big this collection is or this launches a newsletter introduction pointing to that collection and maybe you're doing some client telling right maybe you do have a private event if you have private shopping or maybe there's something again that you can kind of do in community or in person about that florals for spring. Fun you're taking those indirect channels and you're reflecting your direct channel so you're doing it Instagram Carousel maybe you're doing styling ideas on Tik Tok you're doing a story this or that poll about what Prince people like you're doing pins of the product and of that blog content on Pinterest and so here you've created eight. Pieces of content related to one idea which to me is pretty much the whole week right maybe that's a week maybe you can stretch it out I'm sure if you spend even a little bit more time depending on again how big that theme is for your messaging you could definitely feel a week definitely feel like multiple weeks honestly a month just based on that one idea and then you really get to have some fun like put your Visionary creative hat on sit down write out every single idea you have some of them will be trashed it's totally fine and then what you'll get to do is kind of sit down. And be in research mode rather than just creating content that feels disposable something I've been thinking a lot about is like the idea of content versus art. And again maybe this isn't the most inspiring example florals for spring but if I wanted to really be like my art this season is about florals like I. I want that to feel like I'm able to express it in this like Myriad way and not just put up one post and then feel bad when it doesn't perform like I'm part of that toxic relationship. And so I didn't really mean to go off on a tangent but it's just something I've been thinking a lot about especially when we are kind of put into this place of like. We are creating a lot of content we're living on the internet the internet thrives off of content so. This is just one way to think about how you're transforming your relationship with Instagram to be reflective of the things that actually matter to you through something that we call the platform prism again if you want to learn a whole lot more about that can join Feel Good Foundations. Now let's talk about our three Timeless algorithm as agnostics strategies so these are ways that you can if you just. Don't want to even think about Instagram don't want to be making content for Instagram then these are some other ways that you can grow your audience and get in front of new people without, expecting Instagram to help you be discovered. The three ways we're going to talk about our keywords collaborations and connections. I love a alliteration moment so first thing keywords show up where they're searching right. Is this the sexiest strategy of all time. No it's not but it's effective as hell you know utilizing things like SEO Pinterest even YouTube Google my business if you're a brick and mortar business are really critical to discoverability and they have long-lasting effects so, I always kind of liked to think about even though it's not the sexiest thing let's do another analogy the stock market versus cryptocurrency crypto is like really sexy right now right everybody wants to get on crypto they want to be a crypto billionaire cool I think that there's a lot of value to it I think that there's going to be like it's going to continue to grow and develop into the future it's kind of how I feel about social media right this is not the final form of social media that we have right now it's going to continue to develop continue to change we are all going to continue to Pivot and it's going to continue to shape our lives and our understanding of connection. However then there's the sp500. She ate the hottest she ate the newest she ate the trendiest but she performs you know year over year there's a compound interest on the work and the effort that you do when you're optimizing for keywords again. Not the hottest but that's okay. Optimizing your Brand's digital presence to appear when customers are actively looking for something that you do is chef's kiss pure gold 10/10 can't recommend it enough. And so you can do that utilizing things like SEO which is search engine optimization Pinterest an amazing platform for discoverability I know everyone thinks of it as like. Home decor and like recipes and like Mommy bloggers but it's actually so valuable it's an incredibly robust visual search engine essentially which is really cool you can use things like Google my business which is I'm sure if you have a brick-and-mortar shop many of you have seen this it's like the little box that shows up. You know if I Google your store and it shows me the hours and customer photos and reviews and things like that there actually a lot of ways that you can. Develop content specifically for Google my business so that Google puts your shop higher in the rankings. If you're making video content in any form YouTube is also a great one I wouldn't recommend diving into YouTube if you're not already creating some kind of like longer form video content but maybe you're like I actually would love to learn videography and that's something that would feel really satisfying to my art then YouTube is also a really cool one to enjoy and so just as an example we have a client we've been working with them and they've been working on their content and SEO strategy for the last six months and as of this month over a third of their web traffic is now coming from organic search which means people who are searching for all sorts of things like the things they carry the things that their values are aligned with Etc it's far outpaced there traffic from social media and their direct traffic so again the longer play but over time as you develop your keyword strategies and you get more familiar with things like Google analytics and Google search console, you can get to this place where we're going almost 9000, viewers on your website a month from organic search and I will say I organic search also had a two-and-a-half percent conversion rate which is excellent which means of those. You know 8700 people who came to the website from organic search 2.5% of them were making a purchase which. Sounds pretty good right don't have to put makeup on don't have to pick the right filter don't have to write a cool caption just have to be like staying on top of your metadata. A little nerdy but you know I like those things. Number two collaborations Teamwork Makes the Dream Work why work harder when you can work smarter why not. Join forces aligning with Brands and content creators that Vibe with your values not only makes your marketing a lot more fun. Allows you to be creative allows you to make friends allows you to put some like weird and cool and awesome ideas together it also amplifies your growth right if I'm working really hard growing my audience and you're working really hard growing your audience why don't we team up and share those audiences. Especially where that makes sense. So these are things like giveaways doing exclusive products with fellow Brands sponsorships of maybe like events or things that are happening in your community collaborating on content whether that's like. You know maybe a party or an event or you're doing it interview series or you swap lists and talk to the other persons email audience there's all sorts of things you can do when you join forces and I wanted to give you an example we had another client who we helped organize a group giveaway and it grew their list by 13% in less than a week which was 178 new subscribers. So what would that feel like to get almost 200 new email subscribers in less than a week I think they did like you know maybe it was. Couple hours reaching out to those Brands maybe an hour we helped set up all the tech for it and then a couple posts. Couple emails you got 100 178 new subscribers that's pretty spectacular I would certainly love that. And then number three is your connection so word-of-mouth is pure gold you know like how are we getting the customers who already love us who are already excited about us who already are loyal to us to introduce us to their friends who will probably also love and adore and be excited to join us right like let's do the damn thing together. So connections can look like developing a referral program having that kind of community involvement maybe you are like sponsoring you know an event or giving something to a raffle in your community or just getting your name out there and places that are a little bit unexpected especially if they support something that one of your customers are already involved in you can host private parties you can host events you can invite your customers in and give them like a really Luxe experience maybe there's some kind of Workshop that goes along with your product that you can offer as like a VIP thing. And also using user-generated content across your platforms I think that that's another amazing way if you get photos from your customers even if they're not the most like aesthetically pleasing right if you're sharing those odds are they're going to share your share right like if they're tagging a brand and a photo what they want is the clout they want to get reposted and then they want to repost that so that they can be like hey look at me I'm famous right and that's just a really fun way to get in front of people who actually have an incredible connection to your brand and also to their friends and family and things like that because I think everyone here probably knows Word of Mouth recommendations are the best but they're also very elusive right so if you create these opportunities to be in community and in relationship with your customers I think that that's going to pay dividends lot of stock references here so lastly the last Clan I want to talk about is someone who we helped Implement a referral program that led to dozens of new customers acquired plus loyalty for their VIPs through this referral test we gained 68 new customers paying customers yes that did come at a little bit of a cost there was a discount for the customer and also a little Kickback for the VIPs who referred them that being said. Hell of a lot less than paying ads on Facebook and it's just this really really cool recommendation and connective point where you kind of like don't have to spend a ton and it doesn't have to be continued because again there's more of that like emotional connection and emotional stickiness to the brand. So let's recap you don't need the algorithm the algorithm needs you right start with the message and then go to the medium, you do not exist you did not create your business to play by Mark Zuckerberg is rules. Okay play with the platform prism Explorer sharing one clear message multiple times multiple ways it's going to feel tricky at first because you're going to feel like you're repeating yourself but keep in mind if only five percent of the people who follow you are seeing what you're posting then if you post to your feed and something on stories and a real all about the same topic. That's fine you're still probably not going to be hitting every single person who follows you and even if you are there different forms of content you know it's not like going back I think of the days when on Instagram we would just be like. Sharing to Instagram and then they would just auto-populate to Facebook and Twitter and like the links would all be weird like the, the language never worked right like the hashtags were in there what a mess we've come a long way but. Just think that you're not really repeating yourself you're just ensuring that you're telling a full and robust and vibrant story. And lastly of course Explorer keywords collaborations connections to amplify your growth. If you want to learn more about content systems about scaling your business and about the platform prism specifically consider joining Feel Good Foundations. I highly recommend joining the library staying in touch you know we do a lot of we do a lot of stuff and I'd love to do more stuff together. So thanks so much talk to you guys soon bye. Retail for the rest of us is a podcast by feel good retail if you'd like to learn more about how we can help you scale and grow your shop in a way that well. Feels good. You can visit us at feel good retail.com the show is produced by softer Sound Studio and if you'd like to support are independently run woman powered podcast. You can leave us a 5-star review take a screenshot share it to social media tell your shop BFFs or join our retail resource Library a communal space for Indie retailers to access resources and tools that will support their shop. For just five dollars a month you can not only support the show but get a. To an archive of our most popular resources and exclusive seasonal content we'd love to see you in there in the meantime thanks for listening cheers to feeling good.