How to know if your hook is working

Welcome to the social cottage with me, Jammer, where I give you the no-fluff device and tips to help you grow your Instagram and sell more of your offers daily. We'll be talking creating content more easily and in less time, building real authority as an expert in your space and getting your offers in front of the right people online so that you can live more of your life offline. Hello and welcome back to this social cottage podcast. Today I want to talk to you a little bit about how you know that your content is working and how you know that it's resonating. There's something that crops up a lot of times in my DMs. Now obviously we always want engagement on our Instagram posts and we also want to be seeing an increase in followers and an increase in DMs, but sometimes we're a little bit unrealistic with ourselves as to what Instagram content working actually looks like and feels like. Now the first thing to say to you is that often when we're thinking about this in terms of what's resonating, we often get in our own heads and really think that every post should be just going a mega viral, mega nuts and that we should just be growing an insane amount of followers every single day, let alone every single week. And the thing is is that we often are raising the bar astronomically high for ourselves. So let's say you're used to getting at a next 300 views on a particular Instagram reel and then you have one post that does really well and it gets two and a half thousand. Your bar is then dramatically raised, right? You'll then like will every post should be getting at least two and a half thousand. And if it doesn't, I'm a disaster and my whole content is a flop. But what we've got to realise and recognise is that when we're posting content to Instagram, what we've got to realise and recognise is that we cannot simply be continuing to raise the bar and thinking that every single post is going to work and resonate. And what we want to think instead is rather than putting each of our eggs into one specific post basket, instead what we want to be doing is we want to be seeing the picture as a whole, right? And so what your Instagram insights will do for you is they will give you a really good idea of this picture as a whole. But too many people are avoiding looking that Instagram insights, a little bit like I guess you might avoid looking at your bank statement. And instead of just churning content out there and not actually looking at what is resonating most and just basing your whole social media approach of a feeling and perhaps of what you personally want to post online. The truth is that there is often a mismatch between the content that we kind of want to post and feel like we should be posting and the content that is being really enjoyed by our audiences. And what we're seeing at the moment is content that's really dialed in and content that makes people feel really seen is performing the best. And often when we approach this from an expert stance, there's kind of a mismatch there, right? So you might be thinking, okay, I need to be speaking to people who are scaling their businesses or running that erads or whatever it might be. And you're using that terminology when really the people who are likely to digest that kind of information are perhaps people who are looking at to make more money in their business or be able to take weekends off or do that type of thing. So what we really want to understand is that we know a post is working and resonating from the metrics that Instagram are giving us on our professional dashboard. And today I'm going to kind of teach you how to read those well for your own account and then how to then begin to implement that for content that you can just be whizzing on out there. So Adam Misari in one of his Instagram reels came out and said, you know, this is how you know that hooks are working for you. You can go and find it on his page. If you don't know who he is, he's like the head of Instagram. Lots of people don't like him. I like him. I think it's a great guy. I think he's really transparent about what he shares. And he came out and shared, you know, how you know a hook is working because a lot of people get a knickers and a twist about hooks and they say, I can never fit my messaging into them or I never understand how to pull them together. But the reality is is that hooks are everywhere, right? They're on films, they're on IGNTV, they're literally everywhere. And it's something that just gets you to stop your scroll and to stop you in your tracks. And we stop people in their tracks by truly recognising and identifying with them. And too often when we're creating hooks, you're being too vanilla in your content. You're basically like trying to done things down so much so that you kind of don't even really sound like yourself or maybe you're using charge EPT to do it. But really we want to be reflecting back their experiences at what it is that they're living out daily and truly understanding them as a person. And that's how you such know that hooks are working because you're actively stopping them in their scroll. Now how you track this in terms of metric and actual data because remember we don't want to base our social media off of feelings. Too much of social media is based on feelings and it should be because that's you know marketing right at a very nutshell. But the problem is is that we evaluate our own social media presence and our own social media success based on feelings rather than the actual metrics. So what you're going to do is you're going to go into your professional dashboard and you are going to find a couple of things throughout this episode. The first thing I want you to do is go into each individual real individual post and there you will see a little graph that kind of like either drops off or picks up. And that graph there is designed to show you how people are engaging with your content and how long they are staying on your content over time. You should see that graph sort of kind of being nice and steady. It not drop off too dramatically. And if your content drops off too dramatically what that means is that they're kind of seen it and gone oh no this content isn't for me. And this is why it's such a good measure of how your content is actually working and resonating because then you're able to go okay so this person or most people watch this video for I know two seconds so I know that what's going on after two seconds there oh yeah okay I suddenly said something really strange or the lighting shifted or something happened like okay I can go and fix that. So when I was a teacher we would be looking at data all of the time in terms of how our students were performing we were never looking at it in terms of our feelings yeah I think so and so is going to reach you and reach age related expectations in maths I think you will I feel like you will. No we were looking at the data and we were plugging the missing gaps and it's exactly the same for your content. So if you notice that people are dropping off your content before one to two seconds like really really early you know that hook hasn't resonated with them you know that's not done a good enough job. If people are staying on your content for like the first three seconds you know that the hook is performing you can absolutely guarantee that because most people take about three seconds to kind of decide whether they stay or not and if they're staying for three seconds you know your hook is performing. If you're saying doing a talking head you can be like okay so they've dropped off after four seconds so there I might need to tighten up what I'm saying or how I'm delivering it or it might be that some you need some captions on screen or something like that. You have got the data given to you by Instagram to find out and to figure out the pieces of the puzzle for why a piece of content isn't performing. Honestly that's why I built the plotting shed. The plotting shed is there for you to have resources to go and post quickly and to go and have the prompts at your fingertips and know exactly why contents resonating might not but also you've got me in your pocket there to go okay let's just take a look at this gem and what's going on here I'm not too sure and we will take a look and we will work it out with you because yeah sometimes a lot of Instagram is guesswork but there is a lot of data out there that's making it not guesswork for you. So that's how you know if your hooks are working if they're staying on your content for longer than three seconds. This is also why a lot of people are talking about carousel post working really well at the moment and they are working well for some people because carousels keep you on that piece of content for longer right it takes you longer to read a carousel than it does a b-roll reel and the longer someone stays in your content the more it gets shoved out there. So what are those gurus who are like carousels are having a moment no it's got nothing to do with that it's got to do the fact that their content has been really well framed through a carousel post it's met people where they're at and they've managed to keep them staying on there. This is why I'm such a fan of lower left content because if you are creating really fancy graphics and all of these things inside of can there it becomes a little bit difficult to understand how the pieces of the puzzle that fit together right it's like oh was it because that it couldn't quite read that fun or was it because of this color way or is it because of this whereas if we're using lower left content with you know photos that are already on our phones we can kind of go okay yeah maybe one day I can improve the photography here but the reality is it's almost likely almost certainly the words on screen that are having the impact here so if you're feeling like your reach is lower particularly on photo-dump carousels I would really recommend that you give a go on these photo-dump lower left carousels so that you can really begin to pinpoint where exactly your audiences are falling off and we can adjust the messaging and the wording on screen to do that. The next metric that you want to have a look at is using our top content by follows if you go onto your professional dashboard you will find follows there click on follows and under there you will see top content by follows this is such an important metric and it's really really underrated now if it's really high for you and you've had some really high performing posts that's great so let's say you clicked on that and it says I didn't know 100 and then 200 you can really see that a quiet chunk of people are following you as a direct correlation and the content that you're posting great keep going that's a sign that your content is doing its job and that you should repeat some of those formats in the next four to six weeks because you know that it's resonating with people I've had a couple of posts do that recently a lot of my camera carousels have taken off and I've had two photo-dump carousels I've taken off really well. So I've repeated those formats over time. You'll go and see that on my Instagram page if you go and have a look. However, if you're content, your top content by follows, there is lower than you would like it to be, right? Let's say it's like 15 on one, 10 on another, five on another. Maybe it's not even that high. You know then that you need to make some more top of funnel content. I hate that phrase, but there's no other phrase for it. Essentially top of funnel content means that it needs to be wider reaching. So you know, like I said before, about let's say you're scaling businesses or doing metarads or something like that. Essentially, what I'm saying there is that maybe that phrasing, scaling and metarads isn't actually where they're resonating. They're actually resonating with making more income or taking afternoons off or doing that type of thing. So you need to be reaching people where they're at. And if your top content by follows, if those numbers are really low for you, you need to be having a play around with the types of content that are going to bring people in and the messaging that you're putting on screen. And again, that's why the plotting shared exists so that you can go, okay, these are these are lower top content by follows than I would like. So come into the hook space and I'll help you and we'll go, right, let's reword it. Let's get some top of funnel content coming in there so that you can begin to see what's going to be attracting these newer and wider audiences. And also that's what trial rails do, right? Trial rails are designed to be top of funnel content attracting newer audiences. So if you're struggling with your trial rails at the moment, again, that's another sign that your top of funnel content isn't doing its job. It's not reaching people where they're rise, not taking that very, very first step. So let's say you're a toddler behavior expert. You know, the very first step there is people are, you know, they're toddler is screaming in the car or they're finding it really difficult to entertain their toddler and feel like they're not losing their minds. You speak to that. Whereas a lot of people will start with three boundaries your toddler needs today. Like yeah, my toddler might need boundaries, but actually I need help first, struggling with the tantrum. Do you see? So the more you kind of peel it back and reverse engineer it, you can see, okay, I need to be producing more top of funnel content so that I truly understand where my audience are going and where my content itself is going. Instagram really isn't that much of a tricky experience. Like it just isn't. It's puzzle piece, lifting through and it's finding the gaps. And that's why I love it, right? Because like I said, you know, I used to be a teacher, I used to find the gaps, but like, right, so and so needs to learn this. So let's go and teach it to them. It's the same with your Instagram's going, right? Okay, there's a gap in my top of funnel content, so I need to go and plug it in. You've got prompts to do that from me or you can come inside the plotting shed to do that. You might have your hook is doing well, but the rest of the content, it drops off all of the sudden. Okay, so we can go and fix it. Your Instagram content is fixable, okay? But it's only fixable when you understand the metrics and what you're looking for. We don't want to be basing everything that we're doing off of our feelings. We want to be basing it off the data that's right in front of us and not making life too hard for us. Too often we're spending too long on our content and they're not actually looking at the data behind it and seeing where the missing gaps are and how to fix it. What we want to be doing is we want to be looking at the data in front of us and going, okay, so let's have a look at how we can plug those holes and actually fix the gaps. So that's why I suggest you doing this lower left content, filming a couple of b-roll pieces that you've got. I just filmed two in Aminest Cafe like 15 minutes ago. Well, I use them, who knows? But I get in the habit of doing them so that something's always in my photo album ready to go. And then I can add on my hooks on top because the biggest lie is that we think that there is something wrong with our visuals. So we think that we need to spend longer on our Canva Carousel or we need to spend longer filming or do weird vlog star reels when actually nine times out of 10. It's the messaging and the relatability on screen that matters the most and we need to fix that first. So very long-winded episode today but stay with me. I want you to go and have a look at your Instagram metrics. I want you to go in and see and go, right, what's my top content by followers doing? And I also want you to go and see, okay, what is my hooks doing? Are they dropping off dramatically? Are they staying around? If the hooks are working, how can I go and fix that other stuff? And if you're like, oh, I need some help and support. Do that. The plotting shed is for you. Come and DM me. I want to hear exactly how you're getting on. I want to see your metrics. Share them with me in DMs. I would love to chat with you and I will see you next week.