what i would do if i had to start over again: THE STAND OUT METHOD

Now we can niche down within yourself and get specific with how you want to talk about them. And it's usually in this process where I can kind of create signature style series for my clients. So how do you want to talk about them? Get really, really specific. I'm Alyssa and welcome to the Inspired Media Podcast, a space for creators, creatives, and entrepreneurs who know they're meant to do more than just stop this grow. So we're putting the spotlight on the unspoken truths and unconventional takes on how to truly build a standout brand online. Now, let the show begin. Hello, hello, how are we doing today? Welcome or welcome back to the Inspired Media Podcast. And today, we're going to be deep diving into a very highly requested topic. And that is, if I were to start over again on socials, what would I do? And I say this on every episode, but especially if you're new or going through a little bit of a rebrand right now, this episode truly is for you. So before I walk you through my signature framework, aka the standout method, I want to first talk about the part of socials that people usually just jump straight right into, because this is probably the biggest mistake I see with content creators. And it is focusing on the content, which kind of makes sense because it's social media, we have to create content, we have to post content. But something I learned really quickly, especially after watching large creators, is that the content itself, the topics, that's not the reason why people come back for you. That's not the reason why the biggest creators have built these huge cult-like followings. It's not that, it's not the what, it's the why and the how, that's the secret, that's the differentiating factor, that's that it factor. And finding that thing, finding your thing, that's the reason why I created the standout method. So, let's build your strategy together. Step one, step one of the standout method is the why. Why are you doing this? What's your mission? Why even create content at all? And this question used to annoy me so much. Like, what is your why? You need to have a why, it used to annoy me so much, 'cause I'm like, okay, let's get straight into the content, let's go straight into it. But I was also making a really big mistake that a lot of other creators make. And your why is a foundational part of your strategy, because if you have a surface level why, you are going to attract a surface level audience. It's already about you, it's your name, it's your face, so your why needs to be about something bigger than you. It needs to answer the question, what's in it for them? And this doesn't mean that you need to go super deep and like, help everyone heal their trauma, like, no, you don't need to do that, but it needs to be something more than I want to book brand deals and make some money. Like, that's short-term, those are goals, and that's good for now. But on the days where it's getting tough, when the self-sabotage comes in, when you compare yourself to the other creator, when the posture syndrome comes in, you have to have a strong why, because that's gonna be your anchor. So, take some time today, you don't have to have a pretty perfect mission statement, but just take some time and write down your why. Why at the end of the day are you going to decide to put yourself on camera, listen to yourself dog, look at yourself, and press post, why? So, that's step one. Step two is gonna be the how, how to show up authentically yet strategically. And I talk about showing up authentically a lot here, and I think authenticity is 2024's, one of 2024's favorite buzzwords, which is awesome, because show up authentically is like the best and worst advice ever, because it's something that we know we need to do, but at the same time, it's like, okay, well, what does that mean for me? But here's the reality, and why I say strategically yet authentically, because authenticity can change depending on your mood. You can authentically feel like you are not gonna do it, but if you have a brand deal, or if you're trying to stay consistent, you're gonna have to show up even though you authentically feel like you don't want to, right? Your brand cannot rely on your mood, and it's that consistency, that consistency in so many ways, that's the reason why people come back, that's the reason why people follow you. And I say so many ways, I mean, it's not just the consistency in how many times you're posting, you're posting cadence. It really is the consistency in who you are when you show up, and how you make your viewer feel. So, if your page was a cafe, and people are entering into your digital space, how do you wanna make them feel? What are the vibes that you wanna give off? Remember, you are not your brand, your vibe is your brand, even if you have a personal brand, your vibe is your brand. And think about a creator that you really like, but you don't know their name, or you don't know their handle, you just saw a video and you're like, wow, I love that tutorial, I love that look, that person's really funny, whatever. You would just describe the vibe of their video to share them, even if you don't know their name, or you don't know their handle. So, if you wanna figure out what vibe you wanna give off, think about that sentence, think about the person that watched your video, really liked it, and wants to share your brand with someone else. What would you want them to say about you? How would you want that person to describe you? Not that that's the only part of you that you're ever gonna show, but again, you are not your brand, your vibe is your brand. So, as a whole, what are the vibes that you wanna give off? How do you wanna make people feel? How do you want people to see you? Are you the tough love older sister? Are you the silly crazy bestie? Are you the, I'm gonna give it to you straight kinda girly? Who are you? And how do you want to express yourself? That is the how part in the standout method. And if after watching this episode or even right now, you're craving some more guidance, some more step-by-step in-depth walkthrough of the standout method, and how to execute this on your socials, I do have a digital product for you, it's called socialstandout.no, when I'll link it in the show notes, along with case studies and testimonials so that you can browse. But now that we have the how, let's get into the last part of the standout method, which is the what. And the what is the thing that people usually jump to, right away, and why I wanted to talk about the why and the how is, like I said before, it's not the what that differentiates you. It can be in really unique cases, if you're talking about something super unique and super out there like a crazy topic. It can be, but usually your it factor, that special thing is not what you're talking about, but why and how you're talking about it. But the what in your strategy is still really important. So let's talk about the what, AKA your content pillars or the main topics that you want to talk about. And your content pillars can be different from my content pillars and the next content pillars of the next creator. Those can be really different because it really just depends on the topics you want to talk about. So I'll just give you an example. I'm going to make up a fashion creator. So a fashion creator's content pillars, for example, can be fashion event reactions, clothing and brand reviews, and a styling lookbook. So those are the main topics that we want to talk about. Now, when your brain storming, you now have these boundaries that you can explore in and go deeper and not wider. So what I'd like to do here is if I have the content pillars, the main topics, now we can niche down within yourself and get specific with how you want to talk about them. So let's go through those content pillars again, for example, fashion event reactions. So this creator in particular, they're going to have their own version of the best and worst dressed. They're also going to do reviews on the guests, the outfits and the stylist. So in every single review, those are the main things that we're going to look for. We're going to look for their take on the guests, the guest specific outfits, and then the stylist. Because that's not something that a lot of people do. People just kind of rate the outfit. It's amazing. It's not, that's it. But they're going to go a little bit deeper. Another example for clothing and brand reviews. Maybe this creator is going to go inside the store and check out the tags of every single piece of clothing to see if it's worth it or not based on the materials. Third is styling lookbook. A lot of fashion creators do a styling lookbook, styling and spell, all of that. But this creator in particular, niching down within themselves, is very maximalist, very colorful, loves textures, loves prints, loves mixing prints, that's their style. So they're styling lookbook and how they style something is going to look like that. It's going to have that maximalist colorful vibe to it because that's authentically who they are. So in this example, you can see the what? Those are just the boundaries. Those are just the topics. But when you think about your content ideas, then you can niche down within yourself, specify how you want to talk about these things, how it connects to you and how it relates to you, and then those content ideas can come up. I think a lot of people think that having structure and having a strategy kind of puts them in a box. And it's like, well, I don't want to just talk about those things. And again, you can talk about multiple things. That's why I also have a lifestyle pillar, which if you don't know what a lifestyle pillar is and you want to learn more, I have another podcast episode on it, I have a freebie on it. But when you have structure and strategy, it's actually so freeing for your creativity because now you can go deeper and wider. Now you have that sense of clarity and you can really go for it, as opposed to just having a ton of ideas and a crazy chaotic notes app and then a dry feed, you know? So in this video, strategy. It really allows you to go deeper and not wider with your content. So now let's get into the second part of the what, which is what do you have capacity for? And I'm going to get into the logistics here instead of the strategy portion of it. But what I mean with what do you have the capacity for? It's what platforms do you want to be on? How many times do you want to post? There's no magic number to how many times you should post. There is no, you have to be posting five times a day because that's what the algorithm is looking for. I've never heard that come from Adam a series mouth. I've never heard that come from the CEO of TikTok's mouth. I've never heard many of it. So what do you have capacity for? If you can only post on Instagram for three times a week, perfect. Let's start you off there. So if you can do TikTok and Instagram for three times a week and you're simply just cross posting right now, that's fine for now. But when you answer the question, what do you have capacity for? Think about what platforms do you want to be on? And how many times can you post per week over six months? And that's the number I want you to stick with. Because if you want to stay consistent, we need to understand what you have capacity for. So there's my answer. Everybody asks me how many times should I post to grow? How many times do I need to be posting? Do I need to be posting 20 times a day, five times a day, three times a week? And it really just depends on you. Because I'd rather have you post, let's say four times a week on one platform than 20 times a week for one week. And then you just ghost your followers. And then you're like, oh, hi guys, I'm back. And I know some of you have done that. So we want to stay consistent with our posting cadence. Okay, wrapping up the three part method here. We have the why? We have the how and we have the what? Why are you creating? How are you creating? That's authentically you that actually leverages your authenticity, leverages your personality. And what are you creating? When you have the foundations of your social strategy down, creating and posting becomes so much more clear and so much more fun. And like I said before, people think that strategy is the thing that like confines you and it's so structured, so rigid, but it makes content creation fun because instead of treading water with all of your ideas, you have clarity and direction and can finally start bringing those content ideas to life. Okay, I know. And I hope you wrote some notes down here. So please, please, please, if you did share your wins with me on Instagram stories, don't forget to tag me and spread media code or even TikTok stories on Instagram, on TikTok, in DMs, emails, whatever is the most comfy for you. And as always, break a leg.