Liz Nable 0:00
The history of storytelling goes back 1000s of years, cave dwellers used pigment to paint on walls with their hands. To create stories and myths. The ancient Greeks carved their language into walls to tell how history was moving forward. Telling stories is one of the number one ways humans create connections to each other, to our communities, to our culture and to our ideals. We use stories to find a common thread, to establish trust, to entertain. To give us another perspective, you can tell a story with words or with images, or both. Storytelling is in every aspect of our lives, books, movie plotlines, newspapers, conversations with friends, songs, plays in an artwork on the wall, in our education, and now social media, as business owners, especially if you're not social media savvy, being active on those social channels, and telling your brand story can feel like a chore. Even if you are familiar with how it works. It's yet another task on your to do list in the operations of your business each day. And it's relentless. It's 24/7. In my opinion, every business whether you're 100% online, a bricks and mortar business or a combination of both can't afford not to have a social media presence today. You don't have to be an influencer overshare or just post randomly for the sake of it. You know, I'm all about working smarter, not harder. You just have to understand what makes a great story. And the good news is, it's pretty simple. Once we know that we can use social media to our advantage to keep our story front and centre for our customers every single day. And even better, we can do it for free. Today's guest on the podcast is someone who's been at the forefront of storytelling since before social media even existed. Sorry, I'm making her sound very old. She's not old. She's 44 Same as me, and I am not old Beth McDonald or baby Mack after her original blog from 2006. And now her Instagram handle suggests is one of Australia's OG bloggers, and still going strong. 16 years later, Beth began blogging as a means of keeping in touch with her two interstate sisters. But over the next decade, and as her family circumstances changed, it evolved into a showcase of stunning photography, honest heartfelt writing and entertaining storytelling. In 2018, Beth decided to start an online shop add to cart with her sister Lucy from their homes in borrowing in the New South Wales Southern Highlands. The shop was a way to showcase and curate products Beth has loved and used over the years on her blog and on social media. It's been a huge success selling to customers and readers all over Australia and around the world. Beth is the master of Instagram stories, and she can make even the dullest household chore look sexy on the gramme, but she's not a look at me influencer who's selling a dream that doesn't exist. And that's what I love most about what she does. She's honest and authentic, knows her brand. And what she stands for, and simply shares that on her stories each day. She creates a picture of a life that people ultimately want a piece of. And then she sells from her interiors and accessories business from there. It's kind of genius. It's consistent, organic, real, no filters here, and a fabulous example of how storytelling sells. So well. I can't wait for you guys to take a listen. Hello, I'm Liz naval and you're listening to enable my business, the podcast. When I first started in small business almost 10 years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. You see my background was in the media. I had spent 15 years as a television news journalist and reporter working at several major networks in Australia. And then as a freelancer in the US and around the world. I spent years dividing my time between working long shifts on a news desk and travelling the world chasing stories. It was unpredictable and exciting. Until it wasn't anymore. I decided I wanted a life where I was in charge of what happened next. And where I was working to build my own empire, not someone else's. I also never wanted to work a midnight new shift again. Now, I don't have to.
There was a lot I had to learn about running my own business. But one thing I already had in the bag was how to get media coverage and free PR. I knew what the media wanted. I knew the secret formula for what made us and I knew how to leverage those organisations to build my business, get more exposure and ultimately make more sales. During my decade of building my business, I have managed to get featured in almost every major news outlet in the country. I've been interviewed on television countless Times had personal profiles written up in women's magazines, done point of view pieces, large newspapers, and be listed in top 100 List women in business and in my industry, and I've never spent a single cent on PR. I took that knowledge for granted, until it dawned on me one day that I could teach what I knew to other businesses, let them in on the secret. And they too could build their businesses, leveraging the media and gaining free PR. They could use my insights in the industry and my behind the scenes experience and take their business from Best Kept Secret to well known brand simply by following my formula. Welcome to enable my business, the podcast. Hey there, thank you so much for being our guest today on the podcast.
Beth MacDonald 5:51
Hi Liz. It's great to be here.
Liz Nable 5:54
You are someone that I have long admired from a distance. I mean, we're friends through like friends from school and all that sort of thing. But you are the like, original, like the OG blogger, you have been blogging since it feels like 1982.
Unknown Speaker 6:09
I know it's actually no money back. No, no, I finished school in 95, 2006 is when I started blogging. So it's 16 years this year in July. Yeah, so it's it has been a long time. That's why it seems like it's a long time because it is.
Liz Nable 6:28
And that is why I thought you'd be such a perfect guest for this episode, because we're talking about the craft or the beauty of telling a story and how to get really good at that with your brand or your business. And you've obviously been telling great stories for a long time.
Unknown Speaker 6:44
So I'd set up my blog, it was at the time there was no social media. Can you imagine a time there was no Facebook, there was no Twitter. Maybe there was Twitter, I don't know. But there was no Instagram, there was no social media. So I used to read American blogs who were a little bit ahead of us mommy blogs, I guess. And so I set up a blog as a way of keeping in contact with my two sisters, one lived in London, London, one lived in Melbourne. And I was pregnant with my first daughter and I wanted to, you know, document the story. And I've always been someone who loves journaling, telling stories, recording moments, looking back, I just love being able to think what was I doing on this day, however many years ago, so it was kind of a natural progression for me to do that. So I set up that blog, mostly thinking my family, were going to read it and then people strangers started reading it. Some American blogs that I was following at the time. And then and then it sort of social media hit and then the world of blogging, and you know our whole world opened up. So yeah, I went from being family oriented to this larger audience. And then I think it was about 2010, which was when social media was really booming, and I had an agent, I got a blogging agent for the first time started monitor monetizing my blog, making money through corporate sponsorships and working with brands. And then that sort of rode that wave and there were plenty of waves along along that saw me travelling overseas, going to conferences in New York, well being flown to Hayman Island on a helicopter by tourism Queensland so that I could share it with my audience. It was just nuts. And then Instagram, all these hot new Instagram has came up in the world which were younger, pretty fresh are did more curated feeds. And brands were more interested in that then a ageing who was a bit tired and jaded. And, and so yeah, I came through the other end of that. So the paid monetization of my blog sort of slowed down definitely. Around three or four years ago, I did a job for Olympus, either to the royal wedding. I remember that when I was
Liz Nable 9:14
Oh, that's right. I remember then.
Unknown Speaker 9:16
Yeah, I convinced Olympus to pay me to go over there for that was basically just a holiday. And yeah, and then at the back of that all sort of paid work dried up. And so I was left thinking what am I going to do? I've still got all these people that are following me listening to me telling me what to do, you know, list, doing what I tell them to do. And then that's how my business came about through that.
Liz Nable 9:39
Yeah, so your online business are where you were, how would you put in a sentence like the kinds of things that you sell online? What's your kind of target market and what do you sell? Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 9:49
so it's it's a curated collection of goods that I love to use. I run it with my younger sister Lucy and she had a background around in digital marketing, she worked for Marks and Spencer in London set up their online website. And then when she was living in Australia, she came back, she was the head of digital marketing for David Jones. So she had a lot of online retail experience. And we were just sort of sitting there thinking what, you know, what can I do with this, and I was just like, I had been spending, you know, close to 10 years being sent goods from brands, and they would tell, you know, I put up a picture and say, This is a bottle of gin that I really like. And then I didn't know what happened after I did that, I would get paid for it. And I would disclose it, I get paid for it. But I never really knew what it looked like, from the brand's perspective. So I would be like, So Lucy, and I were just sitting there like, well, if I'm setting a table, you know, you've been following me, you know, I love to cook, I love to entertain. We live in the country, we have this really beautiful lifestyle, which is quite different to a lot of people's lifestyles, lots of entertaining good friends, beautiful homes in the highlands. Like it's amazing. So if I'm sitting at a table, and I can say, this is my tablecloth, these are my napkins. This is this is the recipe of how I cooked it. And if you'd like to buy these things, you now can because I thought I'd just see what happens anyway. So we started this off, I borrowed $10,000 off my father in law and pitch my business plan to him. And he's like, Yeah, I'll do it. And we just sort of had a crack, thinking, what's this going to look like in real life? And it was just amazing. Blew my mind from me saying, here's the napkin to then hear the sales chicken like click in it's just like, Oh my god. So this is what this looks like. So it was me sort of taking control of, of the monetization of it. It's a lot harder than getting paid, you know, a good amount of money from Woolworths for a sponsored blog post, but much more rewarding for me,
Liz Nable 11:51
I think. Yeah. And now you're in the driver's seat, I guess. So it is, obviously because you're buying stock, and you're hoping that it sells but it you're in charge. Yeah. So going back to when you first started the blog for your sisters and for your family. What did you set out? Like, obviously, you know, lots of people, you know, when you have your first baby, it's such a big deal. And you think everybody is interested in every single, you know, milestone and your family is, when you're trying to tell stories in those early days. We always love to tell stories like how did that evolve?
Unknown Speaker 12:23
Yeah, I just loved I've always been an oversharer. So if we were to, as you would know, Liz, in the times that we've spent together, oh, golly, gosh, right. And if you standing next to me in the school pickup line, I'm going to overshare something like I just will. So the challenges that came with early motherhood for me and always being someone that needs to connect with other people and say you feeling like this too, because I'm feeling really like, overwhelmed. And I'm not managing my career. Because at the time I was working in corporate finance, like I'm not managing that lifestyle, with daycare and all the frustrations. So initially, what was this is my cute baby. This is like she did this, she did that. It would be more about like, God, I'm struggling with juggling daycare pickup at six o'clock at night, coming home, feeding them, spending all night trying to get them to sleep, juggling them being sick from daycare, having to tell your boss, you can't come in all of those things started to come about. So the storytelling probably came about a bit more there. And then. Yeah, and then that just continued to grow. Because, you know, one thing that's been happening since the dawn of time is women sharing stories and connecting over a back fence. And this was just a modern version of that, I think sharing stories and connecting with people and then brands, you know, saying well, how can we tap into that? Yeah, how can I get her to mention my Huggies nappies, while she's struggling with? You know, whatever, whatever. So yeah, so
Liz Nable 13:56
you're so you notice that, that other people were starting to read the blog, not just your family and your friends? And did that resonate with them? Like, what was the feedback you because back in those days, this is why you call baby Mac, right? You're on you're probably a 50 inch, big, chunky computer. And I put sections in the comment section or something.
Unknown Speaker 14:17
And you would just write comment, and it was always like, Oh my God, I feel like that too. And it was just that it was no one cared because no one was really reading. No one cared like I didn't care about it was just about connecting with other people from from all corners of the world. And you know, then there were like conferences for bloggers that started to come about and so you would connect with the bloggers and then like, initially, I think brands like Ford territory or like car brands would let you take their car for a bit there have competitions and you know, all sorts of things and then it was and then you became a bit more aware of yourself as like, oh god. This is someone that that people might recognise. as me or my family from from doing that, which was a bit weird, that was a bit of an adjustment. But you know, we I was able to make a really great living from my blog for many years whilst I'm raising children. And whilst I'm doing what I love doing, which is telling stories and connecting women and making people feel less alone in in those early stages of childhood, I mean, that's why I think blogging is much more difficult for me to do now I've got teenagers, they certainly don't want to see themselves on the blog. Like they won't even let me look at them. So why, why would I have teenagers do now I know that oh my god, hold on to your heart. So I can't even take a photo of them. So there's very limited.
Liz Nable 15:41
Yeah. No longer free photo.
Unknown Speaker 15:45
No, no, no, that's right. Yeah.
Liz Nable 15:48
So why have you? Did you ever have anyone in those other so you started to make money, you started to get these brands who wanted to partner with you? Because you were there at the beginning? When it was it's almost come full circle, hasn't it? When you were just being you? Yep. And no makeup on, you know, at your computer, writing your blog, sharing these real stories about your pains and your struggles and blah, blah, blah. And these companies wanted a piece of that. Did you ever feel like oh my god, I've got to like strike while the iron is hot. This is not gonna last forever. This this making like this being able to get these brands to like, Did you see that evolution coming because I know that they've come back to the a lot of those brands have now come back to that realness of people like you who perfectly curated and don't use filters. And
Unknown Speaker 16:34
I definitely knew that it wouldn't last forever, because it was too good to be true. And I'm amazed that I am still here, I still turn up I still write on my blog 16 years later, because I like like, the thing that remains consistent throughout the throughout the entire thing is that like realness, it's vulnerably, showing your heart and sharing your pains and your struggles and your joys along the way. Because that's what people connect with. They don't they, I mean, no one's connecting me like this. This is cute, like, look at me and my Mercedes that I've like been lent from Saudis, whoever, like you just go, Yeah, whatever. But if you can incorporate that into a story, so it was building layers and years and years of trust with readers and an audience that, that that meant that they would let me do paid stuff. And I would always do it in a way like always, like, what's someone getting out of this by reading this? What are they they've got to get something from this transaction? Because, you know, there's no point doing it otherwise. So
Liz Nable 17:41
yeah, yeah. And so obviously, when you first started out, you were sharing your story or stories through words, but obviously, with the evolution of social media, you now do that with pitchers as well as words. So, my saying to you, before we hit record, like I love the way you tell a story. So Instagram Stories, ironically, is designed for people to tell a story. So you've got your main feed with, with possibly like, you know, your hero shots of whatever you want people to see. But stories is where the engagement happens. And tell me a little bit about is that do you? Do you plan that out? Or do you? How do you how do you tell a story on Instagram each and every day without getting completely burnt out? And, and keeping people engaged?
Beth MacDonald 18:29
And get completely burned out? is exhausting? I've been doing this like how long is Instagram been around for maybe like
Liz Nable 18:36
2012? Maybe? Yeah.
Beth MacDonald 18:40
Like 10 years and I have been doing it. Like if you look on my you know, most people on their Instagram like thing. It's like they've shared and you know, how many photos Have you shared posts on if you look at your Instagram? Have a look. See how many posts you've done on your site? Personal one, whichever one you've had for the longest? How do I see that? Just on your fit, like on your main feed when you go on to your dashboard? Like? Yeah, and it has however many posts the first thing it'll say something posts and then it'll have followers. Oh, 411. Okay, so that's how many posts you've done. I've done 11,000 point for
Liz Nable 19:15
Holy moly. That's telling me Molly.
Beth MacDonald 19:20
Yeah. So I've done 11,000 More than you stop posting that situation I think it might be making of oversharing.
Unknown Speaker 19:32
So you know, 11,000. And that's just photos, individual posts that I've done. So there's a lot of content that has happened over those 10 years and I do find so blogging people sort of went from really engaged in people's stories and reading lots of words. And then as social media came out and our brains have literally rewired so that we have less attention we have less so If people don't have time to sit down and read 3000 words on a, on a blog post, even if it's got full of wonderful nuggets, beautiful photos, that they'll read a book, they're not going to read that anymore. So things change, people don't even read posts really on your hero posts that you were talking about, like your main photo, people don't have time for that stories is where it's at. So our attention span is so small. So what might have been a blog post once would now be if I'm trying to get a story or a series of frustrations across. It could be say it's talking about like how I'm so over the mental load of motherhood and all the stuff that women have to do in the house on a daily task on a daily day. So I'd take a photo of the washing pile, take a photo of that, but try and incorporate funny images and stories and music and things that people can relate to get that story across. So you do have to be creative. It's definitely nothing that I plan you could never I could never plan. What what I put on Instagram on any given day, some days, I don't want to do something but I also know that 99% of my business comes through Instagram, through this blog, audience baby Mack my Instagram that's where all the sales of my shop come through. So I have to give them a gift of life in the country something beautiful a recipe sharing and then so I can go give give give, please buy this. Yeah, don't buy that. You give give this is this. This is my heart. This is my Look at my beautiful child. Look at this. Look at that, please buy this 90
Liz Nable 21:37
are the non negotiables in that Instagram story every day?
Beth MacDonald 21:42
Ah, no, there's it's very rarely that I don't put anything up that I try not to do too much business stuff. Even though I do do it every day. A non negotiable would be I try and share something personal about me whether it's white wearing, that's something non selling to people from my own shop. I try and do that mostly, that's my intention every day to try and make brighten someone's life. Try and connect someone trying to give them something that they can use, whether it's a recipe, whether it's a quote that I post from somewhere that I've seen, it's beautiful a book, I've read a part of myself that I'm sharing that someone might get something from
Liz Nable 22:26
and you are quite funny. You definitely is quite funny. She's being you've got a bit of a sarcastic self deprecating, like, yeah, you know?
Beth MacDonald 22:38
Yeah, I mean, I do try and use humour. I always have loved trying to make people laugh. So I do try and do that. And I find myself sometimes on my stories and having a little giggle about Yeah, it's pretty good. As long as you're laughing, teenagers are laughing. Oh, my God. I know their friends following me. So they're just like, not can you not?
Liz Nable 23:05
So is it when you're when you're telling those stories on Instagram stories now? Are you trying to give like, obviously, you're getting like a little behind the scenes shot into your life in the country. And I guess that sets up your story sets you up for people to want to buy a piece of that. Is that right? Is that what you're essentially aiming to do?
Beth MacDonald 23:24
Yeah, it's not as like calculated as that I think. But But yes, I guess so. And that's what I was always. That's why my blog was successful, because it had a point of difference. We were living, we just like UPS move away from Sydney kind of did that COVID thing. 10 years before it was fashionable to move to the country and try and make it work. So yeah, it's definitely I try and I know how beautiful it is down here. And I know we get the seasons we get like beautiful homes, we get transported in like, we are very lucky. So I do try and share that because it still blows me away. We've been here for 13 years now. And I still love my house. I still love our village that we live in. Yeah, so yeah, it's definitely part of it for sure. Sharing sharing that.
Liz Nable 24:16
And do you think there's Do you have any kind of ideas about what you feel, makes a really good story? So broadly speaking, could be text, it could be the pictures? What what do you see from the response you see from your customers, and maybe just your community, your Instagram followers, and from what you know, from doing this for such a long time? What makes a really good story, because I guess a lot of the people who are listening, I hope, you know, small to medium business owners, women who are going oh my god, that just sounds way too hard. Like I can't keep up with that. Like, is there is there sort of a bit of a shortcut to say these are the things that make a really good story. And these may be the things that could be a little benchmark for you to kind of mark yourself against when you decide to tell you Story on Instagram or in the traditional media or wherever it might be.
Beth MacDonald 25:04
Yeah, it's, Oh God, it's really hard like because I'm, I'm a real visual person, I love taking photos. So for me, my eyes always drawn to something. So if I'm wanting to share, like what you think of the things that you love to look at, on Instagram yourself, what resonate with you, I always love any like different things from different people. But I like to look at flat, you know, like, you might like to look at a flat lay of something, whether you're going to cook something and the way things are laid out, you might take a picture of that and think it looks really beautiful. Sometimes you might not have time for that. And it's purely informational. But in terms of like doing it for your business, I think always number like people, like connecting with other people. So even if your business is making or selling pot plants or whatever it might be, you've got to be able to share with people why you do what you do, why you love doing what you do. And if you can share that with it. Like always, when you're doing a post on your business, you would find this whenever there's a picture of yourself in it, or something to do with you. Even if that terrifies you, it will always connect with other people because they just want to see like I always love seeing. Well, this is this is me. And that's why like Lucy, my sister and I who run this business we she hates being on camera hates it. It's not her nothing. It's just like she would rather die than have to do that. And every time I put her on the camera, they're like, Oh my God, give us more Lucy, she's amazing. And she doesn't believe it. And she would she just won't do it. I force her to do it. But people love it because they go You guys are just normal people who are running your business and I am connecting with that. I think it's funny the way you have banter about that. I love the way you guys like what clothes you wear, the way you put things together. So it's like building up this. Yeah, this sort of like train of information and filtered with personal bits. But always fun and most for me is always sharing yourself and being vulnerable and sharing your heart. Whether that heart is things I love things I'm like really passionate about and try and definitely try and pepper those posts in amongst the other stuff. You know, that just always works every time those like Intro Hi guys. See, I've got some new followers here. These are five things that you might not know about me, I love to do X. I love this. The reason I moved Is this, like whatever it might be people love that and it just creates engagement. And to
Liz Nable 27:46
someone I think it's important to know because I talk a little bit about this in the workbook, the live workshop on the end the masterclass. And what I do is a lot of people you know, like Lucy or sister, it just scares him since Yeah, to actually be on camera, but you don't necessarily have to, you can pepper yourself into the other parts. So say for example, you own a bakery or a hairdresser or, you know, your business might be a bricks and mortar business, but obviously we all have an online presence now. You don't have to overshare do it can be really strategic where you put yourself in that story
Beth MacDonald 28:21
salutely You can like, you know, it can be a picture of like, the way I started to bring Lucy into it is you know, like, these are our core principles in our business. This is what our mission is, this is what we this is why we do what we do. We'd love to have attention to detail so you like you do a post and it's like a photo of you to Hans packing a pic like packing up someone's parcel and we go, when you order from us you are going to like it's me that's wrapping your present and I'm going to write your card beautifully. And I'm going to send it to the person that you have bought that gift for with love and care and attention. And that's why we love what we do. So it could be a post like that. And people just love it because they it's it's someone even if it's your hands, or it's your word sharing things that you're passionate about keep keep reminding people why they have come to you because they obviously came to you for a reason in the first place and try and you know, tap into that whether they came to you because you had a beautiful product whether they came to you because you had a great service turnaround great service experience, like just reminding them of that and reminding yourself like it's so good to occasionally just write the I started this business because I love this and you know, just it doesn't have to be you it can be about the business and things that you feel passionate about.
Liz Nable 29:41
And I think that's what a lot of business owners struggle with. Because obviously if you have a bricks and mortar business, so obviously your business is mostly online while it is online. It's called Add to Cart by the way, if anyone listening we didn't mention that before. And I'm going to put a link in the show notes so people can click through to see what you're all about. If someone's got bricks and mortar business. I know I've spoken to some not necessarily old school business owners, but to them they just like why do I need to do this? Like why do I this is just another job I already wearing a million hats I'm already cleaning, you know, I do the cleaning myself I'd cut their hair myself or whatever their job might be on their business. Why do you think that it's important for? And why is it smart to have this going in the background, to to have this going alongside whatever your traditional marketing might be, or your you know, the people that you meet in your store who come into shop from you anyway.
Beth MacDonald 30:35
I just think it's because things have changed. It's just like, there's so many, there's so much potential, and so many customers that are sitting there on their phone, like you and I are like, you know, most nights sitting on the couch, like, there's people there, there's, you know, all of my business is 100% online. And we have like, had, I think we just ticked over our 16,000 thoughts. We've done 16,000 ounces in our shop in three years from people that are online. So whilst you could have your shop and you love when your customers come in, people are on the phone shopping, people are looking for shops, where they go to a destination, whether you know, some people coming down here to the highlands, there's always online, that's just where we are now. So I just think it's smart that you have some form of presence. And there's money to be made that way, there's money to be made from a simple story of, of showing what you're working on or behind the scenes of, you know, those behind the scenes of your business people like, what does it look like when I come into work and turn on like, turn on the lights and do that and just that and do that people like people just want to see stuff visually with their eyes. It's just a different. I think our brains have really changed in the last 10 years. And yeah, our brains are rewired different, we need to see things visually. And yeah, I think it's smart to, to have a presence if you can, and it can be overwhelming. But start with whatever you choose to do, whether it's one, one story a day, 10 stories a day, one post a day, do it and just be consistent, don't do 50 posts, and then you never see anything, again, from those people. There's nothing more frustrating, and it is exhausting. But if you just keep turning up, whether there's someone there or not. And you just keep in your own lane, building your content, building your content, you can save all that stuff. And it's all it all sits there. I mean, there's posts on my blog that I refer to all the time still, every time I'm trying to remember what my recipe is for dinner, you create that content, it's just this like library of stuff that if a customer was to come to you for the first time, they can pop on your socials. And you can smartly do it like this is who we are, this is who this is things we love latest collections and you save those as highlights on your reel. And then you just add to them every time. So you've got this building this,
Liz Nable 33:11
it's so true, because I think for and I'm speaking to you I in my mind, I keep thinking and so many business women that I speak to that disk Oh, do I have to keep coming up with the content ideas. And so, you know, so much additional work to what I'm already doing. But I think you're right, like what? Well you are right, and it's a really good, like piece of advice is to be consistent. Because over time, eventually the ball will start rolling and it will start hitting us. But I think a lot of business owners struggle with going and now like now I got to come up with fresh content every day on top of everything else I've got to do
Beth MacDonald 33:47
and just don't make it too much. Just say Okay, so I'm going to do one post a week and you know, five stories throughout the week and then just save them like onto a highlight reel and then you just Yeah, I just think it's just consistency and it's like anything you flex that muscle keep time and time again you're gonna get it's gonna get easier I mean, yeah, it's easy for me I've been doing it for so long so yeah,
Liz Nable 34:12
and I think I'm also thinking at the same time if you don't have a bricks and mortar store say for example, you're an interior designer that's easy because that's that's visual but say for example, swimming pools to sell swimming pools very simple franchisee we're looking, speaking from experience right now we're looking to put a pool in. I am going to pull companies that I can see on Instagram that have done that 10 years ago. You'd be like, what are we going to post like a picture of a pool 100% Because that's what people are looking at different kinds of coloured tiles for the pool, different styles of all different prices of pool. It's really something that you can you can make a part of your business, no matter what you even if you're not visual, do you think?
Beth MacDonald 34:54
Yes, absolutely. I mean, like you can even you don't even have to you I mean you you should Use your own images but I'm just saying like you can do like, whenever I do a series of stories like you can just go into Pinterest like and I'll just do like a like the other night I did like heading to bed this was the story was like heading to bed I wish it looked like this and it was interesting image of this hotbed and I was just like, oh my god, we should look like that and not like covered in laundry like it does before I hop into my bed. And then you just take people on this journey, and I'm just gonna go on Pinterest and like, take it took me five minutes to pull 10 images that I liked from Pinterest of beds, which has got nothing to do with anything other than it's pretty and people just love that you just like people just want to be distracted. They want to, like, you know, it's just something different. Yeah, I just think it's, um, it's definitely an important part. You're going away for a weekend on like Airbnb, and you go to your house, and the House has an Instagram profile of where you're going and what other people have tagged. And it just builds that excitement like you. Everyone wants to see stuff. And usually now when they might not have 10, five years ago, so just slowly, just put just put something out there so long as you consistently do it. And there's not one post sitting there from 2014. Well, you know, and people want to see that you are up to date with stuff doesn't mean you have to go on tick tock doesn't mean you have to create lip synching reels to make yourself relevant. Just have a presence, show something showing part of who you are, what your business is what you stand for, what you offer, peppered in with bits of like, put, you know, not personal stuff, but like, small business. Yeah. God, it's hard like doing zero and doing this as well as school holidays, juggling the realities of running business times, you know, the thing for people
Liz Nable 37:01
and I think it's important for people to also then once they get their head around it a little bit to take a look at the insights so that they can see what they're getting. Like if there's posting that no one's engaged with maybe do less kinds of those kinds of posts and amp up the ones that are doing well.
Beth MacDonald 37:18
Yes, definitely. You can easily find those insights on your Instagram and like that. It's amazing data that you can draw from and and see what's what's working and what's not. And I guarantee you all the posts that are working are the ones that are like for me and our business. It's always when it's a photo of Lucy or I or when we're showing behind the scenes stuff or when we're reminiscing about how far we've come. I think it's I think people love to see progress and how you, you know all the stories of success along the way, their love of failure story as well. So those personal stuff, they're always our number one posts other than a nicely curated flatlay of new towels that we have on sale.
Liz Nable 38:04
How important do you think it is for people to understand where their customers are, though? Like, there's no point in doing all the things like tick tock Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, like, I feel like maybe people should choose one or two things where they know their customers are, yeah, and really focus on those in it, because it's just overwhelming to try and do them all. Especially if you don't, we don't use Twitter, we're a fitness business, we don't really have a cause for Twitter. But obviously, we're more image based. So we use Instagram and Facebook.
Beth MacDonald 38:31
Yeah. And that's where my customers are. And it's good to have like a visual in your head of what a customer is. Like, when you have an online shop, you don't know who your customers are. So, you know, in my head in my head, it's someone called Chrissy or Christine or Sally or someone like that. And she's like, there's two of them. There's like one who's like my mom's age who is telling her daughter to like she's buying presents for her daughter's and daughter in laws. And then there's people like our age Lucy and my age that, you know, business people working, raising kids, teenagers, and then there's like the younger career people that we're helping helpful way for them to buy stuff for their friends and family. So having a visual of what those customers look like and where you think that might be, is really handy. And you I mean you can get your insights from Instagram of where your customers are we there's so many customers in Queensland, which is like, you know, I don't know why. Yeah. So you're tapping into to where they are and they're not on Tik Tok. Like they're just not I'm not if I'm not on Tik Tok. They're not on Tik Tok.
Liz Nable 39:41
No, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And it's interesting because I've got a friend who has a racehorse business, and she was I was helping her with her media stuff, and she was like, everyone in Racing's on Twitter. So that's what people who are in that industry, they're all on Twitter. They're a little bit on Instagram, but mostly Twitter, and a little bit of Instagram. So make is no sense for her to be on Facebook and try to master Facebook and do Instagram and Twitter. That's you got to know where your customer is and focus on. on that. It's particularly if you're not great at the social media yet. Yep. Yeah, definitely.
Beth MacDonald 40:13
Yep. 100% and building up your, your own assets and your own database and so that you can do your newsletters and connect with them directly. is, you know, huge. Yeah.
Liz Nable 40:27
And that's actually I was just about to ask you about that. So I think a lot of people, for a lot of people who see success on Instagram, like yourself, that's a bit of a vanity metric, right? Like you say, like, once you put you don't know where that person who's only connecting with you on Instagram does after you post, how important is it for you to build up that that subscriber list and that database to go hand in hand with that social media communication?
Beth MacDonald 40:55
Yeah, well, it's so important. I mean, how many businesses have you seen where they go, Oh, my Instagram account was hacked. Like, if that happened to, to us, we would be in a lot of trouble, because 99% of our business comes from Instagram. So that platform goes down, you know, those days where Instagram goes down randomly, and you just like, Oh, what do we do now at least if we've got that other form of communication and control, and we own it, and that's the thing I always loved about blogging is that it's my own platform that I'm paying for that I have control over and I'm in the driver's seat of what goes on it. Yeah, it's, it's really important to be able to connect with them that way. And, you know, just do more personalised, interesting things for for customers, you know, offering them we have like VIP programmes for if they do a certain number of orders, you're on that. So you have to pay shipping and you know, you get that personal touch, which you can't do through Instagram.
Liz Nable 41:51
And have you seen like, what have you sort of seen? So you mentioned like, when you first started, obviously, there was, you know, one of the original bloggers and you moved into socials, you had a you had a rep who was an agent. And then it obviously moved away to a different kind of influencer. Have you seen a move back towards more organic content and more? What have you noticed there with the way social media is kind of evolving now?
Beth MacDonald 42:17
Well, I mean, there's not many all OG bloggers out there. And if they are out there, you know, I've got some friends who are still doing it, like Nikki Parkinson, who has her fashion label that she's built on the back of having her blog. So she's dialling, you right? Yes. She's created her own fashion label and has been able to do that. So there's not many and she's still monetizes her blog I've got no, there's no brands knocking on my door anymore to pay me money to do on the blog. And I don't know. I think it's probably because I haven't been chasing it because I've been so busy with the shop. And then there might be stuff out there. I don't know. Chantelle, who was fat mums, slim, she still does a lot of paid stuff. But yeah, I think I just keep blogging. I still write blog posts, like it's 2009 whenever it was, we're still just I don't probably write as many wordy like navel gazing posts because I don't have time for that but people still love to connect with people's stories. And I I try and do that in Instagram the way that I used to in blogs and that's I do love doing that through my stories is have you been following housing habit? Do you follow her on Instagram? No housing habit? Yeah, housing habits. So Jessica Kraus I think her name is she's like a journalist and she's been covering but she's she's a mom. That I can't say she's a mom. Like you know, she's a journey but she's not really a trained journalist. But her stories are the most entertaining. She covers like she covered she's been has been doing Johnny Depp and Amber hoods trial. And her stories on that is like, you sit down, you save them up because they're so good. And it's just like watching. It's like watching a TV show because it's like clips pulling other people's contents. Wow. So fascinating. So she does
Liz Nable 44:20
that on stories on stories.
Beth MacDonald 44:22
Her whole get her whole feed of covering these things is on stories. She's got probably a million followers. I don't know how many followers she's got. Now. Their stories are unbelievable. So if you want to go into her highlights, she's done like the royal family like she's not a fan of Megan and has so she does like focused stories of a way that you might write a long form journalism piece in images and music and memes and Tik Tok and it's just so entertaining. Love it. Yeah, I think she's she's great to follow. She is the master of it. Storytelling through stories but yeah,
Liz Nable 45:02
well I'm gonna have a look Jessica Kraus Did you say house inhabit?
Beth MacDonald 45:05
She's really good.
Liz Nable 45:09
So for anyone who is I keep going back to because I just keep hearing like some of my clients in my head going I just this is just a beast that I don't have time for. And I know we've talked about being consistent starting small, choosing where your audience is you might choose one or two platforms. Yeah. Do you post the same thing to those multiple platforms? How do you decipher between Facebook and Instagram?
Beth MacDonald 45:34
Yeah, I just it's the same. It's the same feed. I'm not good. I'm not on Facebook anymore. I'm not sure. I just don't even find myself going on to Facebook. I've still got my blog 15,000 people that follow me there? And am I ever there? No, I just like it's just doesn't even come into my head. I'm on Instagram. And that's yeah, all I all I focus on because that's where my audience is. And that's where I like to be. It's where I like to hang out. So yeah, I just like, think of think of what you suddenly have in your business that you're wanting to share. Do like a day in the life just try out some different things like a day in the life of a like, this is a new collection that we're dropping. This is like, behind the scenes of Meet the maker of this brand, or something about your life of being a small business owner, find those like funnels of information and then like sit down and just do a complete brain dump of like within those things. So why I started like a business, elevator pitch II type stuff and what mission statements why I did it, what our core business offering is. And then the more personal stuff, why I why I decided to go into this, why we feel passionate about pools, why we love us, then a customer related thing, why customers come to us and flesh them all out on a piece of paper. And then you will at least come up with some rough ideas of of content that you can try and see what resonates or what doesn't. And then just keep putting your other day to day stuff of like Yeah, and we have this new pen to sell as well. So I think just get it all out there, dump it down. And then you can create your content that way as overwhelming. And I
Liz Nable 47:25
think the beauty of stories is and if someone's not social media savvy, they may not know this, that stories isn't supposed to be perfection. It's supposed to be easy, like content that disappears after 24 hours. It's not supposed to be perfectly curated, is it
Beth MacDonald 47:39
no and it's exhausting. If you try and make it perfectly creative, create like perfectly curated. Because no like the people watching it and watching 15 seconds and probably two seconds of it, they've got or maybe one second before they the flick to the next thing or so you've got to grab their attention. So don't do too much talking in between talking try and have music try and have a still image try and have a video try and you know, like break it up so that you can stop their fingers from flicking past.
Liz Nable 48:14
And any other tips on how to make how to make it as low maintenance as possible. So you're not on your phone all day trying.
Beth MacDonald 48:24
I've known I'm not the person to ask because I'm on my phone all day. I was gonna say
Liz Nable 48:27
just rob ever go get off your phone do
Beth MacDonald 48:30
everyone in my family does and I'm just gonna I'm working like this is how I can this is I just I'm not going to apologise for it because it's how we're making telework make my living so I and it can be overwhelming. I get asked a lot of questions. I try and answer most questions. But it can be exhausting. But when you're starting out, just just have just say I'm going to set this goal of doing this week, one grid post and three stories a day and see how you go but just be consistent. I have given this advice to girlfriends of mine who've got their own business and they go okay, yes, that's great. And then you see him and you're like okay, and then the next day there's nothing and then the next day there's nothing you have to if you want to do it you just have to consistently do it because it's just annoying if you don't and when you get if you get a new follower so you get a post that resonates and you get all these new followers I think you've got like two weeks where you that that person you'll come up in their feed you so you've got a really yeah, there's something like that. I remember doing like a course or something they've got like they're there for two weeks of the All aboard your content train for two weeks. So you've got to try and like keep them on board as it does. Yeah, yeah. Which can be a little bit overwhelming. But um, yeah, just try and be consistent. That's that's all and if you really struggle with it, I mean, I don't like doing my zero reconciliation. But I have to do it. I don't like taking my cardboard boxes down to the bin and I have to do it. But it's all part of running a business. And I just think if you want to, you know really capitalise in the way we all are now and we're signees, it's just silly not to be a part of it.
Liz Nable 50:17
Yeah, I think Oh, much fun. I know. And this is a thing once you know, once you've got a little bit of traction, like you say, you've been consistent for a little bit, even if you don't have 15,000 followers, even if you've got 500 followers or 1000 followers, if you understand what they want, and you then kind of get a good idea of how to tell them the story, whatever it might be behind the scenes, or your brand story, or whatever it might be, it really is just you can tap into that psyche because you understand your customer the same way you would if they came into the store, or they, you know, sent you an email. Yeah, that's right,
Beth MacDonald 50:52
you know, the questions that customers might be asking you even if you're a pool owner, like, you know that people are out there looking what sounds what sets you apart from the other pool owners, like just you tap into your customer, because you know what they want, you know, the questions that they're going to ask you. And yeah, just give them give them the answers in a cute little way. There's your way.
Liz Nable 51:16
And I do think I will say just before we sort of finish, from what I can see, there's a real movement, post COVID, back to supporting, supporting local, supporting, you know, locally owned businesses. And part of that whether it's local, you're online, you're not local to customers in Queensland, they buy from you because they know you they feel like you're their friend, because you're with them. You know, your trials and tribulations with your family or you know, your garden or your shopping trip or whatever. And I would say that's probably the main reason they're purchasing from you and not going straight to another retailer who's selling the same product. Yeah, absolutely. They
Beth MacDonald 51:57
trust you are like a trusted, they're just become a friend. And whenever I meet people who follow me on Instagram, wherever it might be, it's just like, Oh, you must think this is so weird. And but I feel like I know you I'm like, That's because you do know me. Because what you see on Instagram is what you are going to get and it doesn't, you don't have to if you're running a business, you don't have to be as open as me because I came on the back of storytelling through my blog, it's not necessarily it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. But if you can portray who your business is and what your business stands for, online, the way it would be if they were to walk into your shop and meet you or your business or whatever service you're providing, then that's huge. It's trust. It's, it's Yeah, knowing like who you are and wanting to give people that money and people can go anywhere to buy stuff. And I always feel so not privileged, like just lucky that I feel really grateful that people choose to come to us to buy stuff. And and I know that they do that, because we give them a really great experience. And, you know, give them a laugh along the way. And like, you know, we don't really know we're running a business, but we've only been doing it for three years. We don't really know we're doing people like that. But then also like, look at how good we are at doing what we do. So yeah, it's Yeah, varied. And yeah, I just I love social media. And it's, as I said, it's 99% of our business. And I'm forever grateful for my 11,000 points.
Liz Nable 53:38
Do you think small businesses could afford not to be on social media now? No,
Beth MacDonald 53:46
I don't think so. I think they need that they should have some form of social media presence is 2022. I'm not asking you to do a real to lip sync to something. Want to dance in your undies. But do you have to you should be you should be in there in some way. There's money to be made. You don't have to set up a huge online store. But like, yeah, it's all trans. It's all building towards serving a customer. It's just in a different way. And it's in a way that we do it in 2022. I mean, I follow the social media for like the pub, that's next door to us, just because I was just like, Oh cute. They're on social media and like I laugh they literally take a photo of their specials board every day. It's like me like special. And I'm just like God, love at least they do it every day. At least they're still coming up
Liz Nable 54:33
in my feed. And you know, if you want to go to the pub for lunch, you just go on to their Instagram feed and you know the daily specials.
Beth MacDonald 54:39
You can I've got meatloaf on there.
Liz Nable 54:42
All right, Beth, thank you so much. Very entertaining, as always. And lots of little nuggets of great information for busy, small business owners who might be a little intimidated by the whole storytelling thing on social
Unknown Speaker 54:57
media. Yeah. Thank you. It's been great. by here and loved chatting to you. Thanks, Liz.
Liz Nable 55:03
Thank you for listening to this episode of enable my business. If you've loved it, please share it on Instagram and Facebook for your friends. I'm all about listening and learning from you my audience. So please pop a review on iTunes and let me know how you're enjoying the show. I'd love to hear from you. So if you have any questions, email me at Liz at Liz nabal.com And if you want to know more about what I do, head over to Liz nabal.com I truly hope this podcast is a game changer for you. Whether you're a small business owner, a franchisee you have a side hustle or you're just starting out. This is where you truly begin to build your own empire and the life of your dreams.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
