I recently spoke with Dain Walker, the founder of Rivyl, the fastest growing branding agency in Australia. And he said something that seriously made me question everything I do on my own social media. He said, "People trust people more than they trust businesses.
" And no matter what kind of business you are in or how new or how small you are, whether you're a freelancer, a coach, a course creator, an agency owner, or you sell any other type of product or service online, if you are not building a personal brand, you are likely missing out on some serious sales. And one of the best ways to start building your personal brand is on social media, of course. But I'm not talking about cranking out tons of elaborate educational graphics, sharing loads of juicy tips, recreating viral reels, or writing epic inspirational captions every single day.
I am talking about something so much more simple than that. Something that you can do in less than five minutes a day. It'll keep you front and center in the minds of your audience, boost your engagement, drive more sales, and most importantly of all, it'll build serious trust with your potential clients and customers.
Do you want to know what I am talking about? Keep watching. Hey Posse, what's up?
It's Alex coming at you this week with a fun and easy way to build your personal brand and connect with your ideal customers and clients on social media. But before we dive into it, you know what to do. Click that subscribe button below for more copywriting and marketing tips.
And don't forget to hit that bell to be notified when my next video goes live. So a few weeks ago I invited Dain Walker, founder of Australia's fastest growing branding agency, to come speak to my Reignmakers inside my Reign Mastermind. And I am not joking when I say he made me seriously question basically everything I do on my own social media.
But no, I am not talking about my Copy Posse Instagram account. I am talking about my personal Instagram account, Alex Cattoni. What he made me realize is that when I started the Copy Posse, I sort of forgot about my personal brand completely because honestly to me they were one and the same.
I mean, sure I have my YouTube channel here under my name and under my personal brand, but I virtually stopped posting on my personal Instagram except for the occasional life update, like my wedding photos or my hubby's birthday. To be honest, I was solely focused on building my brand that I kind of forgot about my personal brand. Like who is Alex outside of the Copy Posse?
I don't know. That's the million dollar question. And I guess I just assumed that if people wanted to see what I was up to, they would just, you know, watch my content over on Copy Posse.
But I realize now that was actually a big mistake because I was seriously undervaluing the importance of sharing with the world, not what I do, but who am I when I am not running my business? Because yes, I do do things other than work. And the truth is, no matter how new you are in business, even if you just started yesterday, or what assumptions you have about what it really takes or really means to build a personal brand, even if you've only worked with maybe one or a few select clients, even if you're not really looking to grow your business, even if you feel like you're not ready for a personal brand, even if you feel like nobody out there cares, I am here to tell you that there is nothing more powerful than building a personal brand right now.
And listen, I know that when you hear the word brand, it's really easy to think of those like big brands like Starbucks or Coca-Cola. But every business and every business owner on the planet has a brand, whether you know it or not, or whether you work on your brand or not, because your business is how you operate, right? It's your offers, your metrics, your revenue.
It's what you see in those day-to-day transactions. It is how you make money. Great.
Now, your brand on the other hand, is how you are perceived in the minds of your potential clients and customers. And it's how you create value. And while it's harder to measure brand value, one might argue that it is everything, especially right now when literally with AI, anyone and everyone can create content online.
And if you haven't watched my last video about that, you absolutely need to. And regardless of how much time or energy you're actually spending on working on your personal brand, your clients or customers have a perception of it, and it could be good or bad. So you might as well try to do something about it, right?
In fact, after Dain's session in my mastermind, I got this message from one of my Reignmakers. She said "Only halfway through the call with Dain and freaking loving it, and also feeling so called out about a lot of the assumptions I had about what building a brand would mean" To which I said, "Right? Holy cow.
He really opened my eyes to the power of a personal brand and how much I've been neglecting my own. " So now I am here sharing this revelation with you and what I am doing about it. And honestly, the biggest Aha I had about it is that it doesn't take a lot of time or work to actually get results.
In fact, in the last 14 days, I have massively increased my reach and engagement on my personal social media. And it literally required no prep, no time, no planning, no fancy graphics or captions. And after you watch this video, you can implement what you learn in less than five minutes starting right now.
So are you ready for it? Okay, before I share exactly what I did, I am officially challenging you to try it for 10 whole days. Yes, I'm asking you to agree to do it before you even know what it is, but it's just 10 days.
You can do anything for 10 days, right? And then I want you to report back here and let me know how it goes. All right.
So here is the challenge. Every day for the next 10 days, you are going to post something to your Instagram stories. Yes, that is it.
I told you it's not scary, right? That is how simple this is going to be. And that is the only change that I've made to my personal Instagram in the last couple of weeks.
I've been posting to my stories at least once per day. Now, before you totally freak out and say, "Alex, no way am I doing that. What do I even post about?
" Hang with me for just a hot second because I already came up with an entire 10 days worth of ideas for you. But before I give you that 10 day plan, let me tell you the four reasons why posting to your stories is such a good idea. Aside from that, it's like so easy and how it's going to help you build your personal brand and massively boost your social media marketing efforts.
The first is a higher click-through rate. Listen, we all know that the biggest downside to posting on your Instagram feed is that you can't share clickable links in your posts. You have to direct people to the link and bio, which we know is super clunky.
Or you use a tool like Manychat to then deliver the link to the people who comment some sort of keyword. But in your stories, you can share your link right there and then people can tap it immediately to go wherever you are sending them. And it can make a huge difference in your marketing efforts.
In fact, gap recently saw a 73% higher click-through rate in their ads when they added the link to their stories. It is so, so simple, but CTR isn't the only perk of using stories. They also have an awesome retention rate.
So I think this is kind of nutty, but on average, 81% of people stick around for up to four story frames. 81%. And after the seven story, that dips to like 75%.
But even that is really impressive when you know retention rates online. So what this means for you is that you're getting people to actually engage with your content for longer than if they would just maybe scroll and see your content in their feed. And the more they engage with your stories, the more likely they are to yes, buy from you at some point in the future because you're staying top of mind and you're really engaging with them ongoing.
In fact, 58% of people became more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in their stories. So even if they don't click or convert immediately, and let's be honest, most people won't, that story view is a very valuable touchpoint in your marketing. All right, the next perk of stories is, and I kind of already talked about this, is higher engagement.
So thanks to all of the features that you can use in your stories, and I love them all, like polls, question boxes, countdown timers, stickers, re-shares, links, and the list goes on and on. There are a lot, and I mean a lot of ways for people to engage with you directly in your stories, which is really cool because it makes this whole process of going through your stories a lot more of an interactive experience for the user than just, you know, simply scrolling the feed and then maybe like no double tapping for a heart every now and then. But according to HubSpot, you don't even need to use all those fancy things in your stories if you don't want to because it turns out that people's favorite type of story to interact with are just short narrative stories, either through a video or sharing a photo with some text.
And this is great news for you because it means you can literally hop into your stories to share something totally random like your garden hall and people will still love it. You can show up as you in all your behind the scenes glory. And there is nothing more authentic than that when you are building a personal brand.
And again, as it turns out, that is what people are craving the most from the people, brands, and businesses they follow and buy from. 58% of consumers watch stories because they want authentic content. They get tired of all those perfectly curated photos and posts, you know, all the time.
They want to mix it up a bit. They want what is real. And this is exactly how you create connection and community.
When you post regularly to your stories, something really, really cool happens. The people who watch consistently start to feel like they know you, even when they don't, even if they aren't engaging in your stories or DMing you or replying or reacting, they watch you maybe every single day and they get a little glimpse into who you really are, what you stand for, and what you're all about. And because no one else can see if you're getting any likes or shares or comments on your stories, your ego or vanity metrics are completely taken out of the equation because no one knows who is engaging with your stories, which personally is what I really love.
You're free to just, you know, let anything and everything flow. You can welcome people into your world, share what's on your mind, what you're up to in any given day. That weird and funny thing that just happened, that line from the book you're reading that really resonated with you.
You can re-share people's content that you find funny, right? Whatever it is, it does not have to be related to your business, it just has to be authentic to you. And this is what it means to build a personal brand.
That is it. It really is that simple. So while this 10 day personal brand challenge might not directly result in like an immediate sale, I mean, and if it does, I definitely want to hear about it.
Trust that you will be planting seeds, you will be building trust, you will be really creating that connection with the people who follow you, which yes, then ultimately makes sales so much easier. Because remember, the easiest people to sell are to the people who know, like, and trust you. So put a little bit more energy into getting people to know, like, and trust you, right?
It's simple. And once we get into that habit of sharing, trust me, you will get over your fear of showing up and putting yourself out there very fast, and you'll learn to just have fun with it. Now, with all of that said, and this is my last point before I share the plan, is do not ditch the feed completely.
Instagram posts are still very, very important too. So while showing up every day on your stories is really great, you don't now want to just like never post your Instagram feed because Alex said so. That is not what I'm saying.
It's still really great to maintain some sort of a regular posting schedule, even if it's just a couple a week because stories and posts engage your followers in two very different ways and should be treated as two separate tools and strategies with different purposes and goals. Your posts have a higher reach rate, especially reels than your stories do. So you really need to be posting to your feed consistently if you're really looking for that like maximum growth and visibility and to get more followers to your profile.
But your stories have a very impressive retention rate and it's one of the best tools that you can use to actually engage with your existing audience. So I would 100% use both together. But now the biggest question on your mind is, okay, so what am I supposed to share to my stories every single day?
Well, don't worry, I got you. Here is my 10 day plan for you to follow. Of course, if you want to, you can.
And I highly recommend you do completely just show up as you, you can go, you know, go with the flow, go off script with this challenge, I really just want to give you some ideas to get your gears turning. It's not so much about what you're saying or doing, it's just that you're really showing up and you're committing to being in the stories every single day and just kind of, you know, getting into that habit. Because I know it can be a little awkward at first, right?
But if you do want to follow a plan or you just, you know, want some ideas to follow just at least for these first 10 days, here it is, my 10 day story challenge. Day number one, share a little bit about why you do what you do. Honestly, it can be as simple as sharing a client or customer win or sharing your slow morning at home or whatever.
Whatever resonates with you. Maybe it's like your desk space and that you're not in a cubicle anymore. Day number two, talk about a problem, any problem.
This can be related to something your audience typically struggles with or maybe a problem that you help solve. Or it could be just a personal problem related to you or something that you're navigating in your business. Day number three, share a personal philosophy.
This is such a fun way to let your audience get to know the real you. So do you go for walks every morning? Do you meditate?
Do you, you know, eat paleo? Do you read the Bible every morning? Whatever it is, share it.
Day number four, share a piece of content you love. This is so easy. You're already out there scrolling through Instagram, right?
The next time you see something that really resonates with you, or maybe it's something you're looking forward to, just go ahead and share it to your story and add a little note about why you love it or why you're excited about it. Day number five, show off something you are working on. Maybe it's an upcoming project or some sort of a client deliverable, or maybe it's a program you are taking.
Just share what you're working on. Day number six, teach or show something useful. Here's where you can give some practical tips on something related to your business or brand.
Maybe you can share a tool that you've been using that's really been helping you and just explain what it does. Day number seven, share a new hobby or activity, something not related to your business. So are you trying, you know, a new workout routine?
I've been doing Lagree, which is like Pilates lately. Ugh, do you wake up at 5:00 AM? Do you journal every day?
Garden or paint? What is something that you are working on personally? Show a little bit of that behind the scenes.
Day number eight, share a little process about your day to day of work. Everyone loves seeing how other people work. So are you in meetings, are you at events?
Are you talking to clients? Just give a little preview of that. Day number nine, shout out a person, a brand, a product, or a book you are loving.
And of course, make sure to tag them. We all love seeing those little, you know, notes of gratitude. This is a great way to get your story reshared to another audience.
And of course, just to share some love. And day number 10, I'm just going to say, you know what? Make this one a wild card.
You do you by now, hopefully you're in a good habit of showing up online, so use this day to share, you know, any of the nine other ideas or whatever you want to share about. Maybe it's that you just finished a 10 day story challenge a la Copy Posse and you're super proud of yourself. Make sure to post about that and of course, tag me so that I can see it.
I so look forward to seeing all of your posts and really helping you get into that habit of building your personal brand. And after the 10 days are over, come back to this video and I want to hear about your results and your experience in the comments. What came up for you?
What was scary? What was easy? What are your metrics showing you on Instagram, right?
I want to hear it. And if you need help figuring out what to post to your feed, make sure to grab a copy of my free social media guide where I break down the four types of content pillars. Plus you'll get real life examples straight from the Copy Posse vault, and tons of juicy high converting CTAs that you can swipe in your social captions.
You can find a link to that in the description box below, and I will see you next time with a brand new video. Until then, I'm Alex. Ciao for now.
All right, guys, if you enjoyed that video, make sure to check out the next one for me right here, and you can click right here to get a free gift. If you want to grow on Instagram, but you're sick of hearing the same old generic advice that only works for a select few, then this video is for you. I'm sharing the three most important steps that I took to grow my Instagram following organically from zero to 199,000 in less than three years.
Keep watching.
