327: How to create content that sells | Sol Hyde

Are you creating content that people watch… or content that actually gets people to buy?

Because there’s a big difference.

In this episode, I’m joined by Sol Hyde, who left the corporate world, picked up his phone, started creating content, and built an online business from scratch in just 18 months. Since then, he’s helped over 100 coaches, consultants and agencies grow and scale their businesses using organic content, trust-based marketing and community. 

We unpack why followers don’t automatically equal sales, the biggest mistake people make when trying to “convert” their audience, and why storytelling might be the thing that turns your content from “getting views” to actually creating clients.

We also go into confidence, conviction, hand raisers (you’ll understand soon 😂), and why giving away your best stuff for free might actually make you more money.

If you’ve ever thought “I’m posting content but it’s not actually leading to sales”… this one’s for you

If you LOVED this episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag us @contentqueenmariah.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LEARN THE DETAILS OF A CONTENT STRATEGY WITH MY FREE AUDIO GUIDE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 👇

✨ Why followers don’t equal sales (and what actually matters instead)

✨ How to create content that builds trust and converts

✨ Why storytelling creates stronger content than just giving information

✨ The simple shifts that get people from watching your content to working with you

SHOW RESOURCES 👇

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @contentqueenmariah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Other than that, enjoy - chat next week 💕

ABOUT THE GUEST 👇

I'm Sol! I started out in corporate but felt unfulfilled, so I built my own online business from scratch. Since then, I've helped over 100 coaches, consultants, and agencies grow and scale their service-based businesses, so they can work when they want, with who they want, and build something that actually fits their life. 

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

This is episode 327, and we're talking about how to create content that sells with Soul Hive. Welcome to the Content Queen podcast. I'm your host, Mariah, entrepreneur, storyteller, digital nomad, creative content bootcamp, and founder of Content Queen with over 10 years experience in marketing. This podcast is here to help you create the ideal content marketing strategy for you and your business by blending storytelling and strategy.

So let's get into it. Hello again. How are we? Do you like my new sign? This is gonna be the background of the Content Queen show. If you are listening on Apple and you can't see the video, you can head over to YouTube and watch it. If you're on Spotify, you will see the video, but I think it looks so cute.

I'm so excited to uplevel the content of the pod. So- Today, we have Sol. Now, Sol has a really interesting story. He quit his job in corporate. He was working in consultancy, and strategy, and all the things because he felt really [00:01:00] unfulfilled, and he built his own online business from scratch, and he also started by just creating content.

I can really relate to that story because I started my own content journey in 2017 when I started a travel blog, and that turned into creating my own business. So I can totally relate to Sol's journey. But since then, he only really started 18 months ago, he has helped over 100 coaches, consultants, and agencies grow and scale their service-based businesses so that they can work when they want, with who they want, and build something that really fits their life.

So we're gonna talk about content, and storytelling, and strategy, and selling more importantly. So I think you're gonna love this episode. Amazing. Sol, welcome to the Content Queen podcast. I'm super excited to have you on today. We've already had a bit of a chit-chat, so I know you're gonna give heaps of value and be a great time.

Uh, can you just share a little bit more about who you are and what you do? 

Sol: I can. My name is Sol, and I am currently in Romania with this lovely, this lovely background behind me. But I am, uh, currently building what I call the Free [00:02:00] Thinkers Club, and that is my consulting business. We take online businesses and we scale them, uh, using organic social media, trust-based marketing, um, and an incredible community.

I'm very proud of, of what I've built. We started 18 months ago and, uh, and very excited for, for what's to come. So yeah, thank you so much for having me on. 

Mariah: Amazing. So you just said 18 months ago. This is wild. So let's, let's go there. How did you get started into business and being in your own business and obviously scaling something so quickly?

Like, give us the rundown. What happened? 

Sol: I appreciate that. Yeah. So I... The story starts maybe, like, two years ago when I was like, I, I, I saw, I was the... In, in, in the UK, I'm sure it's very much the same in Australia, everyone gets put into this box of like, I'm gonna go to the good university, I'm gonna go to the, the, the good job, and I'm gonna get the thing to make the parents proud, the very traditional path.

And I jumped on that wrong path. I was on that path thinking, "Okay, like, this is gonna be the thing that makes me happy." I'm sure your listeners can [00:03:00] relate to sort of feeling like you're, you're trying to make someone else happy, you're trying to do the thing that society tells you. And then I went to Bali, which I'm sure a lot of people have been to or spent a bit of time in.

My impression of Bali is slightly different to maybe some Australians' perception of Bali. Like, we... You kind of like... I, I know it's slightly different. For us, it's like this place where all these digital nomads hang out. For you, I know there's, like, slight differences. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Sol: So anyway, like, I went to the side, the side of Bali where I was like, "I'm gonna work really hard, I'm gonna put my head, head down."

I met all these people, and all these people that were there were living the exact opposite life to, like, the consulting world that I was going into, the, the corporate 9 to 5 world. And- They were, like what I say is they were happy, healthy, rich, and free, which is they, they had this thing where they were all really, like, fulfilled.

They're making great money. They were doing things on their own time, and I was like, "I want this." I don't want the sitting in an office. Like, obviously you on the van life know exactly the same thing. Like, it's the, it's... I, I w- I wanted the freedom. I wanted to go where I wanted to, to be, and I realized I was on [00:04:00] the complete wrong path.

So to, to bring you back to, or b- bring, uh, myself back to the question you asked is I got started by seeing these people, realizing that the secret to these people's lives and why they were leading such a cool life was content creation. And I was like, "All right. I'm just gonna start making content." So I started picking up my phone, and I was like, "I'm gonna make content about Apple Watches, about my WHOOP watch, about, uh, mental health, about all these random topics, about, like, the coffees I was drinking, about doing sleep tests."

I was like, "I'm just gonna go and make content." And then fast-forward to, like, maybe 20 months ago, someone f- asked me, "You look really good at content, by the way. I, I could use some help. Would I, would you mind if I pay you for a few sessions to help with content?" And that is pretty much how, how this whole business started and, and I guess 150 clients later, retreats around the world, a team of, of about 12 people right now, um, it's, it's going as, as, as well as I could ever imagine.

But it all started with, uh, picking up the camera and just, uh, and just put... or picking up my phone and just, just posting. 

Mariah: Yeah. Oh, wow, [00:05:00] that's amazing. I feel like you've probably got whiplash from, like, how fast it all came to life. 

Sol: Yeah, I like... I, I honestly struggle to, I struggle to keep up with it, like, identity-wise because it just is moving at such a pace, and, and you go from being a person in, in your parents' house that's wondering...

So I quit that job that I, I was signed up for, and I- Mm-hmm ... I went back to my parents' house. I built from there from, like, 20 months ago to 18 months ago, and I remember just, like, like, turning around the other day, and there was a gr- There, there were 27 people who had flown across the world to watch me at an event, and I was just like, "I, I, I don't feel any different from that person who was, like, in my parents' house when my, like, parents were looking into my room being like, 'Is, is this gonna work?

Like, is this...'" Yeah. So yeah, it is... It's a pretty crazy transformation, but, um, s- I, I just had so much conviction that it was gonna work- Yeah ... that I was like, "Well, well, I, I just need to go out and do it," and I'm very grateful for where it's, where it's led me. 

Mariah: Yeah. So what, like, I'm curious to know, what would you say was that sort of...

Like, I [00:06:00] mean, obviously there was a content element, but what was it that made it grow so quickly? Like, can you... Have you had time to reflect on that? 

Sol: Yeah. Such a good question. I think when, like, you're, when you're growing a business, it's the most stressful, um, complicated... I'm sure your listeners can relate to this.

Like, it's, it's, it's the hardest, most, most... It's probably the biggest personal challenge you have- Mm ... or one of the biggest personal challenges you have. And the thing that I've always been very lucky to have is that slight... Arrogance is probably doing myself a bit of a, like, a disservice, but let's say, like, I have absolute conviction in anything that I do.

Mm. And from growing up, I used to play very serious rugby. Uh, I used to do public speaking. Mm. I, I had responsibilities as a, as a, as a kid in school, being, like, school captain and stuff like that. And all of those things put together meant that when I started my business, I was like, "I am going to do well at this."

Like, I... In my head, I was like, "I don't do things badly." 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Sol: And that conviction sounds [00:07:00] almost quite woo-woo to, to your listeners to say- No, I get it ... "Okay, well, you need, you just need to believe in yourself." Like, it's like every- everyone says that, right? But, but what believing in myself did is it played out in, in what happened.

So for example, I hosted a mastermind within two months of starting my business, and you're probably thinking like, "Hosted a mastermind within two months of gr- like, starting a business. What an arrogant person to do that," right? But that's 'cause I was like, "Well, I feel like I'm really good at what I do." So I feel like I, if I can get people into a room, and 50 people showed up, a load of people converted into my full-time program, and I got loads of good, like, uh, reputation and videos from it, and all that sort of thing.

And it was that conviction- Mm ... and that confidence that I, like, I knew it was gonna work. A bit of delusional optimism I think is very healthy. Mm. And that then plays out into actions. Like, convince... Like, you know, when someone gives you an objection on a sales call, you know, you're like, "I do really believe this is actually a good thing for you because I have conviction that I'm, you know, the right person for you."

Mm. And when someone asks you to speak at an event, or when [00:08:00] someone, uh, when a client is unsure about this, and you're like, "No, I promise you, this is the right thing to do," then they get the result, and then they, you know, it shows- Mm ... you can show that off to other people. Mm-hmm. So there's all these small little tactics- But I have to give the cliche answer, which is just being so painfully convinced that what I was gonna do was gonna work.

Yes. Um, but, but, but why not? And one, one very funny story is I've actually got a team member here, um, Ollie, who joined us a few months ago, and one of the reasons that he joined was that he started following me 18 months ago, t- 20 months ago when I was in my parents' house. I was in London, and I was like, "I hate my life.

I'm in this corporate job. I hate it." And he's like, he's literally seen the conviction and the results from- Mm ... from that. And he's like, "Of course, I wanted to join the team 'cause I've seen it in, in the flesh of how much it's grown." But it all comes back to the fact that I said to one of my friends about two years ago, I said to him in a pub, I was like, "When I make $100,000 in a month."

He's like, "Salt, you don't even have an [00:09:00] offer. You don't even have a business. You don't even have a... Like, what, what do you mean?" Like- Yeah ... you literally... I had no substance to show. I couldn't even tell him in what mechanism I was gonna do that, and he was like... He laughed me out the pub, but I believed that that was gonna happen, and then, um, when it did happen, I was like, well, like, of course.

That, like- Mm ... of course that makes sense. I knew that was gonna happen. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Sol: So it's a long-winded way of me saying the most cliche answer, which is that I just knew that it was gonna work. 

Mariah: No, but it's so funny that you say this because I had a theory, um, like a couple months ago, and then I put out, put this out onto, um, a social media group, and I had so many guests come on the podcast to talk about, um...

My theory was, yes, you can be consistent in your content, but if you don't believe in the content, it doesn't matter. It's not gonna land. Like, you could have a strategy, you could have a posting plan. On Mondays I do this, or da, da, da, whatever it is, but if you're just putting it out for the sake of it, you don't actually believe in what you're saying or believe that the content is good It doesn't matter.

It's not gonna land. And I've seen this with clients. Yeah. And I had this theory, and I actually saw a [00:10:00] marketer in real time have this play out, where I followed her a really long time ago when she had quite a smaller audience, and I saw her, like, that, that level of, yeah, like, as you were saying, conviction and confidence.

And her business just, like, blew up. And it was, like, her, her social media did, and, and all these things just went, like, you know, gangbusters because, yeah, you could see her confidence. And I even see it in myself. Like, if I have a, like I feel a little bit low in energy, that's when you get the emails, that's when you get, like, the things that you're like, "No, get out of this."

Like, I need to get out of this rut 'cause I know it's just going to, you know, put me down into a spiral. So I, I mean, I totally resonate with that. It's, and I've seen it with clients that really believe in me as a person, like, you do you. Like, you're the expert. They're the clients that get results. They're the ones that have the, the posts, you know, reach who they're meant to reach.

Or if it's not viral, it's, you know, sales or whatever it is. But it's, it's so funny, but I think it's like, it's putting that into practice when we have those low moments often is the hardest [00:11:00] part, right? 

Sol: Yeah. That's such a powerful thing you say, and I think a lot of people might think that maybe you and I speaking like this with a lot of experience in content, we're like, we're just born natural.

It's like, no, I remember the first time that I posted, and I put my phone in my drawer, and I was like, "I don't wanna see, I don't want anyone to see this." Cringe. Yeah. So I was like... It was, like, the worst thing in the world, right? I think the difference between conviction and confidence- is not actually the feeling, because everyone feels imposter syndrome and everyone feels scared to do the thing.

Right. But the difference is the people that go and do it anyway. And, like, the conviction and confidence, like, comes from doing the thing over and over again when I felt the imposter syndrome. Mm. I'm sure it's the same for you. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Sol: And that is the only advice that I can give, is that I think a lot of people, maybe someone listening to this, might be thinking, "I, I just don't have that confidence.

I don't have that conviction." Mm. And it's not about having it, it's about doing it anyway to then give you the conviction and confidence. Because when we were a kid, the, the greatest example of this is like when you're a kid, you don't [00:12:00] have the confidence to go and walk when you can't walk, but you just go and do it anyway.

You try and try again. And now if I was to be like, "By the way, like, how, how confident do you feel walking?" You'd be like, "What, what do you mean?" Like- Mm ... of course I feel like... Of course I'm confident to walk. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Sol: And it's because at one point you weren't confident to walk, but you just went and did it anyway, and then you got that confidence.

I know that's a stupid example, but it's, it's such a good example of, like- 

Mariah: Yeah ... 

Sol: the content game and the business game, which is the people who have the conviction are the people that leaned into the imposter syndrome, do it anyway. Mm. That builds that stack of conviction and confidence in your content.

Mariah: Yeah. I mean, I resonate with the walking thing, 'cause I had a major surgery in 2021, and actually, like, getting out of bed- Oh ... to walk was the hardest thing I did that day. And it gave me so much anxiety that I fainted in the shower, sitting down in the shower while the nurse was showering me because the thought of standing up and walking gave me so much anxiety.

So, like, even those things re- And, and I couldn't believe, it's like you, you ran a business. I had run a business at the time. [00:13:00] You ran a business. You've done all these hard things in your life, and the hardest thing is standing up. So, like, you know. And, and I mean, I totally resonate with the content thing.

I mean, my first ever live on Instagram, I remember, like, living in my share house in Melbourne, and my housemate was like, "Do your live. You said you wanted to go live." And I'm like, "I don't know." And I, like, hit the live, and it's, like, shaky, and I just talked, like, nonsense. Like, none of it made any sense. So, like, we all had to learn from somewhere.

But I think a lot of the times you use the evidence, like you saying with, um, you know, being good in rugby and, and having school achievements. You use that as evidence as to why you could do it in another area of your life. So it's like, why can't you just pull from the expertise you have in other places?

And that's what happens with a lot of, like, whether they're, like, practitioners or small business owners that are really good at what they do, but, like, marketing they go like, "Oh, I don't know how to market. I can't do the marketing thing." But it's like, but you really know and you're really confident in your expertise.

You've just gotta kinda try and translate that into your content. 

Sol: Absolutely. And that's why successful [00:14:00] people are so good at doing new things, and just they have this, like, life momentum around them. I've got a client who's a YouTube coach. He's pretty much the Ukrainian MrBeast. He's like- He's got 10 million- Oh, that's so 

Mariah: cool

Sol: subscribers, and it's so cool. He, he helps people with YouTube. And, um, he joined my program, and he couldn't even speak English, but he was so good at YouTube. And I saw how he went about learning English. 

Mariah: Mm. And 

Sol: it was like he approached learning English like a successful person. He went, he was like, "Well, I'm just gonna do five hours a day, five hours a day, seven days a week, and I'm gonna immerse myself in it, and I'm gonna like..."

And I just saw how he did that, but that's because he had stacked the confidence in the past. And it's such a good point, which is people think they need to be good at the next thing, which is actually just like you just need to use what you have and what you've already done, like learning to walk, to remind yourself that you were awful at doing some things in the past.

Now you're very good at them. Yeah. It's the same with marketing, and it's such a nice frame to know because then you get to this point where you're like, when something feels really hard, you're like, [00:15:00] "Ah, I've done this before. I know- I know what this feels like. I suck at this right now, but I'm gonna be very good at it in a year's time."

And, and that's, that's... There's nothing more, uh, like that than content, which is I'm sure you and I both agree, and anyone listening is like the first video's the hardest, and then it gets easier and easier, and then all of a sudden you're just spitting into a, into a phone and, and you- Yeah ... are like, "This is the easiest thing in the world."

Mariah: And you're telling things to randoms on the internet- Yeah ... that you go, "Do people actually care about this? I don't know, but I'm gonna post it anyway because you just don't know who will care." I had this conversation literally before I got in my bus and traveled to here to have this conversation with you of a woman that owns a Pilates studio, and she was like, "You know, I posted this video of me dancing," and it was like learning a TikTok dance.

It was like, "This is for the girl in year nine that was told, you know, she looks like, she looks like an idiot or she looks silly." And she's like, "I just did it to my stories, and like so many people responded." I said, "Imagine if you put that in a reel. Like, imagine what people would say there." So it's, I, I think it's a really good [00:16:00] reminder for us all that...

And, and I think what ends up happening with a lot of business owners is we, we have that mindset of like, "Well, I don't know how to market. I'm not very good at it. I'm good at what I do, but I'm not good at marketing it. I don't have the time to do it." Or they do it, and then they don't see a result straightaway, so they give up on it, which I'm sure you've noticed with your clients as well.

Sol: Absolutely. Absolutely. But that's the, that's the thing, and that's why... I- someone just told me, "If you post every day for a year, your life will change." And I was like, "I believe that, and I'm gonna do it." And, and that's, that's what happened. Wow. And, and whether that's the business- Just story shows that

whether that's you, whatever, then, then yeah, so, so yeah. Yeah. That consistency is, is there and, and that confidence, yeah, couldn't agree 

Mariah: more. Yeah, amazing. So one of the things that, um, you speak about a lot is, you know, this kind of conversion with our content. So yes, there might be people that I, I know, and there's like either, there's two types of business owners.

There's one that's really good at the top of funnel, like posting about like random stuff, and like getting the likes, and maybe the engagement, but then they're like, "Oh, social media, I'm not actually selling on there." Or there's the people [00:17:00] that like throw up a mock-up of their program or throw up like a video of like, "Hey, I'm doing this, like join it."

And they're like, "Well, that doesn't work either." So they either do too much selling, and then they like kind of block out their audience, or there's people that don't do enough. So in your experience of working with content as like a conversion s- part of the marketing funnel, like what advice can you have for us where we're like, okay, we're, we're the one or the other, how can we create content that actually converts?

Sol: Yeah, I love that. So it is fascinating because recently the majority of clients that have come to me have been people with, like maybe 10,000 to 100,000 to sometimes a million followers, and they just can't seem to make money. And that's why, like I feel very, very passionately about this subject and how important it is to actually get people out of your audience 'cause otherwise you're just, like you become an influencer.

And at the end of the day, like most people listening to this, like you don't wanna be an influencer. You wanna get, you know, money in the bank [00:18:00] account, sales calls booked in, all of that sort of thing, help clients. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Sol: So I agree completely. The, the biggest problem that people have when they, um, when they try and get hand raisers is I think the first thing is that they don't actually like...

Well, let me actually talk about the phrase hand raisers first, because- Mm ... that's the way that I talk. The way that I think about social media is firstly generate traffic. So if you've someone's got a load of like views at the top of funnel, that's the traffic part. The second bit is the trust part. So you have to create content that gets people to build trust, and that's about showing your values and showing the things you can do.

And then the next part is the conversion part, which is exactly what you talk about. And the way I think about that is these people, if you're listening to this right now and you're like, "Okay, how do I get people out my audience?" Well, I would think about your social media as an ecosystem and everyone in that ecosystem, you need to give them the opportunity to leave that ecosystem to enter your sales cycle.

No matter what you say, if anyone's a business owner, they have a sales cycle. I know that word is almost demonized, but you obviously do have a sales cycle if you're looking to bring [00:19:00] clients in, right? And so what, what I think about is this idea of like how do we get people from the ecosystem, so the views of people who are watching your top of funnel, to your sales cycle, and that is what I call hand raisers.

So you have to give people the opportunity who are in your ecosystem, who go around day to day. They watch a few of your reels every now and then, maybe watch a YouTube video, see a LinkedIn post. What is gonna get them to raise their hand? And that is where we create a kind of spectrum, which is all the way from one end of the spectrum saying going and selling on your stories, all the way to giving people the opportunity to say that they're interested in you a bit more than just watching your content.

Mm-hmm. So to, to break that down, the first thing that I found, which was fascinating, which is I... We, we did record months in like October, November, and we had a bit of a slower period in like January, February, not helped by Instagram causing us some problems. But- I asked my head of sales, like, "What do you think happened in those months?"

And we just sold [00:20:00] three times less than we did in October and November. I asked people to buy from us three times less. 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Sol: So the first thing to say with this whole thing, and how to get people to, to actually buy from you, is to ask in your content. So, so to say to people like, "Look, like, I do this thing.

There's no pressure at all, but if you are interested in, in joining or, or working with me, or, like, using my service or buying my product, like, please just, like, send me this message, or click this link, or just do something like that." So that's the asking part, and then the other part is giving the, the hand raisers to saying, "Do you want a bit of free...

Like, do you want a lead magnet? Would you want something which would help you solve a specific problem?" And all of those things are gonna get people to raise their hand and to say, "I am interested in you a bit more than what you're currently, uh, showing me with content. I would like personalized guidance."

So I would just get anyone listening to this to think about how can you get people to raise their hand to say, "I've watched your content for a bit. I see the value, but actually what I wanna do is, is, is explore working with you." 

Mariah: [00:21:00] Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, it's, I think it's definitely that balance of underselling and overselling, right?

But you're right, I think, and I had this conversation with a client today. I said, "So you've got two kind of brands, and one is product-based and one is service, sort of coaching." And I said, "The product-based, obviously we do want to show your products, but we need to give sort of a little bit more value as- and education around it.

But your service-based, people just wanna know how to work with you, and I just don't think you're telling them enough how to. Like, I don't think they care how. They just wanna know, like, they're, they're there and they're engaged, so, like, just we just need to tell them more." And there's n- it, it is quite as simple as that, I think.

Often we- Yeah ... we probably complicate it. Yeah. When you're looking at, um, sales strategy, especially on social media, are you using, like, a particular intent with your posting? Like, are you using, say, um, you know, I, I had a entrepreneur explain Instagram in a funnel. Like, are you using more of your [00:22:00] stories to sell, or is it a combination of all of the different types of posts that you're doing?

You're just in that habit of if, whether you're giving value, whatever you're doing, you're always giving people an option of what is the next step? 

Sol: I- yeah, Instagram stories are an absolute cheat code, which is why I think everyone who's marketing is moving towards Instagram stories. Mm. Because the incredible thing about Instagram stories is that they show your stories to your s- your most engaged followers.

So your almost, like, bottom 10% of your funnel. So, like, if someone just follows me for the first time, they don't get shown my stories. But if someone's messaging me all the time in the DMs, if someone's liking all my photos, then Instagram goes, "Okay, you want to see this person's life in more of a, like, personal way, so we're gonna show them your stories."

And the great thing about marketing is that we can use that, like, method to find our most engaged followers. I love Instagram stories for that reason, because it's basically Instagram showing me a list of, "These are your most engaged [00:23:00] followers in the last, like, five days." Mm. So you can see who they are.

So we've had multiple times where we've just messaged someone who's been watching my stories, and said, "Oh, by the way, thanks so much for the support. What, like, what- what's made you keep watching the stories, or are you enjoying it?" And they go, "Oh, by the way, thanks so much for messaging me. Where is the payment link for me to join your course?"

Sort of thing. And it's like... And- and- and that's the cool thing about the stories is- is it's the bottom funnel. It's very hard to b- like, find out where those people are. Mm. So for me, it's predominantly Instagram stories, and then we also give people the opportunity to have a conversation with us. So we're always reaching out to new followers.

Nice. And in, as a percentage of the- the- the clients we bring in for my coaching and consulting program, about 70% are coming through either us reaching out to them as new followers or reaching out to them, like, via some sort of story that we put up. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Sol: So that's the, that's the source really, that the Instagram stories work the best.

We're doing a few more retargeting [00:24:00] ads with, like, giving people, sending to people to a landing page. That's a real trial right now. But- 

Mariah: Mm-hmm ... 

Sol: the most simple strategy to make money from your Instagram is post a load of content, reach out to people who are interacting with it, and ask what their problems are and- and see if you can solve 

Mariah: them.

Yeah. It's funny you say that, 'cause I literally did a podcast interview yesterday, as we were recording this, all about Instagram DMs with a woman that teaches Instagram, like, DMing. So it's, it- it's actually a good, a good call-out. And I know there's a few people that listen to this podcast that I told them about that podcast, and they're gonna go, "Hmm, this is a pattern.

Maybe I should start doing it." Because I think there is so... And- and I mean, the head of Instagram come out and said, you know, "We're focusing more on messaging this year." I mean, he also said, reckons that if they messa- if you message people- It doesn't mean they're gonna see your content, which I think that's a bit of BS.

I think he's just trying to, like, stop us from, like, spamming too much. You know, the old DMs that you get in your requests. But it's very interesting that they are prioritizing that connection. But it's the same thing, like you can post a heap of content. You can also [00:25:00] leave the platform and expect results that aren't gonna happen, especially when there's a call to action on Instagram, for example, as a platform, or even TikTok.

You know, he- check out a link in bio or DM me a keyword. Not everyone's doing that, or comment a keyword. To go to your bio and then click through is, like, a whole extra step. In your stories, you can link people directly to it. In your DMs, people are asking for links. So I think w- there's a missed opportunity here that we all need to start focusing on a little bit more.

Sol: Absolutely. Especially as people are putting so much hard work into their content. But the- Mm ... the, I think the, the interesting thing that you mentioned, the question you asked was, like, how do you make conversion content, where it's like a lot of the time you're actually making the conversion content.

You're not just giving, you're just not giving people the chance to actually, like, take the next step. Yeah. And that was the thing is, like, just, like, it's just crazy some of these examples where we've seen, like, us just sending one message to someone and then just going, "Thank you so much for messaging. I really needed this message.

I'm ready to get going. Let's get going," sort of thing. And it's like- 

Mariah: Yeah ... 

Sol: that part is fascinating. [00:26:00] So a, a lot of the time people just literally ne- are, they're one message away from, from a deal that can change their whole month's earnings and revenue and all that sort of thing, so. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Sol: Yeah, no, I, I think that's the, that's the thing.

And then I think just the, the, the bringing it up the funnel a little bit more, 'cause you're asking a bit more about conversion content. I also think the selling stuff is important, but the other thing that people al- often fail to, to do is to, to give all their secrets away on social media to make it the...

People just want the implementation, you know. That you, you- Mm ... you give the information away for free and sell the, the implementation. The other thing is, like, if you do not give your best stuff away in your content, then what happens is people just believe that you don't know what you're talking about and they're never gonna work with you in the first place.

But the thing that people want is to jump on a call with you or one of us two and, and get the personalized advice. So- Mm ... if your content is not converting and you're getting loads of views, you're either probably not asking enough for people to, to raise their hand, or you're not creating enough information and valuable content.

And a great example of this [00:27:00] is my best performing video, which has made me the most money off YouTube, is an example of a video where I explain everything that I teach people inside my program. Mm. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Sol: So it's like you could watch that video and you could save yourself multiple five figures in programs fees by just watching the video.

But at the end of the day, information is everywhere and everyone can just get a called- That's right ... a called agent to go and do the stuff or like to, to teach them the stuff for- Yeah ... for 

Mariah: them. 

Sol: The real thing is being able to sit there and, and have personalized guidance, and that's the, like, the beauty of, of this space is just go and...

But I'm right now writing a 10-hour course, which I'm gonna put up for free on YouTube, and I know that that is gonna make me Or bring you the most amount of attention because people are gonna watch that and they go, "Can't be bothered to watch 10 hours, so just tell me the next thing I do to succeed."

Yeah, 

Mariah: just do it for me. Yeah. Yeah. 

Sol: Yeah. 

Mariah: No, it's so true, and I mean, that's why, um, service providers are busier than ever even with AI. Like, I think, um, yeah, cool. It, it's [00:28:00] also a level of, like, that trust, right? Like we spoke about before. It's like, yeah, okay, I can have a lot of confidence, but there's also a lot of confidence in having experts give me more confidence, and I think it's that, that, and, and probably some of the feedback including even, like, any testimonial you ever look at from a client, it will always talk about a level of support and guidance that you give.

And, like, that's what they pay for, right? They pay for that guidance, that reassurance, whether it's coaching... I mean, obviously, implementation of actually creating the content is a different thing 'cause you're delivering that result. But, like, if you have a coach that is giving you that accountability and that connection and that reassurance, like, that's what we always look for.

We're human. Like, we thrive off human connection. Like, that's what you end up paying for. If a coach gives you, like, every single secret in their YouTube, they're still not helping you, as you said, with that implementation or that guidance or that reassurance for your business. Because I imagine there's, like, hundreds and hundreds of examples that you can give of strategies that have worked for your [00:29:00] clients, but there could be one piece of information that that small business owner needed that you didn't give in those examples.

And I think where, that's where, like, um, people on Instagram and all the things saying, "You should do this. You should do that," like, yeah, that's all well and good, but it might not work for someone else's business. So it's a really good point- Absolutely ... and a really good reminder for us that giving away all your secrets on social media or through podcasting or through whatever content you do is not what...

Like, some people have that mindset of like, "Oh, that's costing me money. Like, people aren't gonna buy from me if I just give it all away for free." 

Sol: Yeah. It's the best thing you could ever do. Like, I, I... It's always a good reminder to do it, but yeah, the, the, the, the... We can literally see the best performing YouTube videos- Mm

that bring us in clients. So I can literally see statistically that what you just said makes sense and works. 

Mariah: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, uh, it's like, I think there's a lot of limiting beliefs that come out around, like, being on social media and creating content. And, and I, I love the point that you raised around, like, [00:30:00] if you're not asking people to do the thing that you want them to do, you just become an influencer.

And funnily enough, a lot of influencers are now becoming brand owners, uh, because obviously they either become... And I talked about this the other day, and I'd be keen to hear your take on it. It's like, if you're a business owner, if you're an influencer, you either become a walking brand, so you... I mean, in Australia, we don't get paid for making content unless it's YouTube.

Like, TikTok don't give any money for creation. You become a walking brand, or you start a brand, and then the marketing shifts. And that's interesting what you said about, like, you know, clients you've got that have got millions of followers, but they're not converting them. Just 'cause you have all these followers doesn't mean the money translates, and that's one thing that you did mention is, like, you can make money with a small amount of follower base.

So I'm keen to hear you share a little bit more about your experience with this, and also, like, yeah, how you've worked with these big influencers that have loads of followers but just aren't making the conversion. 

Sol: It's fascinating and, [00:31:00] and I've got a really good friend of mine who's also a client, and he won't mind me saying, but he's, he's a, a, a market leading PT in terms of his followers.

He's got 400,000 followers. And we started working together and he was, like, didn't really know where the next kind of client was coming from. Yet I've got one client who's got 3,000 followers and is making, like ... I don't know how specifically you want me to talk numbers, but let's say he's making- Fair

multi, multi, multi, multi five figures. Another one of my clients made over six figures with 4,000 followers. What I'm trying to say is that followers don't matter anymore. It's not about- Mm ... followers, it's about the quality of the audience that you've built. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Sol: And that's why I always talk about instead of saying

a lot of people just say, like, "You have to get traffic, you have to convert people, and you have to sell people." Whereas I talk about traffic, trust, conversion, and sales. Because most people miss out on the trust part. And the trust part, I always talk about that, and, and that's basically how you can make money from a small audience, is because it's better to have trust [00:32:00] with a little bit of traffic than a ton of traffic with absolutely no trust.

Mm. And l- a low amount of trust basically comes from the fact that people see you as a commodity as opposed to people seeing you as a person, and that is the thing, the reason that these influencers can ... you know, someone like Kylie Jenner can go and make a stupid amount of money off her brand is because people really trust her.

She's got, like, a fan base. Mm-hmm. Whereas this PT who came to me was just making viral recipe videos and wasn't really building any sort of, like, authority and personality and, and, uh, you know, belief, relatability, authenticity. And then all we did is we literally said, "Okay, mate, I want you to stop making these recipe videos."

'Cause he, I, I call him, like, he had, like, a drug addiction. Yeah. And his drug addiction was going viral. It's 

Mariah: dopamine. 

Sol: Like, yeah, he was like, he was like, he was like, "I know that I can make a viral video whenever I want." I was like, "I don't want you to do that. Stop doing that. Please do that." And, um, and he was like, "Okay, fine."

I was like, "I want you to only ever make a video that includes [00:33:00] your personality, the things that you're talking about, and the way that you convey yourself. Be authentic and tell your story." Mm-hmm. All of a sudden, he's got all these people being like, "I love your journey. I love your story," paying him multi four figures for his PT business.

Yeah. He's doing really well, and it's all because of that slight change of strategy. Mm. So the biggest thing that, to answer your question, the biggest thing that I see is it doesn't matter what number of followers you have, it really matters about the quantity and the quality of... Or it really matters about the quality of those followers.

Mm. And with, with that has just been s- I've seen that time and time again. I only have 20,000 followers on Instagram, but, you know, we're doing six figure a month, and that's because of the fact that I know that the quality of every single person that comes in is following me for me, following me because they understand me and they trust me, and that is, obviously, as a business owner, if you're listening to this, I'm, I'm sure you want that as opposed to, to be able to say to your friends you've got two million followers, but be wondering if, uh, you know, how you're gonna afford the next holiday.

That's probably, probably a worse way around to have it, right? 

Mariah: Yeah. I mean, you can never judge, um, an earning capacity [00:34:00] based on the followers, that's for sure. Because it's just, like, it's just not how it works. And also, we're building communities outside of social media as well, like, um, you know, going and going to events or whatever other things we do in our marketing.

But, um, I think it's just one of those mindset shifts that is changing. I mean, I remember Gary Vee saying, like, a couple years ago, like, I mean, me on TikTok, I don't follow anyone. I see... But I see all the same content, right? Like, I see people that I love to consume their content, and every now and then I go, "I probably should follow them because I-" I really like their stuff.

I keep seeing it on my for you page, but I'm not actually following them. I just really like it. So even people that aren't following you can still... I've, I've definitely bought from people that I do not follow, and especially on TikTok, like my mineral foundation that I got like last year, don't follow it, just like loved it, loved that idea.

In the cart you go. Like, it's, it's actually insane to watch your own buyer behavior as well as you're sort of consuming [00:35:00] content and what you like. And I mean, Instagram's algorithm is starting to play into the same as TikTok. I mean, you can see people come up on your reels page that you don't follow or, and you consistently see their content, you still don't follow them.

So it is, it is interesting how the shift is really happening with the, the mindset belief around followers. But I mean, it's always the dopamine hit of engagement and likes and viral videos. Like I think that's really funny 'cause that would happen a lot to business owners that are like... I had a client, we had one video reach 8.1 million people, and we were like, she's like, "Let's do that again."

And I was like, it doesn't always mean that it's going to be... I, I think like there was reasons why it went viral, and I know why it went viral. But the stuff that is now resonating is actually carousels of really insightful information that is translating into people signing up to the app. So it's like, just because we did this, um, viral video that probably triggered people as well, 'cause there's heaps of hate comments in [00:36:00] there, like filtered through all those.

It's like, it's also the You know, the, the actual valuable stuff that we're now seeing is resonating, and it's a carousel. So not even a video or a reel. Like, it's super interesting how much the, the, um, how people consume content and what actually makes, like, good content now as opposed to, I guess, 2020, 2021 when we all thought...

Like, I still go to workshops where people say to me, "I'm not doing TikTok, I don't wanna dance." Like, it, it actually blows my mind that people still say that. I'm like, "What do you mean?" It's crazy. Get on TikTok- Yeah ... and actually see what it's about. 

Sol: They're just missing such an opportunity, but it's great because it means that there's, there's more for, for all of us to- Yeah

to be promoting. So, so yeah, no, but no, it is true. It's the, the, the... it is the biggest opportunity right now. Never have you been ab- never in a human history have you ever been able to market to people for free- 

Mariah: Mm ... 

Sol: like social media. Yeah, for sure. Like, we, we get to have random people on the internet who are interested in our stuff, or random people in your local area who are [00:37:00] interested in your stuff.

You don't have to pay for adverts, you don't have to pay for billboards, you don't have to pay for TV, for newspaper adverts, whatever it is. You literally just get to pick up your phone and talk about your own life and talk about the things that you believe in, and people will be like, "I think I wanna pay that person a lot of money to help me."

And isn't that the, the coolest thing in the world? 

Mariah: It, yeah, it is pretty cool. And I, I love that mindset shift because I think we... It's just always that like, "Oh, I hate social media." But, like, I think it is such a great opportunity to be able to... I mean, if you think how much a billboard would cost, right?

Like, to have a billboard. I mean, I know. I have a client that has a billboard, and we helped them with the design for it, so very expensive, you know? Yeah. So imagine, like, you don't have to do that anymore. And it's interesting, one thing that you spoke about with that client that you mentioned, where, you know, they were posting the viral videos that were recipes and then he sort of changed.

You sort of alluded to the fact of, like, storytelling. How much does storytelling play a part in your content and what you teach your clients and selling [00:38:00] as well? 

Sol: Absolutely. Well, the thing is that what we put online is just regurgita- regurgitated information, right? So like we can talk about the carousel strategy, and I completely agree with that.

A thousand other people have said that. We could talk about the, the fact that you should be posting on social media and it's the greatest opportunity. But when, when... But no, like that, that makes you a commodity because everyone else speaks about that, right? The difference is being able to tell your own story within the lens of the information you deliver.

And throughout human time, we've always told things via story. We've delivered informations via stories. So a great example of this is like I have a, a copywriter who helps me with some of my carousels and my LinkedIn posts, and we have seen about a 10X increase in the engagement on our, on our posts. And the only simple change that we made was we deliver the same information.

So we're still talking about the things you should do with your offer, your content strategy. But instead of s- saying, "You should do [00:39:00] this," we say, "This is what I started with. This is the journey I had on this, and this is what I ended with." The information is still delivered in the exact... The information is delivered similarly.

It's the exact same message, but instead of saying, "This is what you should do," you tell it through the lens of my own story, and we had a 10X increase in, in interest. And that's because, I mean, I'm, I'm preaching to the choir here. We both know this, but the beautiful thing about storytelling is no one can take that away from you.

And the only content strategy that I'm using right now is that if my video could be on anyone else's page, then it doesn't belong on my page. So that's the only... Like that's the greatest bit of advice I can give to anyone who's like plateauing is- You need to create what I call one of one content. And that one of one content is s- only stuff you can say.

And then using a story to tell that and using a story to deliver that frame is the best way to do that, that, like, method. Because of course if so- if I start telling people, "You should make carousels," they're gonna be like, "All right." If I say, "Well, I've had a 10X increase in my [00:40:00] engagement, and that's because I originally thought it was a bad idea, and then I went on this big mission with my copywriter, and it worked out," all of a sudden that exact same thing is interesting, but I delivered it in the same way.

So yeah, couldn't agree more. And, and the last thing to finish off the answer to that is I have one performing, one video which has brought in probably a quarter of my revenue in total. So, like, we're talking, like, maybe 200, $200,000 just off one single Reel, and that is specifically a video where I tell my story of leaving my corporate job- Mm

why I left my corporate job. I put some incredible Coldplay music in it, and it was very, you know, took me a lot of time to make. And that single Reel- 

Mariah: Well, we should 

Sol: maybe promote it. Exactly, right? And that, and that single Reel changed my entire life. Yeah. Like, my entire life. Everything has come off the back of 

Mariah: that.

Mm-hmm. 

Sol: And it's all because instead of saying, "You should leave your job. You should do this," I went and told a story about my life, and people went, "Okay, I, I like this person. I, I, I really resonate with what he talks about." So yeah, that, that, to answer your question, is very important. 

Mariah: Yeah, but you told it [00:41:00] with a story, so what a great example.

There you go. Absolutely love that. No, it's so true. There you go. I mean, every piece of con- Like, I remember, I, we have a travel TikTok, and when we first started out, um, we were living in the back of a car, and, um, I, we, we were in Queensland. And I, and I know you've been to Queensland, but I don't know if you've been to Queensland when it rains, 'cause when it rains in Queensland it's like there is no coming back from the rain in Queensland.

And we're at the library, and it starts raining, and I start filming the rain 'cause, like, it was, like, really rainy. And then I turned to my partner Mitch, and I'm like... 'Cause we had a tent where we stored, like, our electricity. Like, it, we'd charge things and our fridge and all those things. And I was like, "Oh my God, the tent is open."

So I start filming and I like run out of the library like rain and I'm like, "Fuck Queensland." And then like we get in the car, and I like film the process of like, is our tent gonna be flooded? Are we gonna have like absolute no power? Like what is going to be happening? And then we pull up and there's just like a beam of sun just on our tent, like clouds all around and [00:42:00] just like this sun on the tent.

No rain. And like we get back and we zip it up, and then like five minutes later it just pours rain. And we put that on, on TikTok and like forgot about it. And then all of a sudden, like all these followers and like comment stuff started coming in, and I was like, "What the hell?" It's because it's that beginning, middle, and end, right?

It's like the, any movie that tells a story, it's like when you are putting together a piece of content. Obviously I'm very mindful that not everything has to be super dramatic, 'cause I think some people tell stories just to get the drama, and they have no relatability to business and it's just a bit random.

I've done a podcast episode on that. But it's like taking people through that experience 'cause they wanna know what happens in the end. They wanna know the result, and then they go, "Well, I want that experience." So it's like, it's a perfect example of that beginning, middle, and end, and like sharing, you know, the hero story and all the story formulas that we've ever heard.

But I mean, they work, so like why would we not do it? 

Sol: There we go. There we go. And it's also fun 'cause you just get to tell stuff about your life, and somehow, somehow that's the best performing thing you can do, which is 

Mariah: great, like- Yeah, yeah. And it's easy. Yeah. I think we forget how [00:43:00] easy storytelling is.

It's just like we have in our head there has to be this, like, big massive story and, like... I mean, I've had the life, I- I've had cancer. I've had the story that would- Mm. You know, the story that it, like, is the story of business. Like, I've had that, and it doesn't, like, it's n- You don't need that big story to, like, make it.

You know, I, I actually never used it in my business. I used it actually to create community and to have people that had the same operation as me, 'cause it's not very common in my age. And, like- Mm ... I've even got people in my WhatsApp chat now that have just had the same operation. Like, I had it five years ago.

I still have people that find my content and message me about it. But, like, even that big story, it doesn't, it's not, that's not what it's about. Like, it's, you don't need that huge, like, story to make it sexy or, like, interesting. Actually, a lot of the times the stories that perform the best are the relatable ones or the ones where people could go, like, "Oh, that feels like that's achievable for me, too."

Sol: Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and I always say this to my clients 'cause now I'm [00:44:00] very fortunate to be able to, to travel around the world and have nice backgrounds and all that sort of thing. Yeah. But my best performing content was when I was living in my parents' house. Yeah. When I was just going from, from the fridge to the dining table to my bedroom, and it was, like, this, like, old house, and it wasn't very aesthetic.

Mariah: Yeah. 

Sol: And that was when I was just banging the most views possible because it was the most relatable, authentic stuff. Yeah. So honestly, like, I, I, I kind of, like, it's a good reminder to myself as well that actually people don't wanna see all this stupid, like, the flashy cars and... 'Cause it's just not, it's not relatable.

Nah. They wanna see real people doing real things, and that's the- Yeah ... sort of people that they, they buy from. 

Mariah: Yeah. We, we, we see that enough of influencers doing that- Yeah ... and Kardashians, so we don't, we don't need it from everybody else. And it actually just makes you feel a little bit more inferior and, like, we don't, we wanna buy from people now that is relatable, that's for sure.

Sure. So amazing. Well, there is a lot to unpack in this and for a lot for people to think. And I think the, the thing that makes what you're saying so interesting and so [00:45:00] easy is because, like, we can implement this. And, you know, you always have that mindset of like, "What am I doing wrong?" Like, obviously there could be like tactical things and things that you share with clients when you do that one-on-one work, like that's, you know, obviously a different thing, and there's all these levers that we can pull.

But like at the end of the day, it comes down to those, like those foundations and, you know, that type of content that's gonna work. And then we learn from that, and then people go, "Oh yeah, cool. All right. I need to optimize this," or, "I need to do that." But I think a lot of the times we get so caught up in like the detail and we think like we're doing something wrong or we're not doing this right, but we're all being told like these are the things that work.

And I think I, I mean I say a lot of things to clients and then they just, "Oh yeah." And then there's some that say, "Oh yeah, let's do it." And like, you know, it's, it's hard. Like a lot of the times we need to hear things a gazillion times before we actually take action. Absolutely. So hopefully this is the gazillionth time for everyone listening and they do the thing.

Sol: I'm sure they will. I'm sure they will. You're, you're sleeping on the, the life that you want on the other side [00:46:00] of, of social media success. It's the greatest opportunity that we all have and, and that's why I create my vision boards, my dream boards, all those sort of things because when I go, "Oh, I've gotta film that another video now, or I've gotta do that tactic that I heard on that podcast the other day," I go, "No, I wanna do this thing and I wanna achieve this thing, and that's the thing that I need to do."

And that like gives me endless, endless motivation. 

Mariah: Yeah. And that, that's also good, like coming back to your why. Um, I had someone say- Yeah ... on my podcast recently why you started your business, not why you do what you do. 'Cause why you do what you do could be like a greater thing, right? You wanna help people or whatever.

But why did you start in business? Like what do you want? Whether it's like the house, the holiday, the endless travel, the... Because that's actually what helps you, right? Not the why, like, "I just wanna help people, and I wanna do..." So and that's amazing. We all wanna do that. But it's like why do you want to be in business?

'Cause you could do that working for someone else. So I love that as a really good reminder because it helps us be a little bit more intentional with what we're doing as well, and like that motivation that we need, especially like in Australia, we're coming into [00:47:00] winter so w- the, the winter blues is gonna start kicking in any minute.

Sol: Amen. Get, get the camera out and start recording with a nice fire face behind you. 

Mariah: Yeah. Amazing. Well, thank you so much, Sol, for sharing so much of your insight. How can people find you and, and, like, just see what you're up to? Because we're all curious about how you're using- Sure ... social media in your content.

Sol: Yeah. Come, uh, as, as I said, I give all my secrets away for free. So come check me out on, uh, on... I think my Instagram's probably best. That's sol.hyde, uh, and my YouTube is just Sol Hyde. Uh, so go check me out, and I've got loads of cool free stuff that everyone can, can go and implement into their own social strategy.

Mariah: Amazing. Well, thank you so much for giving all your secrets away on this podcast. I really appreciate the time, so thank you. 

Sol: Thank you very much for having me. 

Mariah: All right. How did you find that episode? I really liked Sol's approach, really authentic, and I think it really is about getting out there and learning what works and what doesn't.

And I love that mindset piece that we talked about. I did not, to be honest, [00:48:00] expect that to come from Sol, so that was really cool to dive into that. But thank you for joining us on the Content Queen podcast. Don't forget to share it with all your business and entrepreneurial friends. You can do this by sharing it with them.

You can also leave a rate and review. You can share it to your Instagram stories and tag us at contentqueenmoriah. And if you do rate and review, it does really help me get guests on, like Sol. He found me through the charts, reached out, wanted to join the show. We get so many pitches now, so it means that you are rating and reviewing.

So if it hasn't been you and you love this and you're getting all this free value, please, it takes two seconds, and it really means a lot to the duration of this show and being able to continue to show up and share my wisdom and the wisdom of others. And yeah, if there's any topics you want me to talk about in the future, any guests you want me to get on, reach out to me on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, all the places where you know that I am, and yeah, I will talk to you soon.

Bye.

PodcastMariah MacInnesmarketing, marketing advice, how to be authentic online, business ownerComment