Transcript of Understand Your Audience to Drive Business Growth on Social Media | Marketing | YAPCreator Replay | E5 New

Young and Profiting with Hala Taha (Entrepreneurship, Sales, Marketing)
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00:00:00

Today's episode is sponsored in part by Shopify, QWO, Indeed, and Experian. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you grow your business. Start your $1 per month trial at shopify.com/profiting. QWO is an AI-powered phone system that brings your calls, texts, and contacts together in one place. Try QWO for free, plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to qwo.com/profiting. Indeed helps you attract, interview, and hire talent all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at indeed.com/podcast. Experian is a financial app that negotiates your bills and cancels unwanted subscriptions. Get started with the Experian app today. As always, you can find all of our incredible deals in the show notes or at youngandprofiting.com/deals. Hey, young improfitters! Welcome back to another episode of the YAP Creator Series Replay. If your content is not landing, I want you to stop blaming the quality for a second because the real issue might be your audience. When you truly understand who you're trying to reach, everything shifts. Your message gets sharper, your content gets more engaging, and your results get a whole lot better. So today we're breaking down exactly how to read your audience, adapt to what resonates, and create content that connects and converts.

00:01:33

Whether you're building a business, scaling your platform, or just trying to grow your reach, understanding your audience is your biggest unfair advantage. You'll hear from top experts, plus the exact strategies we use here at YAP to stay relevant and impactful. If you want your content to finally stick, This one is packed with gems, so listen up, take notes, and let's get right into it. First things first, before you can forge a meaningful connection with an audience, you need to figure out who they are. As a content creator, understanding the balance between a broad and niche audience is crucial for growing your engagement and your business. Broad content allows you to reach a wider audience and potentially increase views and revenue, while niche content creates deeper and more meaningful connections with a dedicated community. The key is finding the balance that works for you and whether you're marketing a product, a service, or just yourself, it's useful to start by thinking in terms of your TAM or your total addressable market, but just how big or small should you start? This is what Neil Patel, an expert on digital marketing, told me about how he approaches a potential audience.

00:02:40

Well, makes a good audience market to me is a big TAM. So assuming you find something you're passionate about by just through trial and error, you got to make sure you're focusing on a big TAM. Everyone says the riches are in the niches. That's far from true. If you look at the majority of the large corporations out there like Teslas, automotive, right? People need cars in this world. If you look at Microsoft, everyone needs software to run these computers and digital devices that we're on. If you look at Google, we're relying on search for anything and someone organizing data and feeding it to us in a very organized, fashion. If you look at Apple, we need all these hardware pieces that they're selling from headphones to cell phones to laptops, right? These are large markets. If you look again, look at the biggest companies in the world, they're going after large markets and not niches. So the key is to go after a big TAM. Now you can start in a niche if you want and there's nothing wrong with that, but you need to make sure that you can expand that niche into a large market because the amount of effort it takes to market a business, whether it's on LinkedIn or any social platform or even SEO for a niche compared to a large market is almost the same amount of effort.

00:03:53

Sure, it's harder in a large market, it takes longer to see results, but it's the same process and the same time and energy that you're putting into it. So might as well go after something big because it's very unrealistic to be in a niche and being like, you know what, I'm going to dominate this niche and gobble up 100% of the market share or even 20, 30%. That's very hard to do. But on the flip side, it's easier to say, hey, I'm going to go after this multi-billion dollar market and I'm going to gobble up 0.1% of it, right? You gobble up even something small, that's enough money where you're generating millions of dollars where it's meaningful. For example, if it's a $10 billion market that you're going after, you gobble up 0.1%, That's big enough to create amazing life and a business.

00:04:37

So you're saying you need a big sort of more broad market. You don't wanna get too in the niches because they're really hard to find. That's like finding a needle in a haystack. When you're a marketer, you wanna find your audience in mass. You wanna target them in mass. That's how you're gonna target them in the cheapest way, most effective way. If you have to find like 10 people here, 10 people there, 10, it's like you are just gonna exhaust yourself and it's gonna be very expensive.

00:05:01

Exactly right. You need to go after a big market so that way you don't have to have frequency issues of like, oh, I've shown my ad to 500 people. All right, how many more people can you show it? Well, that's my only audience, or even 10,000 people. It's not enough. You need to go after the masses.

00:05:18

So I know that you have a formula for marketing that you talk about. Could you break that down for us?

00:05:23

Number one, go after a really big TAM. Once you have a big TAM, then if you want to do well, you needed to take an omnichannel approach from LinkedIn to Facebook to Instagram to WhatsApp marketing through text, through email marketing to SEO to paid advertising. It doesn't matter if you like paid ads on Facebook or not. If it's profitable, it's profitable. You got to keep leveraging it. And then from there, you got to figure out how to add in the upsells and downsells because if you look at marketing over time, it continually costs more and more. So you got to add in the upsells and downsells. In other words, build that funnel, figure out how to generate more revenue from that same customer. And if they're buying more right at purchase, it allows you to spend more money on marketing as well as figure out a way to generate recurring revenues.

00:06:12

However broad or narrow you go with your potential audience and whatever channel you reach them through, remember that you are ultimately the one picking your audience. That's right, your audience is your choice. And building an audience is really its own kind of a business. In fact, none other than Mr. Side Hustle himself, Nick Loper, shared with me how he now considers building an audience on channels like YouTube to be one of the most promising side hustles around. Something that I read of yours that I thought was really interesting is that you actually consider a side hustle being growing an audience, right? You call it an audience business. So talk to us about why having an audience in itself. Can be a side hustle with multiple avenues.

00:06:57

Yeah, this is probably, you know, tier 3. We know tier 1 services, tier 2 products. Tier 3 is this really flexible hybrid, you know, content-based business, audience-based business where it could be a social following, it could be a blog following, a podcast following, a YouTube following. And once you have people paying attention, like the entire playbook opens up. Yeah, sure, you could sell services, you could sell products, you could sell attention in the form of advertising or affiliate partnerships, But it really is a powerful place to play. And that's really where I spent the bulk of my side hustle and entrepreneurial time over the last 10 years, trying to figure out how to get more traffic, how to get more listeners, how to get more email subscribers and play in that space because the scale is almost infinite, right? It takes, as you know, the same effort and energy and investment to create an episode, a podcast episode that 10 people listen to, or 10,000 people listen to, or 100,000 people. And so it's a really unique platform in that way. And the same thing with social content or video content.

00:08:02

Whatever content arena you decide to play in, it's not just enough to turn up and churn out content. Julie Solomon, who's the queen of influencer marketing and an expert on how to break through on platforms like Instagram, explains the critical distinction between simply creating content and producing content that genuinely drives results with your audience.

00:08:23

When it comes to Instagram, because that's really been my platform of choice since 2013, so I have been there through the ups and downs and the in-betweens. And I think that where most people get it wrong is that they get so lost in having to, have to do it a certain way, or trying to beat some kind of system or some kind of algorithm. And what I have noticed throughout a decade plus of supporting people on Instagram and coaching them in order to build a brand and visibility there is that, yes, it's important to understand things like hashtags and SEO and, you know, viral hooks and all of those kinds of things. But really, at the end of the day, it just comes down to, do you have value-based content that is specifically talking to the person whose problem that you solve? And are you showing up as an authority and as someone that can educate them as being that solution provider as consistently as possible. And most of the time, people aren't doing that because they're so focused on these things that really just don't matter at the end of the day. You know, it, it doesn't.

00:09:33

And that's why, Holly, you know, I have a lot of people that will come to me and it's, it's wild that they've got tens, if not hundreds of thousands of followers and they make no money.

00:09:45

Mm-hmm.

00:09:46

And I'm thinking, how do you have all this and you don't make money? And it's because maybe they figured out a way to go viral, or maybe they figured out some kind of giveaway process to gain a following, or maybe they did some collabs. But because they weren't creating that value from the get-go, because they weren't thinking about, what do I specialize in? What is my offer? Why do I wanna pick up this phone and post something every day? Mm-hmm. It's like they completely miss the boat, and before they know it, they're 3 months in or 3 years in or 10 years in, and then they come to me and they're like, Julie, I don't understand how I've kind of been trying to grow and piecemealing it together, and maybe I've gotten to 1,000 followers and nothing's happening, or maybe I've gotten to 100,000 followers but still nothing's happening because I'm not making any money. And so what's happening here? And so I think that for growth on Instagram, you really have to think about that through line. Are you just creating content just to create content because that is just a hobby, or are you actually creating content to to solve a problem for somebody, to be of service to someone, to be a solution provider for someone, because that's how you actually end up monetizing it.

00:10:52

And those are two completely different focuses.

00:10:54

Totally agree with that. And also from a sponsorship perspective, it's also important to think of this because if you're just creating mindless content that's going viral, maybe you're reposting viral videos and you've got this huge broad audience, but nobody knows what you stand for. You are not the actual influencer. Your content went viral. You didn't necessarily go viral. Your ideas and your products and services didn't necessarily go viral. It's just content, right? And so it's hard to get brand sponsorships when you actually are not an influencer and your content just went viral because there's no way to really describe your audience. It's hard for brands to understand who they're targeting exactly. Mm-hmm. So that's something else to, to think about.

00:11:36

Yeah, I call those people cold creators. Mm-hmm. That they are showing up to create content, but there is no warmth behind them focusing on building the know, like, and trust. And we even see this with a lot of massive influencers out there. You think about, you know, um, Charli, um, I can't remember her last name, but she was on Dancing with the Stars. Her family had a reality show. They went— her and her sisters went viral on TikTok. And now it's like, not only is there— all they talk about is how their mental health is just like all over the place. They can't show up, they can't be consistent, they're not happy, they're not fulfilled. But a lot of the brand deals that they've started to do, whether that's product lines that they've launched or what have you, have now been pulled off the shelves because they're not converting. And the reason why is because they didn't take the time to build that know, like, and trust with their audience. They didn't take the time to really build a brand around the reputation that they wanted to have. They were just creating content for the sake of creating content and, you know, doing it on TikTok and blowing up.

00:12:31

But now they don't have anything to show for it. And there's a lot of creators that that has happened to over time that have gone on to maybe get a Sephora, you know, makeup deal, but then a year later they don't have any makeup in the stores and it's because it can't sell.

00:12:46

So how do we figure out exactly what will resonate best with our target audience? To truly connect with that audience and create content that genuinely serves their needs, you need to understand what interests them, what drives them, what thrills them. Understanding what your audience wants is the foundation of creating content that stands out. Even since the dawn of time. When early humans were telling their first stories around the communal fire. Of course, nowadays most of our audiences are online, but we can still learn a lot about how to shape and respond to an audience from those who are gifted performers and make their living by delighting live audiences. The magician and mentalist Ose Pearlman is one such performer, and he shared with me some fascinating insights into how he uses deep knowledge of human behavior to read an audience.

00:13:35

Every show is different, which is great because every audience is different, right? Think about it. If you're watching a movie, the movie is always the same versus what I do is not like watching a singer or a band where, you know, they can change the song a little bit, but it's still the same song. For me, everything I do involves audience interaction. My show is the audience because if I'm doing a show for 1,000 people, 50, 60, 100 of them will be a part of it at some point. I throw frisbees around the audience, we hand envelopes, we pick people out of the whole crowd. I've done arenas before with 10,000 people, and what my show is all about is audience reactions, watching someone's face and that shock and that amazement and sometimes that just absolute silence when you've done something that seems impossible or you've told them something there's no way you could have known or anticipated. And that's really the product I'm selling, is very memorable moments, usually with a lot of emotional impact. And so it's helpful in certain parts of everyday life. But it's funny because not as if I can just walk into a real estate negotiation and be like, I know their bottom line.

00:14:37

I know how much money I'm saving. It works in certain ways. It's helpful. It's an edge, but it's not the same. It's a facade. It's an entertainment pursuit. Because in my shows, I'm the director. I get to call the shots in a certain way. So I wish I could tell you I'd go to the poker table and just make millions. Funny enough, a lot of casinos, they have people trained in what I do going against me. They're the ones who are making sure that I can't cheat.

00:15:04

That reminds me of something that I've also heard you said where you say that your profession is more like a comedian than it is a magician because you're actually feeding off the audience and not just doing the same thing over and over again.

00:15:16

Totally. And it's hard to practice what I do. So a magician, think about it, can practice. Like, I use example of a card trick. You can practice a card trick at home in front of the mirror. For days, weeks, years, and perfect the moves that are required. Right. Same thing with a juggler, let's call it. But a comedian has to tell their joke. He or she tells their joke, and the only way you know if it's funny is if an audience reacts, right? The audience is your canvas. So the exact same thing applies. And that's the reason right there why there's so much fewer mentalists than magicians, because the learning curve is so steep. You can't get better without first bombing. So you need to be bad and start doing it and getting better and better with audiences. And, and, and a lot of people don't have that stomach. They can't deal with that level of rejection over and over and not be good for years at times.

00:16:06

The audience is your canvas. I just love that. And it's just as true for an online audience. The best online content isn't just a one-way broadcast, it's a conversation. It's about give and take where we're tuning into what our audience really wants what resonates with them, and what keeps them coming back. In other words, you're not creating content for yourself. Just like Oz Pearlman, you're responding to what your audience is telling you, even when it's through nonverbal cues like likes, shares, and comments. Every interaction is a signal, and your audience is showing what they relate to, what they're curious about, and sometimes what just isn't clicking. At times you may bomb, just like a standup comedian or a live performer might. The magic happens when you take the time to interpret these signals and respond to them. That's when your content goes from good to great. But figuring out an audience, of course, takes time. Perhaps nobody I've spoken to knows this better than my good friend, the entrepreneur and the host of the Social Proof Podcast, David Shantz. David is one of the hardest working people I know, and as you'll hear, he knows his audience down to their daily routine and their habits.

00:17:16

Let's hold that thought and take a quick break with our sponsors. Hey, App Fam, I'm not afraid to say producing this podcast requires skills I do not naturally have. From audio engineering to video editing, I have to hire experts who are way better than me in those areas. And as I scale my podcast, this becomes more and more important. And every time I need to hire, my first thought usually is, this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. When you sponsor your job on Indeed, you find candidates with the exact skills you're looking for without the stress of digging through endless resumes. Sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. That means you're not tossing your post into the void. You're connecting with qualified people who can actually help your business grow. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at indeed.com/podcast. Just go to indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast.

00:18:29

Indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Young Improviters, raise your hand if you've ever Googled one tiny symptom and then 5 minutes later you're convinced that you're dying. I know I have been there, done that way too many times, but instead of guessing and spiraling, I use Zocdoc. In fact, I've been using Zocdoc for like 10 years. I literally don't know how to book doctor's appointments any other way. It's a free app and a website that helps you find and book high-quality in-network doctors based on your needs. You can search by symptom or specialty, read verified patient reviews, and see doctors with available appointments right away. If you're a busy entrepreneur and you need to squeeze in a doctor appointment on a random time, you can find the doctors that have availability when you have availability. Want an in-person or video visit? It's no problem with Zocdoc. There are over 150,000 providers across all 50 states and over 200 specialties. Any doctor you could imagine, any visit that you need. Zocdoc will have you covered, and most appointments happen within 24 to 72 hours. So next time you start doomscrolling your symptoms, skip the stress and book a real appointment with a real doctor on Zocdoc.

00:19:43

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00:20:04

Yeah, fam, what's your weekday breakfast actually like? Be honest, because for me it used to be coffee and starve myself till noon. Then I had Dr. Amy Shaw on the podcast and she said something that I won't ever forget. She said the number one way to get more energy in the morning is a 30-gram protein breakfast, and that stuck with me and that changed everything. Now, every weekday morning, I go for my 30-gram protein breakfast, and when I'm in a rush, I grab for Huel Black Edition ready-to-drink. It's 35 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, no artificial sweeteners. It's under $5, and the chocolate peanut butter flavor is just so dang good. A complete meal I drink on the way to the studio, and I'm full for hours. And I do this about 3 times a week. Now, I got sick a lot this winter. And so I made a decision this spring and summer. I'm going all in on my health. No more drinking and a lot more Huel consistently. I'm not very good at remembering to eat, let alone taking my vitamins. So I've used habit stacking to help me. I do liquid vitamins in my coffee, like B12.

00:21:07

And my rule is if I don't have a Huel protein in the morning, I drink my Huel at lunch. That's the Daily Greens, 42 vitamins and minerals and superfoods and only 25 calories. And it is Absolutely delicious. They taste so good. In fact, I have to hide it from my boyfriend so he doesn't finish them all because I need them for my lunch. Protein at breakfast, multitasking my coffee and greens at lunch.

00:21:30

Done, done, and done.

00:21:31

Hopefully I don't get sick again this year. Huel has a limited time offer. Get 15% off with my code PROFITING at huel.com/profiting. New customers only. Again, that's Huel, H-U-E-L.com/profiting. And thank you to Huel for supporting the show.

00:21:46

So how can we get more engagement on YouTube, more views and subscribers?

00:21:50

One, you have to be good at it. I don't have a 1, 2, 3 step for someone that's not good, that doesn't ask good questions or put up amazing content or come out with shareable stuff. There's nothing I can do for you. You have to practice the craft. It's really cool because for 2 years of actually doing the podcast and putting it on YouTube, I wasn't thinking money. For 10 years, I mean, while I was doing it. So I started 2010. I didn't start monetizing until 2020. But those 10 years, I'm not even thinking that YouTube makes money. I never even thought about it. My only thing was, are people liking this content? Are they sharing it? Are they commenting? And I was focused on having a good show and being a good interviewer and being engaging. So that's where I'm blessed because I came before the era of jump on YouTube to make a million dollars. I had time to perfect my craft. So one, you just have to be good at it. I don't care if you're super consistent, you have the best camera, best lighting, If the content isn't amazing, it's not going to work.

00:23:07

So practice your craft. You really need to find a niche that you're passionate about and that other people are passionate about. And you have to brand yourself around this conversation. My whole world is branded around podcasting and entrepreneurship. One, I've been doing it for 10 years or longer than that, my whole life really. But This whole podcasting thing and entrepreneurship, my whole world is that. My bio says it. If you talk to me long enough, we're going to talk about podcasting or entrepreneurship. That's my brand. So I have a niche, I have an audience, I know all the things that my audience is struggling with. That's how I can tell you, all right, so you got to stop stopping. One of the worst things that can happen to an entrepreneur is a little bit of success, because other people that see that little bit of success, and they start inviting you to their thing that they're doing, and it's going to take you off path. The reason I know that is because I've been through it and I've been coaching entrepreneurs for the last decade on this space. So I know my audience, I know exactly what they're going through.

00:24:13

So you need to know your audience, know exactly what they're going through. You for sure need to be consistent. So the best way to do that is have a consistent day that you record, whether it's every Wednesday, every Thursday, we record our podcast every Wednesday for sure. Now, if somebody can't do Wednesday and they're a big enough, enough guest, we'll do it on Thursday or do it on Tuesday 'cause I have my own studio, so it's cool. But I have a specific day that we record. We have a specific day that we release. It is consistent. If you think of your favorite shows growing up, it wasn't sporadic when they delivered the content. It was the same time, same day, every single week because people put your show or your content into their life. So I release my podcast at 7 in the morning because I know there are people going to work and I want them to listen to my podcast on their way to work because I want them to be inspired. I want them to be motivated. And this is their thing. It's in the routine. If anything ever happens, like there's a misfire on the scheduling or something like that, I get messages.

00:25:20

Hey, you ain't released the episode? What happened? What happened? What happened? I'm like, whoa, whoa, let me find out what's going on. Because they put my show into the framework of their lives. And you can't disappoint. Or you'll break trust. So if you say every Monday at 7 o'clock it's going to release, and sometimes it's at 7, sometimes at 2 PM, sometimes it releases on Tuesday, sometimes it just doesn't release that week, you're breaking the trust because now I can't trust you to put this in my schedule anymore. And also looking at the trends, studying your craft, studying what's working in your industry. If you put all of those together and you're good at it, it will grow, period.

00:26:05

If you want to have a detailed understanding of your audience like David, you need information. And today, the best tools for understanding audience preferences Next is our data and analytics. It might not sound super glamorous, but trust me, these numbers are gold. Engagement metrics like views, likes, comments, and shares reveal what topics and formats your audience is drawn to. By analyzing these patterns, you get insights that might otherwise go unnoticed. Data doesn't lie. If you're not looking at your analytics, you're missing out on a treasure trove of information that can help guide your content strategy. At YAP, we regularly review our analytics to spot trends and highlight what's working. It's about more than just knowing which episodes are posted well. It's about understanding why. If a specific topic or guest sees a surge in engagement, that tells us that our audience is interested in that subject and we might explore it further in future episodes. And we're not just looking at the numbers, we're looking at the why behind the numbers. What was it about this particular guest or topic that hit the mark? Was there something in the style or the format that people responded to?

00:27:13

By digging into these insights, we can adapt and evolve our content to meet our audience's preferences. On the other hand, if certain themes or styles consistently underperform, it's a sign that we may need to rethink our approach or pivot. Analytics is not just about measuring success. It's about learning, adapting, and evolving based on the hard evidence. It's like having a compass that guides the direction of your content. But you have to be willing to act on that feedback you get from your audience. Flexibility is crucial in content creation. You don't need to change who you are, but you can refine how you present yourself to meet your audience where they are. One of my favorite examples of using data and feedback to know your audience better was shared with me by video marketing expert Ken Okazaki. Sometimes meeting your audience where they are means literally knowing where they are, even if that happens to be on the toilet. So fun fact, and I, I've heard you talk about this a few times, 80% of men and 69% of women use their phone while on the toilet. And you've taken this data and created something called the Toilet Strategy.

00:28:20

So what is the Toilet Strategy and what does this data tell us about how we should be conducting video marketing?

00:28:25

Yeah, I, I, I should probably look that up. I don't know if the numbers have gone up or down, and that was a couple years ago I wrote that book, but. I don't know about you, but I happen to use my, my phone in the toilet. And when I realized that there's that huge percentage, because that's kind of like literally your downtime, right? So that's when you're like, you know, you're checking messages, looking at social media. And there's a couple of things going on here. And right now it may seem obvious, but when I first presented this at a conference, everybody was like, oh my, you know, smack my head. Like, that's so obvious. Why didn't I think of it? But when your audience is in the toilet, you have to— well, put it this way, tune your videos as if you're speaking to someone on the toilet. So there's a couple things going on. Number one, you wanna make sure there's captions on every single word because when you're in a public bathroom, it's very rare that you're gonna want the speakers blurry while you're in there, right? So immediately someone's gonna mute. If they can't hear you or read you, then they're gonna skip off, right?

00:29:19

So that's rule number one. Rule number two about the toilet strategy is the length. There are so many times where I've seen a video and I thought, this is great. And then what we've done is eye tracking tests. The first thing we look at is the title to see if we wanna stop. The second one is the person's eyes. The third place we look, believe it or not, is the play bar to see how long it is. And that's through eye tracking data. And if the video is too long, like you probably wanna spend 5 minutes in the bathroom max. If it's a 20-minute video, what happens is this is a great video. But I don't have 20 minutes to save for later, which by the way, nobody ever goes to the save for later video and actually watches them. It's, it is a black hole where things go in and never come back out. So you never wanna get save for later. So the, there's the length. You wanna keep it, you know, 2 minutes max. Nowadays it's under a minute. It gets, keeps getting shorter. Oh, the third thing is really the big title on top.

00:30:09

Now that's kind of changed because nowadays with the way TikTok format videos have really taken over, The algorithm chooses what shows up. It's not what you subscribe to, so it doesn't matter quite as much, but I think it's quite effective on some platforms where the thumbnail is gonna be much more prominent than the actual video itself.

00:30:29

So for example, YouTube, the toilet strategy might be an extreme example, but it shows how responding to data and feedback you're given about your audience can allow you to transform your content in a way that will connect even better with them. At YAP, we're always actively listening to feedback. We read comments, look at engagement metrics and keep an eye out on the formats that are doing well. For instance, that we've seen that our audience really responds to a conversational style and interviews, so we integrate that into more episodes purposefully. And if a certain topic, style, or format isn't resonating, we're not afraid to just switch it up. Think of adaptation as a cycle. You put out content, gage the response, and then adjust. And if you do this over and over again and turn up for your audience on a regular basis, you will acquire some powerful insights from them, and their feedback will not only help you improve existing content, but it will also help you generate bold new ideas. Now here's Ken Okazaki again with more.

00:31:28

If you don't show up, things don't happen, and that's when success builds on success, and that's when people start realizing, hey, this person is a pillar in this vertical, in this niche, in this industry. And the more they hear you, the more they want to hear about you. The rock stars are the people who, in a nutshell, you're no longer pushing your content. It's your audience is pulling the content from you. Like the demand for it is greater than your effort to push it out there. You're getting more people to share it. You're getting people requesting to be on your show. You're getting so much engagement that you'll never run out of ideas because you could just look at the comments and use that for the, your content ideas. And that's that feeling of getting pulled. And once you reach that, there's a lot of people who just realize that there is this, I guess it's like the flywheel type of feeling, and that's flow. And that's, that's where I want all my clients to get.

00:32:23

This willingness to evolve shows your audience that you're paying attention and that you respect their preferences. It's a win-win. You're creating content that's meaningful and relevant, and your audience feels more connected to you because they know their feedback genuinely matters. When you understand your audience, it transforms your entire approach. You're not guessing, you're responding, and that makes all the difference. When you approach content as a partnership with your audience, you're building something powerful, a loyal, engaged community that trusts you and wants to come back again and again. Well, YAP fam, that's it for episode 5 of the YAP Creator Series. By paying attention to engagement, using data to guide your strategy, and creating a feedback loop, you can build a stronger connection with your audience and keep keep your content fresh and relevant. Thanks again for tuning in, and we'll see you in episode 6, where we unlock the secrets of content creation with a focus on how AI is changing the game. Until next time, this is your host, Hala Taha, aka the Podcast Princess, signing off.

Episode description

Social media marketing success starts with understanding your audience, yet most creator-entrepreneurs skip this step entirely. Without that foundation, even consistent creators end up guessing what works, leading to low engagement and missed business opportunities. In this episode of the YAPCreator Series Replay, Hala Taha shares proven insights from experts like Neil Patel, Julie Solomon, and Ken Okazaki to help you understand your audience, create content that converts, and build a loyal, engaged community.

In this episode, Hala will discuss: 

(00:00) Introduction

(02:04) Neil Patel on Finding the Right Audience

(06:22) Turning Your Audience Into a Business

(08:28) Creating Content That Actually Converts

(12:55) Understanding What Your Audience Really Wants

(17:29) Mastering Your Craft and Building Trust

(21:48) Using Data to Guide Your Content Strategy

(23:32) The Toilet Strategy for Video Marketing

(26:13) Adapting Content Based on Audience Feedback

Hala Taha is the host of Young and Profiting, a top 10 business and entrepreneurship podcast on Apple and Spotify. She’s the founder and CEO of YAP Media, an award-winning social media and podcast production agency, as well as the YAP Media Network, where she helps renowned podcasters like Russell Brunson, Jenna Kutcher, and Neil Patel grow and monetize their shows. Through her work, Hala has become one of the most influential creator entrepreneurs in podcasting.

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Resources Mentioned:

YAP E226 with Neil Patel: https://youngandprofiting.co/4gqjng0 

YAP E325 with Nick Loper: https://youngandprofiting.co/40MTrVM 

YAP E233 with Oz Pearlman: https://youngandprofiting.co/42DkUMt 

YAP E292 with Julie Solomon: https://youngandprofiting.co/4jJTpXp 

YAP E230 with Ken Okazaki: https://youngandprofiting.co/3Ervwnx 

YAPCreator Replay E1: youngandprofiting.co/YCR-E1

YAPCreator Replay E2: youngandprofiting.co/YCR-E2

YAPCreator Replay E3: youngandprofiting.co/YCR-E3

YAPCreator Replay E4: youngandprofiting.co/YCR-E4 

Active Deals - youngandprofiting.com/deals 

Key YAP Links

Reviews - ratethispodcast.com/yap

YouTube - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting

Newsletter - youngandprofiting.co/newsletter 

LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/

Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/

Social + Podcast Services: yapmedia.com

Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new 

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