This week, Ashley Kitchens is back on the podcast for a coaching call. In this episode, Ashley put me in the hot seat and asked me my thoughts on TikTok vs Reels, and when to dive into new platforms or features! Tune in to hear my thoughts!
or watch our interview here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Jessica Freeman
Welcome to the work your wellness biz podcast, a podcast for nutrition and fitness professionals. I’m your host, Jess Freeman here to help you save time and look good online.
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the work your wellness biz podcast today is a coaching call episode where my guest actually puts me in the hot seat and gets asked me questions about whatever they’re curious about, and I don’t know what we’re talking about today. So welcome, Ashley kitchens, back to the show. Thank you for being here.
Ashley Kitchens
Thank you for having me.
Jessica Freeman
Yes. So what do you want to talk about today? What’s on your mind?
Ashley Kitchens
And I love that you’re in the hot seat. So I really was, I want to get your thoughts on like, reels tic tocs. I feel like they’re like very popular. I’m trying to do them. Like I just want kind of like your feedback. Yeah. Well, your thoughts on those things,
Jessica Freeman
my thoughts. So yes, they are very popular. Well, depending on who you ask some people hate reels. And some people like you, me, because I know you do reels I’ve since I follow you. And I see your reels. And so it kind of depends on the person. But in general, yes, I do think reels are popular.
And tik tok also really took off. I feel like last year 2020. And more people, especially entrepreneurs are kind of hopping on there. But I know there’s also some resistance like some people are like, Oh, it’s it’s another platform. It’s another app, or it’s only teenagers. And I’m like, I have like very few teenagers in my feed. Really customizes the algorithm like really adapts to what you’re interested in.
So my thoughts are everyone who’s on Instagram. Well, first of all, I feel like most everyone, that’s a broad generalization, but I feel like most business owners should be on Instagram. And I feel like you should be doing reels. Because one video content is being prioritized on every platform, Facebook, Twitter, even LinkedIn has like LinkedIn stories now. Like, and I know Instagram, I know that. Yeah.
I get like a little note, I log into LinkedIn, like two or three times a week. And the last few times I’ve logged in, it’s like David shared a story. And I’m like, Oh, that’s nice. I don’t want to watch it. Don’t like, I’m not into that. But Instagram. I know. I mean, I don’t know. But from what I’ve heard, they prioritize any like new feature, like users that use their new stickers, their new story features like, Oh, you can do this in stories.
Now, you can do reels. Now you can, that they prioritize those post. So it’s just going to help your account. And so I think it’s only going to benefit you and your account, if you lean into those new features. And I know always at first, like, especially with reels. I feel like people were like, so like, like literally from a technical standpoint, how do I use this, but also from like a strategy or content?
Like, how do I use it? Like, what is this supposed to do? What’s it supposed to look like? Like I’m very, there’s a lot of hesitation. And I feel like I’m kind of a what they call it an early adapter in like marketing when it’s like someone who just is like, ooh, the new thing Okay, I’m gonna try it out, buy it whatever. Like I’m not one that’s like, Oh, I’m gonna wait a year to like do a real and so I think it only benefits people to do reels in it.
I think I know you have said that you’ve since you’ve started doing written not just not that you’ve just started reels. Since you started reels, it’s really helped your account. So I’d love to hear like if you want to share, like how it’s benefited you. Yeah,
Ashley Kitchens
it hasn’t it’s been more recent, because I was hesitant, because what I was doing is I was I was doing tic tocs and repurposing them putting them on reels. But I found that that wasn’t like super helpful and I was still like hesitant to do reels. But the past couple weeks, I’ve committed to trying to do them more often. And for some reason, like once I do one I’m kind of in the mood to do another one in the mood to do another one.
So it’s kind of easy to like, just throw them all together, like in a few hours to bash them out for the week or the month or whatever. And I have found the past few weeks of doing rails more consistently and by by consistently I mean like three to five a week. Like my account has grown a tremendous amount.
My engagement has grown a lot which I was like okay, well maybe there is something to this. So I feel like that’s kind of propelling me forward. It’s like I’m seeing you know, some results from putting in some work here and it’s kind of paying off
Jessica Freeman
Yeah, yeah. And that is the kind of bummer part what you mentioned about like, I also used to repurpose tiktoks, for reals. And then Instagram kind of was like, hmm, if we see Tick Tock watermarks on your videos, like we’re not going to show them as much. And I was like, well, that’s kind of sucky. Like, we’re still using your feature. Like we’re still uploading. So I don’t know why it has to. Why do you have to be like that.
But I also used to do that. And now that’s kind of, there’s workarounds, but it’s complicated. And it decreases the quality and like all that crappy stuff. So I know like you do both. And I do both. So if anyone’s curious if they should do both? Yeah, I would actually like to know your thoughts on this. So I do both reels and tick tock, I will say I’m much more consistent on reels just because Instagram as a whole is like my kind of main platform Tiktok I feel like I’m still experimenting with like, I feel like I haven’t seen a lot of traction on it personally.
But I don’t want to give up on it. And so I’m still kind of trying to like find my groove over there. I still think it’s really fun, just like reels. But right now, I had a I had a video go viral last year, and it got over like a million likes. But it was not a business video, it was it was a video about how my husband and I don’t share blankets, like in bed, like to like two separate blankets.
And it like, went like crazy. And I got I mean, I didn’t get 1000s of followers. I got like hundreds of followers. But now I feel like now I have a bunch of followers who are not interested in my business stuff. So that’s kind of a bummer. But I’m, I’m not giving up on it. In fact, right now, while we’re recording this, I’m doing like a 30 day like series for business owners.
Like, I find that like when I give myself like parameters of like, I’m going to do this, like 30 day thing, like it helps me rather than just like, Oh, I’m just gonna, like, come up with content. Like, I don’t know, I’ll just post whenever I can, like, if I give myself like, Okay, I’m going to do this. That’ll help. So, yeah, if you But to answer your question about like, should you do both, or whatever, I think it really comes down to your time. And that’s gonna vary from person to person, like I do have the time I have the bandwidth to try both.
Like I said, I’m a lot more consistent on Instagram. I’m posting almost every day, not a real everyday but posting something on Instagram every single day, tick tock, usually outside of this 30 day series that I’m doing. I’m not posting every day. But so if you have the bandwidth, I think it’s worth trying, I definitely know for sure there are way more than just teenagers on the app. Like, the algorithm adapts to like what you’re interested in.
So I you know, and like it changes kind of like on a weekly basis, like you can get on it’s kind of what they call. I don’t know if you’ve heard this but it’s like oh, I’m on like cleaning Tick tock, or Yes, I’m on like, workout Tick Tock. So then like your feed becomes really full of like this one type of video. And so that’s kind of the fun part is like what you’re interested in, if you like this type of video, then you’ll start seeing more of that in your feet and like I followed some dieticians because I see like some of you are over on tik tok.
So I’ve like followed you and some others that I know over there. So then I have like dieticians and like nutrition things in my feed every once in a while. So I think it’s really worth at least trying if you have the bandwidth. If you don’t have the bandwidth, I don’t think it’s going to make or break your business. Like I would say really lean into like Instagram and reals.
Like if you already have a platform there or if you’re like, I’m just learning the ropes of Instagram. I’m like trying to be consistent there. Like that’s another thing that like I already have the consistency and the strategy for Instagram. So it’s not like I’m trying to learn Instagram, and learn tic Tock at the same time. That’s a good point, actually. Yeah, so like, I think it comes down to that, like what do you have the bandwidth for?
Do you feel you know, stable on Instagram, like, cool, I can like I know what I’m doing here and all that kind of fun stuff. don’t overwhelm yourself, but I would not write off tik tok. Just because we wanted just teenagers. Have you gotten any? Have you seen any like traction from tik tok? Like clients or email subscribers or anything like that.
Ashley Kitchens
Yeah, I’ve actually gotten several clients from tik tok, which is nice. I wasn’t anticipating that. Yeah. But I did something similar to you did back about six, eight months ago, I kind of I was like, Alright, I’m gonna consistently post on Tick Tock. It was like 60 days, and I did, and I got a lot of traction from that.
But I also had more bandwidth back then, right now my attention is kind of going towards reals, because I feel like it’s kind of helping with engagement and grow. Yeah, account and meeting new, amazing people. So I feel like I definitely saw the fruits of my labor there. It’s a little bit more inconsistent now. But it definitely paid off. And I was consistent. Yeah, well, that’s
Jessica Freeman
awesome. See, and that’s what I like is you can start something or try something and just say, like, I’m going to try this for 30 days, or 60 days. Like, I’m going to try blogging for 30 days, or, I mean, that would be 30 days of blogging would be a lot if you’re posting every day, but like, I feel like sometimes people are like, Oh, I don’t want to start blogging, or I don’t want to start Tick Tock or reels or whatever.
Because then I have to do it every day forever for the rest of my life. I’m like, yeah, try it, like, do it for a few months. If you don’t see a payoff, then stop doing it. Like, yeah, you know, like, no one’s really gonna like notice, because we are always more aware of our own content and our own, like, whatever we’re doing more than other people. So like, if you stopped doing reels, I might, like on a random Tuesday be like, Ashley hasn’t been in my feed for a little while doing reels.
And then like, that will be it. Like, I’m not gonna be like, how dare Ashley stop doing nails? Me and she couldn’t keep up. That sucks. Like, I’m not gonna say anything like that. So it’s just like, okay, like, I don’t care, I might check in on you and be like, hey, Ashley, you okay? Rios, but, you know, the normal people that we just follow and might not have like, a relationship with and they’re like, okay, you know, sometimes I go through like my, who I’m following and like, you know, weed that out.
And sometimes I’m like, Hey, I, I followed up they haven’t posted in a long time. And I like totally forgot about her. And then I go look, and I’m like, Oh, yeah, they haven’t posted in six months. Like, yeah, maybe they stopped doing Instagram or whatever. So I think trying really trying to talk give it a shot for a few months and seeing how pays off. Those are my thoughts.
Ashley Kitchens
Yeah, I have a question. Yeah. about like, because you mentioned kind of your blanket story of how that went viral. But it wasn’t necessarily like business related. So I’m curious because I, I have found that there are posts not related to or like reels or Tiktok not played my business that ended up like going viral.
But how do you maybe work on I guess, figure out your messaging? like making sure that you are like putting your brand’s message into like a short like seven second or 22nd video and get it? Yeah, I guess to your audience.
Jessica Freeman
So I think one thing is some people try to fit too much into like a reel or tik tok. Like, I don’t think reels are like necessarily the place where it’s like, here are 10 tips for like, if I tried to be like 10 tips for your website and one reel people are like, it’s gonna be too too crazy now like something for you.
Like, what an example for you that I think would be easier just because it’s like, easier to digest. Pun intended, is like, you know, dinner ideas like taco salad or like this in lendable, blah, blah, blah, like all these things, like, okay, that’s like, very easy to like, read through whatever, me giving 10 SEO Tips is, is a lot. So I think really like okay, for one that could give you more reels ideas, with like, okay, so maybe instead of 10, I can do like two or three and each.
And then kind of what is your, what’s your overall like, brand message, like if you had to sum that up in like five or six words, and then just reinforce that, like, at the if you can, it could be at the end of the reel, or it could be in the caption? You know, so like, if it was for you, if it was like, I’m just gonna make something up, like, I know you already have a message. Like if it was like nutrition is easy, then you could be like, here’s three dinner ideas.
And then at the end, like nutrition is easy, like, it’s just like the text on the screen. And then in the caption you can talk about like, these are, you know, nutrition is easy. Here’s like three ideas that aren’t complicated. You can do these in like 20 minutes or less, or these are three ingredients or you know, like whatever. So, I think Coming up with some kind of short little phrase or tagline that you can incorporate doesn’t have to be in every single video.
But I think trying to kind of reinforce that in most of your videos or in the captions, I think would be good. And for, like you mentioned, videos that are maybe off topic, like more personal or fun. I think those are still good. Because we we like to relate to people. And so yes, a video about like, going to get donuts, or you’re working your workout this afternoon or whatever, like it’s a little more personal, but we get to know you a little more.
It may not have the reach as like the booth five dinner ideas, save reshare whatever I may not save or reshare like the personal video of you, but I might engage with you more. Or I might be like, oh, like Ashley seems really fun. Like, she has dogs and she gets doughnuts and can you tell I watch your stuff?
You know, so I think those are like, we still want to know the person behind the brand. So I think adding those in it doesn’t necessarily have to be like, always on brand, because then it’s kind of like, Who are you as like a person? Yeah,
Ashley Kitchens
so that’s actually a really good point that I was gonna
Jessica Freeman
say, especially as dietitians, working with your clients, that’s a very vulnerable thing that they’re kind of going through and so they want to feel safe. And like, okay, Ashley is someone that I can relate to, she seems nice and approachable. I feel like we have stuff in common like great. This feels like a good decision rather than like, I mean, I know Ashley knows her stuff, but I don’t know she’s nice.
She is approachable, I don’t really know who I’m working with. So I think that’s, you know, another added benefit just adding in those little bits of our personality or personal life. Yeah,
Ashley Kitchens
I like that. Yeah, making like sort of relatable lifestyle homes. And then I like what you said about like, you talk about the SEO, like maybe keeping the messaging simple, because like, you’re such an expert in that area. like it’d be nothing for you, you know, 10 things. But someone like me, I’d be like, Oh, my goodness, please just hold on. I think that’s kind of going back to the basics almost. But like really simplifying it and not complicating it.
Jessica Freeman
Okay, I like Yeah, yeah. So and like I said, that could give you more ideas, instead of having to like cram a bunch of stuff into one thing like, yes, how could you? Like for me, I could separate the SEO into like, SEO for images, SEO for blog posts, SEO for pages, like, Well, you know, whatever. So think about like, Okay, if I’m doing these 10 tips for runners, or for plant based nutrition, or for like moms, whatever, like, Okay, how can I break these up into like, categories of like, whatever.
And you can also kind of cross promote, because you could say, like, hey, like, if you scroll back in my feed my last reel, I talked about XYZ, like I know, you have probably have questions about this. So like for you, if you’re doing meal ideas, you can be like, hey, PS, there’s other reels with more ideas.
Yeah, so that keeps people who are going through your content. And then they if they’re not already following you, they’re like, Oh, so like, she talks about this a lot. So I like great. I want more dinner ideas. I’m going to start following her. So this was fun. I know that we both like reels and tic tocs. So I’m happy we got to chat
Ashley Kitchens
about this. Yeah, me too. I like learning more about them. And it was to kind of get your input on some of that stuff, though. Yeah, appreciate it.
Jessica Freeman
Well, before we wrap up, so we can go watch your reels and your tic tocs. Can you share what your
Ashley Kitchens
handles are on those platforms. My handle on Instagram is plant centered nutrition. And then on Tick tock, it’s plant centered prep.
Jessica Freeman
Awesome. I will link to those in the show notes so you guys can go check out Ashley and all her fun reels because she does. She’s very fun in her videos so and they have really great ideas. So be sure to check those out. But thanks for being here.
Ashley Kitchens
Thanks for having me.
