About Amanda Kohal: Amanda Kohal is the Founder & Digital Strategist of the Wolfe Co. Amanda provides business owners with access to reputable resources, community connections, and trusted guidance/education to start converting on social. After working as a brand marketing manager in corporate, Amanda ventured on her own, took her love of digital marketing, and ran with it. Amanda has turned many personal brands and service-based businesses into cash cows by helping clients earn $10k from just 2 Instagram stories, $77k from one DM, and $28K social media launches. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Amanda.
In this episode, Nancy and Amanda discuss the following:
- Secrets of turning a company into a cash cow.
- Tips on getting deeper into the funnel.
- Why selling on social is an important marketing channel.
- Applying strategies on different social media platforms.
- Why LinkedIn differs from other social media.
- How often to post on social media.
- Latest news on Google integration with AI.
Key Takeaways:
- I have never really focused on chasing the followers rather than on the community that was already there, who are a little bit deeper in the funnel to convert.
- So having a presence and a place where people can buy in the spaces that they’re now searching for is really important if you’re running a business online.
- LinkedIn is a great space for organic reach.
- Our InstaSite is a static grid of all the information that you would typically find on a website.
- When it comes to a space like TikTok Start, start with at least a 15-day sprint of daily posting to accelerate the algorithm.
“I created a unique approach to social and a strategy called Instasite. And it’s basically looking at social media platforms in two different categories. One category is those platforms that are good at achieving growth, visibility, and reach. And then those platforms that are good at nurturing and converting from the platforms that are driving that reach and visibility for you. So, when you pair them together, you now have more of a holistic approach to your strategy, as opposed to leaning too far into just focusing on growth or leaning too far on just doing heavy selling on your social. You’re now covering all your bases, bases of grow, connect, and convert.” – AMANDA
“ Google has now come out saying that they’re going to be integrating AI into their entire search experience. So one of the things that we’re going to start seeing is when you’re searching on Google, it’s going to become a little bit more visual. Like you would find on Instagram, TikTok, or even YouTube. So, if I’m typing in keywords like, social media strategy into Google, because, you know, I have content that is all about social media strategy. My actual posts from Instagram or TikTok are now going to show up in Google searches as opposed to it just simply being mostly text searches right now. So that’s another reason why getting into LinkedIn would be a good idea, especially if you’re posting content. Really optimize those keywords, your captions, and any of the text on the screen. So, in the future, the very near future, when people are searching topic-specific because maybe they’re not aware of you just yet, content can now show up on Google your actual posts.” – AMANDA
“Start with two platforms, one good for the reach and visibility, whatever that might be. I’ll give you a few examples and you can pick one from the category. We’ve got TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, or blogging in the visibility category, and then create yourself an Instasite, and mimic the experience of a website. There are over 200 examples out there right now. So, you can really drive traffic over to your Instasite, which then drives traffic to your website, checkout page, landing page, whatever it might be. You’re going to find a lot more success like that than spreading yourself so thin across all the platforms.” – AMANDA
Connect with Amanda Kohal:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandakohal/
- The Wolfe Co: https://www.thewolfe.co/
Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/
Connect with Nancy Calabrese:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/oneofakindsales
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/
- Website: https://oneofakindsales.com
- Phone: 908-879-2911
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/
- Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com
Voiceover: You’re listening to The Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.
Nancy Calabrese: Hi everyone, it’s Nancy Calabrese, and it’s time again for Conversational selling – the podcast where sales leaders and business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today. And it always starts with the human conversation! Today we’re speaking with Amanda Kohal, Founder & Digital Strategist of the Wolfe Co. Amanda provides business owners with access to reputable resources, community connections, and trusted guidance/education to start converting on social. After working as a brand marketing manager in corporate, Amanda ventured on her own and took her love of digital marketing and ran with it. From helping clients earn $10k from just 2 Instagram stories, $77k from one DM, and $28K social media launches, Amanda has turned many personal brands and service-based businesses into cash cows. Welcome to the show, Amanda! Let’s just dive in!
Amanda Kohal: Thank you, Nancy, and thank you for the great introduction. [1:23]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, well, okay. I want to talk about making my company into a cash cow. I mean, what’s the magic in what you do?
Amanda Kohal: I have a little bit of a unique approach to social media. So, since day one, I have never really focused on chasing the followers. I’ve always focused on the community that was already there, who are a little bit deeper in the funnel to convert. And when I speak about conversion, I’m of course talking about the monetary conversion for your business. But as well as converting folks into super fans of yours, as well as advocates for your brand and message to potentially refer you to others and to just support your content as a whole. [2:12]
Nancy Calabrese: But tell me more about that. How do you get deeper into the funnel?
Amanda Kohal: Yes. So, I created a unique approach to social and a strategy called the Instasite™️. And it’s basically looking at social media platforms in two different categories. One category is those platforms that are good at achieving growth, visibility, and reach. And then those platforms that are good at nurturing and converting from the platforms that are driving that reach and visibility for you. So, when you pair them together, you now have more of a holistic approach to your strategy, as opposed to leaning too far into just focusing on growth or leaning too far on just doing heavy selling on your social. You’re now covering all your bases, bases of grow, connect, and convert. [3:16]
Nancy Calabrese: So why is selling on social an important marketing channel?
Amanda Kohal: I mean, most folks now are using social media as their initial search platform. So, I think we’re at like 42% of people are going to either Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook groups first when they’re searching for a brand business or even a specific niche and topic over going to Google. So having that presence and a place where people can buy in the spaces that they’re now searching for is really, important if you’re running a business online. We can’t just simply rely on maybe somebody finding us over on Google. We need to now have some sort of a presence on various specific platforms that work for our businesses. [4:14]
Nancy Calabrese: Right, so is your model really geared towards companies that sell online?
Amanda Kohal: Yes, it is a conversion-based strategy. So, if you would like, I can break it down a little bit more to kind of paint a picture here of how it all works together. So, let’s go to the InstaSite piece. The entire strategy covers multiple social platforms. The name of it is just the InstaSite because it kind of makes sense for what we’re doing. So, with Instagram on its own, we start to treat it like a website because of the data I just shared with you. The fact that more people are going to social for their initial search for a brand or business. So why don’t we create that website experience, but over on Instagram? So, on your InstaSite, it’s a static grid of all the information that you would typically find on a website. You’ve got case studies; you’ve got extra resources; a summary of your services or products. You’ve got reviews and testimonials and the list kind of goes on. You’ve got this static grid and you are posting it once. It is designed to last you up to 18 months, sometimes longer, depending on your business model and how often you create new services or products. or if you’re going through a rebrand or whatever it might be. So, you set up this static grid and then you’re using other features on Instagram and other social media platforms to really drive traffic over to that grid as well as between your channels. So, on Instagram, when it comes to ongoing content, you’re really playing in the stories, which I have found in my experience for my own business, as well as for clients to be the highest selling space on social media because Instagram stories are only delivered to people who are already following you. [6:25] So automatically those folks are a little bit deeper into your brand story. They’re more familiar with you. And then in technical terms, they’re deeper in the funnel. So, positioning your services and offers in there, showing behind the scenes of your business, your process, and even your personality tends to convert higher than to an audience that is newer and more top of the funnel and isn’t quite as aware or familiar with your brand. So, for posting regularly in stories, you can talk about whatever it is that we want. And then if we pair the static Instasite™️grid or ongoing stories with a platform like TikTok, which is an algorithm in my opinion that is unmatched by any social media. We are now getting visibility and awareness over on TikTok and generally driving TikTok traffic over to our Instagram accounts. And the reason for this is that TikTok has done this brilliant thing where they’ve allowed you to link up your Instagram or your YouTube channel. If you’re using YouTube, directly to your TikTok profile. And it’s kind of become a natural behavior on TikTok. When you’re watching somebody’s videos, you go over to their TikTok profile, you start binging a few more TikTok videos, and then you naturally click on their Instagram icon, if they have it linked up, and now go over to their Instagram page and consume from there. What we’ve found with the Instasite™️ because it is the static grid, it’s typically 15 posts. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, but they’re very powerful posts that are hyper-focused on either growth connection or conversion, a call to action. [8:20]
Nancy Calabrese: Right.
Amanda Kohal: We’ve found that when people go over, they see the Instasite™️, the viewer-to-follower happens much faster because you have a bird’s eye view of the business and the content. So, within seconds you can decide without having to sift through tons and tons of content if this is a space for you or if it’s not a space for you. So the concept is to save business owners time because I know from my own creation and talking to fellow business owners, the number one thing that I kept hearing was “I’m so tired, I’m burnt out, I don’t know how to keep up with Instagram alone as one platform”, let alone maybe explore space like LinkedIn or Twitter or TikTok or YouTube or whatever it is because they’ve been so busy on this content creation hamster wheel, trying to keep up with whatever strategy a guru told them to instead of being in their business and looking for revenue-generating activities or creating content for spaces that actually circulate their content. [9:36]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow, so, okay, you know, you just mentioned it, but I was going to ask you, I didn’t hear LinkedIn in this. Do you use LinkedIn as a tool?
Amanda Kohal: Yeah, so I was just giving you an example of, you know, if you pair a platform that is good for traffic like TikTok with a platform that is good at nurturing and making Instasite, but TikTok or LinkedIn does fall under the traffic driving and discovery and reach platform category. It is such a great space for organic reach. I love the space. I personally have been using it as more of a presence play with posting content here and there, more focused on engagement than anything until I’m ready to fully go all in and start posting more on a regular basis. But with the presence play, I recommend everybody get a LinkedIn account because if you are searching for a specific person, a business, or a brand on Google when you type in those keywords, whatever it might be, LinkedIn profiles show up first out of all of the social media platforms. [11:05] And I believe the reason is that LinkedIn is deemed a little bit more credible. There’s quite a paper trail there. There are some receipts there. You can’t simply say you do something on LinkedIn without there being a timeline and a paper trail to follow. Whereas on Instagram, TikTok, and even Twitter, you can say you do anything. Whereas LinkedIn, you just can’t really do that. So even as a presence play, having a profile that is optimized is a great choice so that you’re showing up and you get a little bit more visibility on Google. And the other thing I want to mention with this is Google has now come out saying that they’re going to be integrating AI into their entire search experience. So one of the things that we’re [12:03]
Nancy Calabrese: Okay.
Amanda Kohal: going to start seeing is when you’re searching on Google, it’s going to become a little bit more visual. Like you would find on Instagram or TikTok or even YouTube. So, if I’m typing in keywords like, social media strategy into Google, because, you know, I have content that is all about social media strategy. My actual posts from Instagram or TikTok are now going to show up in Google searches as opposed to it just simply being mostly text searches right now. So that’s another reason why getting into LinkedIn would be a good idea, especially if you’re posting content. Really optimize those keywords, your captions, and any of the text on the screen. So, in the future, the very near future, when people are searching topic-specific because maybe they’re not aware of you just yet, content can now show up on Google your actual posts. [13:14]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow, when will that happen?
Amanda Kohal: I mean, given Google’s track record, I would say it’s probably going to happen this year. I know that they’ve been testing some things out. So, the first step is getting that presence and optimizing your bios on LinkedIn or whatever social media platforms you’re using and then deciding, okay, what is going to be the space that I create content for? The one space I create my primary content for. And now what other channels am I going to use to now repurpose that primary piece of content on? And as you go deeper and deeper and kind of build up some momentum as well as you get used to your own posting cadence, that’s when you can really start to layer on more and more platforms. I never recommend signing up for all of them. On day one, you really got to pick a couple. Get into a groove and then you can go from there, expand and explore new spaces. [14:24]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. How often do you recommend posting on social?
Amanda Kohal: It’s really more a matter of the creator’s capacity and being able to be consistent at that capacity, whether it is once a week you’re posting to LinkedIn twice a week, every single day, twice a day, whatever it might be, as long as the capacity that you can keep up with on an ongoing basis outside of any kind of accelerated posting sprints that you might do. Now, when it comes to a space like TikTok and maybe even the other social media platforms, I recommend for at least the first 15 days, you do one of that kinds of accelerated sprints and you commit to posting every single day for 15 days straight, just to show the, it’s really to show the algorithms that “Hey, I’m here, I’m taking this seriously, I’m going to show up. It might not be. every day for the rest of my time in this space. But I’m going to now find a cadence that works for me. But I want to, you know, get on the platform, come in hot, put my content out there, get a little momentum, and show the space that I’m here to play”. We’re going to be posting content in the near future, especially with TikTok, if that’s a space that your listeners want to explore or they’re already exploring. Start with that at least a 15-day sprint. Find a cadence then that works for you. That’s a few times a week. If you still want to do it every single day, it’s up to you and your capacity. And then as you start getting closer to sales cycles, you’ll repeat another 15-day sprint to really amp up the visibility of your messaging. [16:25]
Nancy Calabrese: Okay, and is there, do you have like any insight as to how long these posts should be?
Amanda Kohal: Well, that varies on each platform.
Nancy Calabrese: Mm-hmm.
Amanda Kohal: On TikTok right now, it seems that content that is over a minute long seems to be getting a lot more traction, whether that is in the format of a daily vlog where your voiceover is what… you’re doing in that day. If it’s a get ready with me, or if it’s an educational talking head, it seems to be that TikTok as well as looking for more enriched pieces of content as opposed to, you know, the seven-second trends and dancing that used to be really popular and used to get you a lot of visibility, but kind of left users at a dead end with a lot of creators. because they would create these short, quick posts, seven seconds long, eight seconds long, whatever it is. And then we’d be curious enough to go over to their profile, but there was nothing of substance there. There was no real reason to kind of stay in that space and continue to binge. So even TikTok is now looking at, I would say quote unquote, their version of longer-form content, because 60 seconds is not that. long. But in TikTok worlds, it is long. [18:04]
Nancy Calabrese: Interesting. It’s interesting. We could go on and on, Amanda. I’ve learned so much. So, if you had one takeaway you want to leave the audience with, what would that be?
Amanda Kohal: Start with two platforms, one that is good for the reach and visibility, whatever that might be. I’ll give you a few examples and you can pick one from the category. We’ve got TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, or blogging in the visibility category, and then create yourself an Instasite, mimic the experience of a website. There are over 200 examples out there right now. So, you can really drive traffic over to your Instasite, which then drives traffic to your website, checkout page, landing page, whatever it might be. You’re going to find a lot more success like that than spreading yourself so thin across all the platforms. [19:08]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow, wow, how can my people find you?
Amanda Kohal: You can find everything over on my Instagram page at www.thewolfe.co
Nancy Calabrese: Okay, everyone, did you hear that? Amanda, thank you so much for spending time with me. And I highly encourage everyone to check out Instasite™️. I know I’m going to do it when we’re done. Amanda, make it a great rest of the day. I hope you come back sometime when you have more information or more revelations on social media. [19:48]
Amanda Kohal: I would love that. Thank you for having me.
Nancy Calabrese: Okay, everyone, make it a great sales day again, and we’ll see you next time. [19:57]
