The Social Circus Online Social Butterfly

In this week's episode of the Social Circus, host Sarah Thomson delves into the most common mistakes businesses make with their Meta ads. As a digital marketing coach, Sarah sees these mistakes frequently and offers her expert insight into how they can be avoided, ensuring more effective allocation of advertising budgets.
Sarah starts by explaining the transition from Facebook ads to Meta ads, highlighting the various placement options such as Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network. She emphasizes the importance of having a clear advertising strategy and understanding what you are trying to achieve with your ads, especially for solopreneurs and small business owners.
Sarah further discusses the importance of timing and budget. She advises against rushing ads and endorses a planning period of 6 to 8 weeks to allow proper testing and optimization. By discussing the critical metrics such as cost per click (CPC) and cost per conversion (CVR), she stresses the significance of a realistic budget to achieve desired outcomes. Additionally, Sarah emphasizes the necessity of testing different creative aspects of ads to optimize performance, underscoring the unpredictability of user preferences.
Lastly, Sarah highlights the importance of audience targeting. Drawing from her experience, she advocates for using custom audiences and lookalike audiences in Meta's Ads Manager for better ad performance. She advises against generalized targeting and encourages businesses to refine their audience segments to cater to specific demographics effectively.
Key Takeaways:

Meta Ads Transition: Understanding the shift from Facebook ads to Meta ads and the comprehensive placement options.


Importance of Strategy: Why having a clear strategy is crucial for successful ad campaigns.


Effective Timing: The benefits of planning your ad campaigns well in advance.


Budget Considerations: Insights into how budget affects ad performance, including key metrics like CPC and CVR.

In this episode of the Social Circus, host Sarah Thomson welcomes the Search Queen, Sonja, an expert from the Search Republic, for an insightful discussion about SEO and digital marketing. Together, they delve into Sonja's inspiring business journey, her deep understanding of Google search, and the strong ethical convictions that underpin her company's success.
From her roots in traditional advertising to her evolution into a growth catalyst for businesses online, Sonja shares the motivations and experiences that shaped her agency. She articulates the importance of stripping away the industry jargon to connect with her clients and shares candid stories of industry malpractices that compelled her to start her own venture. A strong emphasis is placed on building trust with clients, especially those who have been jaded by past experiences with digital marketing agencies.

Sonja discusses her mission to empower business owners not only in sales but also by giving them the gift of time through her heart-centered business approach.


Sarah and Sonja explore how mindset can significantly impact the success of Google Ads campaigns.


A strong narrative unfolds around the ethics of business practices in digital marketing and the universal need for transparency and honesty.


Sonja touches upon the challenges of owning a business, from managing expectations to spearheading results-driven SEO strategies.

 
www.thesearchrepublic.com.au@‌the_search_republic@‌sonjathesearchqueen

In this episode, we welcome Amanda Louisa, a former corporate lawyer turned sustainability advocate. Amanda shares her inspiring journey from the grind of corporate law to discovering wellness through nervous system regulation and somatic experiencing therapies. Her story is all about resilience, self-discovery, and redefining success, particularly for women stuck in the "good girl" mold.
Amanda and I chat about the often-overlooked concept of feminine energy and how it plays a crucial role in successful entrepreneurship. She delves into her personal struggles and triumphs, emphasizing the need for authentic workplace well-being initiatives and flexible work rhythms that honor our natural energy cycles.
Key Takeaways:
Amanda's journey from high-stress corporate life to embracing wellness and feminine energy.
The importance of breaking free from the "good girl" conditioning to achieve sustainability in business and personal life.
Advocacy for nervous system regulation and somatic experiencing therapies as essential for mental health.
Emphasizing personalized work rhythms and strategic rest to boost creativity and productivity.
Notable Quotes:
"As soon as I hit the professional world, I kind of abandoned [spiritual practices]." - Amanda Louisa
"Unless we're working with our body and the somatic side of our nervous system, we're only dealing with 20% of the solution." - Amanda Louisa
"If you think about males or people who have testosterone as the dominant hormone in their system, they have a linear output of energy...whereas women...have different hormonal outputs at different times in our cycle." - Amanda Louisa
"It took me so long to learn how I want to work." - Sarah Thomson
"The staff is taking that permission of I can do my work the way I want to do it and that's where success lies." - Amanda Louisa
Resources:
Instagram: Instagram (@theamandalouisa)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-louisa/
Website: Amanda Louisa Services — Amanda Louisa
Dive into the full episode for an in-depth exploration of these themes with Amanda and me. Stay tuned to the Social Circus for more thought-provoking conversations!

Welcome to an informative episode of the social circus, where host Sarah Thomson celebrates reaching over 100 episodes and two years of sharing valuable social media, mindset, and business insights. Today's focus is a practical guide on effectively growing your Instagram following, a question often posed to Sarah in her capacity as a business coach.
In this episode, Sarah emphasizes the importance of having a cohesive and appealing Instagram profile, likening it to an inviting storefront that captures passersby's attention. Following this, she delves into several growth tactics, including the strategic use of Instagram reels and hashtags, leveraging collaborations and competitions, and engaging directly with the audience through comments and DMs. These practices underscore the necessity of daily, authentic interaction on the platform for optimal growth and audience engagement.
Key Takeaways:

Instagram Profile as Your Storefront: Ensure your Instagram profile is inviting and clearly communicates your business offering to encourage new followers.


Leverage Reels: Utilize Instagram reels to reach a broader audience, as reels are pushed out beyond your existing followers.


Hashtag Strategy: Maximize your content visibility by using up to 30 relevant hashtags on every post.


Collaborations and Competitions: Collaborate with similar non-competing businesses and consider running competitions to attract followers from overlapping audiences.


Engage Authentically: Spend time daily engaging authentically with other accounts through comments and direct messages to increase visibility and grow your following organically.

Notable Quotes:

"Think about your Instagram profile as something similar to having a storefront."


"Reels are the only type of content on Instagram that the algorithm will push out beyond your existing followers."


"Instagram have told us that they consider 30 hashtags to be best practice."


"People who are similar in terms of maybe demographic psychographic information hang out together or know each other."


"There is no express elevator to success. You always have to take the stairs."

Resources:

The Blooming Bids Academy - Sarah's membership platform for business coaching 


Online Social Butterfly - Sarah's Instagram handle for profile reference


YouTube Channel: Online Social Butterfly - Find free tutorial videos by Sarah Thomson 

Continue your learning journey by tuning in to the full episode to gain more in-depth guidance and actionable strategies to grow your Instagram following. Don't miss out on more episodes filled with insight—subscribe and join us next time at the social circus!

In this episode of the Social Circus, Sarah Thomson talks about the tough times businesses go through when things slow down. She starts by chatting about how comparing yourself to others on social media can mess with your head, and she's all about staying grounded during both personal and business growth. Sarah's got a reassuring and practical tone, offering up a mix of encouragement and advice for entrepreneurs in a slow phase.
She dives into how economic and global events can affect consumer spending and business, leading to big decisions for business owners. Drawing from her own experience, Sarah shares loads of strategies to make the most of quiet times. She highlights the importance of keeping clients happy, organizing your business stuff, and setting up efficient systems. Plus, she sprinkles in real-life examples to make her advice relatable.
 
Key Takeaways:

The perception of success on social media is not always indicative of reality, and comparing one's journey to others can be detrimental.


Quiet periods in business can be utilized for productive tasks such as nurturing client relationships, organizing files, and systematizing operations.


Implementing systematic approaches to email management, lead tracking, and financial audits can improve business efficiency and prepare one for future growth.


Upskilling through reading, podcasts, online courses, and even revisiting past educational materials can be a valuable use of downtime.


Taking supplementary jobs or alternate income sources during tough times is a pragmatic and jud

In this episode of The Social Circus, host Sarah Thomson sits down with the astute Ee Zen Cha, a meticulous Online Business Manager. They take a deep dive into the intrinsic value of business systems and processes, exploring the challenges and triumphs of building a structured operational model in today's dynamic entrepreneurial environment. Ee Zen's knowledge in creating process efficiencies is a beacon for business owners seeking to streamline their workflow and scale their ventures.
With a background in ISO 9001 internal auditing and a master's degree in engineering, Ee Zen applies her methodical and process-oriented skills to assist business owners in optimizing their operations. As an Online Business Manager, she specializes in executing strategy objectives and systemizing business processes, enabling female entrepreneurs to scale and grow their businesses efficiently. Her insights are born from over 13 years of experience in process improvement, both in the corporate world and the online business landscape.