[00:00:00] Dave Polykoff: Welcome to another episode of personal brand blueprint. I am Dave Polykoff, your favorite personal brand consultant, helping you crafting your personal brand messaging and amplify that through consistent content online. If you want to check out how to work with me directly, go to Dave poly cough.
[00:00:16] com, or we can book your free consultation on how to launch, grow, and monetize your personal brand today. On today's episode, we have David Griffith, CEO of content creation Academy. Today we're chatting with David about how we can find our authentic voice and share our stories in order to help us grow and monetize our personal brands.
[00:00:35] So David, welcome to the show.
[00:00:38] David Griffiths: so much for having me. I'm looking forward to it.
[00:00:41] Dave Polykoff: Absolutely. And wonderful name. Of course, as David's always like to stick together. So let's start off with the, uh, the big question is what do you do?
[00:00:51] David Griffiths: What do I do? I help, uh, content creators, particularly a lot of faith based content creators, [00:01:00] also learn how to use social media to connect with the people they want to serve in a way that is authentic.
[00:01:10] Dave Polykoff: So that's the important part. I think authenticity is the keyword we'll be focusing on today. So you mentioned kind of also another keyword in there. Um, you know, faith based creators kind of walk us through who's, who's the kind of the ideal person that you're working with? What does that paint the picture for us of, um, who, who typically uses your services?
[00:01:29] David Griffiths: Um, it's often someone who, uh, is motivated, uh, like I see it as someone who feels drawn as a calling to serve people with what it is that they do. And, um, by and large, I think that people often driven that way, maybe they would love to do whatever it is that they do, even if they didn't get paid, but they need to get paid to make a living.
[00:01:55] So it's, um, really been trying to connect that [00:02:00] business side of it to that, um, mission side. or ministry side of things. And so I have a lot of coaches, um, therapists or some online pastors, um, some people in different kinds of spaces that then want to create, especially online, like a group coaching program, that kind of situation.
[00:02:28] That's, um, a lot of the people who I have.
[00:02:32] Dave Polykoff: Do you find that You know, you mentioned a few different people there from pastors to like coaches, consultants, do you find that there's a correlation behind the, we'll say like connection to their audience based on where they're coming from? Is there a stronger, um, like empathy or desire to really promote a message coming from more faith [00:03:00] based?
[00:03:00] I'll say individuals, then those are maybe coming more from just like, you know, the founder of a, an ad agency or something like that.
[00:03:08] David Griffiths: Got you. Yes. Um, for me, it's some people find it being faith based but other people find it just in terms of a mission or a purpose. So, it's if someone just said, hey, yeah, I wanna figure out a way to have a a good, viable business. Um I do a good job of this one activity. It's Let me figure out how to monetize it.
[00:03:35] There's that kind of approach versus someone who feels like in their heart, you know what, what I have was meant to help people like this. Let me, let me, let me figure out how I can create a system that allows me to do that. So, um, I do see a difference because there seems to be a stronger connection to what it is that they actually [00:04:00] do.
[00:04:00] Um, And, um, although we can pivot, even if we do have that kind of feeling, but sometimes people really feel like I have to figure this thing out because this is what I was meant to do. You know what I mean?
[00:04:15] Dave Polykoff: And for those people, what's typically the problem they have that they're coming to you to solve? What is the, what's the big problems you're solving for them?
[00:04:24] David Griffiths: Someone told them that social media is about them telling the world about how great they are, as opposed to them solving a problem for someone else and making sure that that person knows, Hey. You have this problem? This is the place to come for solutions to your problem. So I really think it's more so people who've learned to be focused on themselves versus focused on the solution or the problem that they're solving.
[00:04:54] Dave Polykoff: Um, and so why is that such an important? Problem to solve, you know, I [00:05:00] think you said people need to make money. And so they're very, in that way, it's, it's a bit already selfish and they're kind of in that mindset. Why is it important that people are figuring out how to kind of reverse that algorithm of not just about you, it's about, you know, your client.
[00:05:16] David Griffiths: Literally the algorithm wants you to succeed. A lot of people think it doesn't, but the algorithm wants you to succeed. It wants you to create some content that's going to keep people's eyeballs on it for as long as possible. But what happens is if you create a piece of content and someone watches the first couple seconds and they disappear.
[00:05:38] Then the algorithm doesn't want to send that out to more people to have the same experience. It actually wants to send it out to people that at least watch 75 percent of what it is that you posted and then better yet if you can get people to watch the whole thing. Or to watch the whole thing more than once, oh, then it's really going to promote it to people because it's already seen that it's effective in its objective of getting [00:06:00] people to stay on the platform as long as possible.
[00:06:03] So since that's its objective, that's why it's important for us to figure out the pain point or the problem that we're solving for the viewer. That way, um, they will stay on our content as long as possible. And then the algorithm will promote our stuff. As much as possible.
[00:06:23] Dave Polykoff: Now, how did you get. Into this space. I mean, social media has had its, its growth over the last year on 20 plus years, but it seems you've kind of found like your niche within that walk us through, how, how did you get into specifically social media for faith based individuals and helping them craft and promote their voice?
[00:06:44] David Griffiths: question. I was a gospel recording artist. And, uh, I was told by the marketing gurus. First, um, okay, well, you need to develop your fan base. So, you know, start getting emails at your [00:07:00] concerts. And then after some time, when social media came out, they were like, well, what you really need to do is get people to follow you on social media.
[00:07:08] So for 13 years, I was on YouTube. And I was trying my best, but I got maybe a hundred, 120 followers for all that time. And so, um, I was trying to do it for the sake of me being a gospel recording artist, but I wasn't doing so well. Good
[00:07:30] Dave Polykoff: And then, so how, what are some of the tactics then that you've used in order to help your personal brand grow and attract and convince and convert an audience? Where people go, okay, I trust in David to provide those services. Is there a technique that has proven to be show more ROI than the other ones?
[00:07:53] David Griffiths: question. Well, the first thing that I did was Um, and I guess maybe I should put it in [00:08:00] the context of the story. So at the beginning of the pandemic, a really close friend of mine from high school, Jeff Vargas, who's a public speaker, he decided to start a Zoom for, um, a lot of his friends to get together and, uh, encourage one another as, you know, we couldn't do much else at that time as the world was shut down.
[00:08:19] And one of our friends, Kevin, his mother had just passed away, and so he asked me if I would sing a hymn every morning on Facebook. to help him get through this difficult season. And so, um, I said yes, but I quickly discovered that Kevin would be blessed by me singing, but people who never discovered me wouldn't find out about what I was doing because I would need to pay to advertise for them to discover me as I was on Facebook singing for Kevin.
[00:08:49] So then I did some research and I found out from an entrepreneur named Gary Vee, Gary Vaynerchuk, that the best place for organic growth on social media [00:09:00] was TikTok for business. And I thought TikTok, isn't that for dancing girls? I don't have that gift. So, um, however, I figured he knows something that I don't because he's successful already.
[00:09:16] So I got a coach and I laser beamed focus on the journey of growing on TikTok. And what this coach taught me, and I'm sharing to answer your question, the coach said, all right, pick eight, nine things that you're very passionate about and create content about them. And then watch and see what your audience teaches you.
[00:09:37] Your audience will teach you what it is they want from you. So I sang, you know, I have a master's in vocal performance. So, you know, I think song, eh, got a hundred views. Got a couple people to say, Oh, you have a nice voice, but nothing viral. Then I tried a couple trends. [00:10:00] The trends didn't do much. The first thing that I created that went viral was a very short, um, seven second video where I took my phone.
[00:10:13] I was at Chick fil A and I videotaped the long line of cars And then I turned it around and I said, what's so special about Chick fil A anyway? And that got like 17, 000 views in the first little bit. And so I learned from that a couple things that are helpful. One, it's easier to go viral shorter than it is longer.
[00:10:37] We talked about the fact of the algorithm wanting people to have watched, you know, at least 75 percent of your content. So, if you have a 7 second piece of content, it's a whole lot easier to get people to watch that whole thing than it is a 30, second piece of content. So, it was important for me to figure out how to get [00:11:00] people to watch.
[00:11:01] Hopefully till the end, but it's going to be a lot easier if it's a shorter piece of content. Then the second thing, that whole question was relatable to a lot of people. Okay, we all have to find somewhere to eat on our way home or at lunchtime. A lot of people go to fast food places. So what's so special about Chick fil A?
[00:11:17] It seems to have long lines and people are saying something about the customer service, but other people say, I don't know what's so special about it. So it was relatable. to a larger audience. So, something that's relatable and something that's short, um, I think those were two factors that I learned quickly.
[00:11:36] And then, after that, I continued trying some different things, and one of the things that I noticed was when I prayed, I got a lot of response. And some people would say amen, but people would DM me and, and ask me questions and for [00:12:00] advice and, or just express, you know, I haven't had anyone since my husband died to be able to pray with me.
[00:12:06] So I just really appreciate your videos. Thank you so much. Even to this day, I get video, I get comments like that several times a week. So I, I thought, okay, my coach would say, my audience is teaching me, David, you can do this, these other things, but we'd like you to pray with us on a regular basis. And then my first video that went viral viral, like over a million views was when I took the phone, I put it on the stand and I spoke to myself the way that I wish someone would speak to me and encourage myself.
[00:12:44] So I said. Hey, wait, don't scroll. I want to say something. Don't quit. Don't quit. And then I went in and I talked about why you shouldn't quit. What it is that happens when [00:13:00] you quit and, you know, you could be just about to see something special happen, but you're never going to see that if you quit, and I I added, you know, some emotion and some even some scripture to it.
[00:13:12] And that had over a million views. And I think it was because it was authentic. It was from my heart. And I was speaking to myself like a one on one conversation. Um, what I already know, someone in my position, or me six months ago, could really benefit from. And so I made a practice to do that on a regular basis.
[00:13:37] And so between the Content that was relatable and the content that was encouraging. I started to build a large social media audience
[00:13:48] Dave Polykoff: I love this exact case study. Cause I feel like I kind of want to focus on this a little bit because not only for the fact that it did really well, but I feel like there were so many elements to. The [00:14:00] format of that post that helped it do well. One of which is, well, one, let's start with what was the inspiration?
[00:14:09] Y'all obviously content creation and ideation is a difficult thing for a lot of people. They don't know what to talk about. What was the inspiration for this post specifically? How did you come up with the idea of, you know what, this is something I need to share with my audience.
[00:14:25] David Griffiths: because honestly, I thought to myself like the, what am I feeling? I'm going through, like, I'm an intense person. And so I'm going to, I'm going to do a lot to try to accomplish my goal. But imagine, you know, for me, it's like, well, imagine what everyone else is feeling like. We're trying to be heard out here.
[00:14:49] We're trying, you know, we're trying to get noticed and it's, it's a lot of work. It's difficult. You know what I mean? I got a coach. Not everyone can afford to get a coach or not. Everyone knows like, Oh, you [00:15:00] really should. There are coaches that you can get to help you. And, and so it was really what I was experiencing emotionally that allowed me to find good content.
[00:15:12] I really think that that's key because. Um, one of the models that people describe in terms of you're creating your business is serving the person who you were last year, right? It works really well because you know, that avatar really well, you know, their desires and aspirations, you know, their emotions, you know, their disappointments and what really keeps them up late at night.
[00:15:35] And so being able to speak from my heart, something that I knew really well, that was where that came from. It was authentic and it was real to me, my
[00:15:44] Dave Polykoff: Yeah. I love that concept of almost, you know, you turn the camera to yourself and you can see yourself in the camera. So you literally are. Speaking to yourself and just putting yourself in the mindset of, okay, pretend this is me last year, five years [00:16:00] ago, three chapters back. What would I say to that person that would help them get to the next chapter, get through the next month?
[00:16:07] Um, I think it's a really genuine, we talking about how to find your voice. Be authentic. What, when you were kind of giving that message, is that something that you prepared ahead of time? Or was this something you just press record and you were just, whatever was coming through you at the moment is what was captured.
[00:16:26] David Griffiths: Whatever was coming through me at the moment and this is something where I try to encourage my Let me say this I try to encourage my students to do what works best for them some students I Try to get three things. Okay, what's gonna be your hook? How are you gonna get people's attention at the beginning?
[00:16:47] What are you gonna ask people to do at the end? You're called action then in the middle you What's the story you're going to share or what's the value you're going to share? So some people share, [00:17:00] you know, um, uh, I'm sorry, I, I, I need a better, I had an idea come to me, but it's, it's not good for our show.
[00:17:09] Um, but like, let's say, um, let's say your, your stomach's upset. Like, um, Hey, is your stomach growling? Here's three tips to make your stomach feel better. Right. And so the value would be the three tips. Then the call to action might be, if you'd like my guide to fight indigestion, just comment the word, um, heal, and we'll be sure to send that out to you.
[00:17:31] So having what you're gonna say to get people's attention and what you're gonna ask them to do at the end is pivotal. And I think knowing what the story is that you want to tell in the mid middle or the value, and then I like to do it as many times as I need to to get it right, because when I'm feeling something.
[00:17:50] And I'll be honest with you. There are evenings where I just feel like I'm, I'm heavy feeling my emotional center. I will record eight or 10 [00:18:00] videos because I know like I'm whatever that is. It's in alignment. And let me go with it. Hmm.
[00:18:10] Dave Polykoff: being okay with recording a few different takes on something, there's this concept. Well, when I've recorded, when I record content. I'll say at one time and then I'll think, Oh yeah, it'll be better if I phrase it this way, or, Oh, this makes me think of an example, a case study or something.
[00:18:27] Let me throw that in there now. So the first time you do it is really just you kind of working out what language you want to use. And then over time, it's similar to like a lot of movies that have people who do improv in the scene and they'll figure out kind of what's funny and what's working based on maybe like the set's reaction to what they said.
[00:18:45] And so a lot of times what you see in movies. It's improv, but that's like take number six because they found what was funny on take number six Um, so yeah similar to creating your own content Yeah, I think it's a good point here of like be okay with [00:19:00] with going through, you know Six rounds because by that sixth take you know what you're gonna say and you also know how you're gonna say it I feel like you know where to put the emphasis What when you're saying things so I love that and You mentioned two important things here to call to action.
[00:19:14] I'm sorry, hook and call to action. And in your video, you mentioned that you said, Hey, stop scrolling. Let me talk to you for a second. Was that a conscious thing? Or, and at the time, like, did you know about hooks at the time? And you were consciously thinking of that? Or is that something that just, maybe you were like, Hmm, I wonder why this did better.
[00:19:33] And you realized, Oh, wait, I put a hook in the beginning.
[00:19:38] David Griffiths: Yeah. The coach had a little mini course before he gave you your personalized recommendations and he talked about the importance of getting people's attention. So that's where that came from.
[00:19:49] Dave Polykoff: Sure. Um, and so while you were for this sake. You were kind of speaking your truth. This is authentic. You, [00:20:00] um, I said, you mentioned, you kind of put, I think a prayer in there as well. These are all things that are genuine and true to you. Again, you're speaking to yourself, but clearly it seemed tens of hundreds of thousands of people also resonated with it very, very well.
[00:20:19] Can you kind of speak to how do we find that connection of, you know, You know, a lot of people are worried about putting themselves out there from a personal perspective, because they sometimes feel, am I the only one who thinks this? Am I the, am I the only weird person in the world that has this quirk or whatever?
[00:20:35] But then we've, I think a lot of times, especially on Tik TOK, you realize that, wow, there actually is this entire community of people. Who resonate with what I'm saying or resonate with my quirks. Can you walk us through, like, how do we get over that fear of really showing up authentically and knowing that there's going to be an audience somewhere out there that will resonate with what we're saying.
[00:20:58] David Griffiths: So let me give a, [00:21:00] a combo pack here. What I want, want your audience to do is to start celebrating the small wins, just celebrate a win. So that means I'm celebrating. If I have. Um, three views. I'm, I'm like, I got three views. Let's go. I'm celebrating it because what happens is the energy that I develop when I celebrate each and everything that's happening allows me to stay motivated and keep momentum going forward.
[00:21:28] And sometimes it's not going to be the first thing you do, but the fact that you keep in that motivated. position you're going to make another piece of content another one and then you're going to stumble across something that's going to be major that's going to blow up and add thousands of followers so um i think it's important to celebrate the um the individual the little things the little wins um please rephrase your question again because there was a another part of it that i want to make sure i'm not missing
[00:21:58] Dave Polykoff: So [00:22:00] showing up authentically and being confident that it will be well received, that there'll be people out there that actually will resonate with what you're saying.
[00:22:07] David Griffiths: okay thank you so i went to um a a coaching conference in Southern California that Brendan, Brendan Bouchard put on. And he challenged us. He said, all right, I want you to go live and I want you to tell people what the benefit of coaching is. And, and, you know, just go ahead and, and, and just post it, not worry about it.
[00:22:33] Just go ahead and do it. Make a call to action at the end and say, Hey, I'm opening up three slots in my calendar for new clients. I did what he said, but here's the interesting thing as I'm talking and talking about the benefits of life coaching. I'm telling a story where I'm talking about the fact that when I was teaching middle school, the days were long.
[00:22:55] And I mean, my feet used to hurt. They used to [00:23:00] swell. The fact that I shared that little thing, like my feet swelling. Within an hour after posting the video, someone had reached out to me and then we ended up on a phone call. And I said to the guy, his name was Ron, I said, Ron, like, what was it like you, you like really quickly reached out to me.
[00:23:18] He said, well, when you talked about the feet swelling, that's happened to me. Each of us has unique experiences that happened to us that will be a trigger and someone else will be like, Oh yeah, I can relate to that. And that's actually what you want. You don't need everybody to respond to you. You don't need a million views.
[00:23:39] You just need the people who can resonate with that important thing that you're dealing with. And when you put yourself authentically out there, then that's when you have the opportunity for that authentic connection where they'll go, Oh, that happened to me too. I can relate to that.
[00:23:58] Dave Polykoff: That's interesting too, [00:24:00] because the feet swelling to my understanding doesn't correlate to your services. But it was just something that that person connected to. So it wasn't that it like. Made you look like more of an authority in the space or that you had, you were demonstrating skills or anything like that.
[00:24:18] It was strictly, I too dealt with that at a previous job. I feel more connected to you and I'm, that's kind of just bleeding into the trust that I have for your services that like, if we can connect in that level, then we must be able to connect on a, on a business level as well. So
[00:24:39] David Griffiths: he's, he's a faithful, uh, supporter of, of what I do. He is, uh, in my patreon.com. David Griffiths. He's there to this day. And, and so I, I think that's really important as you highlight that. It's not necessarily that it has to be related specifically to your offer. It's like, can the person relate to you?
[00:24:57] And so when I say that I'm a [00:25:00] faith-based, uh, social media strategist, um, the faith, lots of people have different faith journeys. I respect that. The fact that I say my faith journey is important to me, that says something about me that people relate to, regardless of whether they go to the same church or, you follow what I'm saying?
[00:25:21] So, sometimes it's your authenticity and what it teaches someone about you that allows them to know, like, and trust you enough to be interested in going further down the road with you.
[00:25:33] Dave Polykoff: have you found that certain, I know we talked about virality. But, uh, have you found that certain types of content help you achieve certain business goals over other ones? Like, do you approach different content with different objectives and just some types of content help move the sales needle? Some may help increase followers, et cetera.
[00:25:57] David Griffiths: Yes. So, [00:26:00] All right, so let me see if I, I want to make sure I answer this question well. So let's talk about Cadence. If today you said to me, Hey David, I'm, I'm, I'm wanting to start this Instagram account and I know in February I'm going to be releasing this new software. And I go, okay, great. So we have three months.
[00:26:22] So let's just start by you. Um, giving value on a regular basis and don't ask for hardly anything at the end other than a follow. Um, maybe you can ask for a comment. So, I'm looking to help you give value and not ask for much so that when someone comes to your page they'll say value, value, value. Oh, he asked something here about value value.
[00:26:49] Oh, okay. This guy really gives a lot of value. I think I'm going to subscribe because he's not selling me something every single email post. He's actually helping me and giving [00:27:00] me important valuable information. So I would say mid January, I would say as you're creating content at the end of your content, say, Hey, I got a special launch coming up next month.
[00:27:13] I'll be on the lookout for more info. Please follow for more content. Just like this. So, I'm having a season where I'm just building followers. And during this season, by the way, I will do content that has nothing to do with what my offer is, but it builds community. For example, one that I like to do is, Hey, quick question.
[00:27:34] What's your favorite kind of food? I'm trying to get to know my online family better. I love Korean food. Let me know in the comments. What's your favorite kind of food? Doing something like that, what I've found, is that it allows people, especially the eager people, who hear something and it resonates with them, to connect with you.
[00:27:52] And then you have this squad of, um, I'll call them like the special, special connected [00:28:00] people. And you may ask questions like that and they respond first. They may end up starting to be the people who respond first to the other people. Content that you create because you created this more intimate connection with them It's important when you build community on your platform to have that you want real people Who are going to want to pay attention to what you're doing and who actually?
[00:28:25] Um see that you care about them and so they care about you and supporting you So that, that seems to be an important process. So when we get to February and we actually get time for your software to come out, then the week that is coming out, I would say every piece of content you're, you're saying, Hey, we have this wonderful, uh, software, get your free trial, come at the word trial and do it every single day for seven, eight, 10 days.
[00:28:53] Because your audience won't be upset with you because you gave them value regularly without asking them for much other than a follow [00:29:00] before that. So I would say the cadence based upon the season of what you're doing, if you're in a launch, that kind of stuff makes a lot of difference.
[00:29:10] Dave Polykoff: It's great example of kind of a go to market strategy for social. Can you walk us through maybe. A separate example, a real life example of one of your clients, someone you've worked with that. Maybe you had a similar example of going to market, or maybe they were just struggling with their social media to begin with, and what were the problems you saw, and then what were the problems that you helped them solve?
[00:29:34] David Griffiths: Okay, um, what, um, one of, one of my favorite clients, um, she was hired to be an online pastor.
[00:29:49] And, and, and honestly, it seemed that, you know, like she had this wonderful opportunity and it was up to her to make the [00:30:00] opportunity wonderful. You know what I'm saying? Right. So it's like, okay, here you have this position, but It didn't seem like there was a lot of infrastructure around making sure that she could be effective in what she was doing.
[00:30:13] And so I said, all right, well, let's develop your TikTok and your Instagram. Um, and so what we did is I gave her some of the concepts that we've been talking about earlier today. And, you know, she grew to over. 6, 000 followers in a short amount of time. Then on her Instagram, she didn't have two factor authentication on, and her account got hacked.
[00:30:46] So, she was discouraged at first, and, you know, we talked about it, and we just decided, we'll do a new account. And so, in the next several months, she got over 2, 000 followers in that account [00:31:00] that now she was starting. And, I think The big thing for her was, she was a tech challenge individual. She just needed the support and then she needed to make sure that on a regular basis, she was making content for the people that she was looking to serve.
[00:31:18] And so the different subjects that she would talk about were based upon the people who she was looking to attract to her online community. So, um, that's an example of someone who did well with, um, um, Our support with her social media.
[00:31:35] Dave Polykoff: And for those who were interested in working with you, those who are faith based entrepreneurs, um, you know, coaches, consultants, that want to connect with you, learn a bit more about your services, uh, what should they know, and where should they go?
[00:31:50] David Griffiths: I would say, ask me a question. Uh, my email is David at content, creating academy. com David, a content creating academy. [00:32:00] com of course you can visit our website, content, creating academy. com, but, um, I would love to connect with you on social media on Instagram. I'm David, the digital creator and on Tik TOK, David Griffiths.
[00:32:13] Oh, seven. On Facebook, Orphan Helper. And on YouTube, David Griffiths Music.
[00:32:23] Dave Polykoff: That's all for today's episode of personal brand blueprint. A big thank you to David for being on today's show and walking us through how to find our authentic voice on social media to help us grow our personal brands. To learn more about how to launch, grow, and monetize your personal brand, make sure to subscribe to the personal brand blueprint podcast.
[00:32:41] Follow me, Dave Poff on LinkedIn as well as David as well. Uh, and check out, uh, dave poff.com, uh, where you can book a free consultation with me and learn about how we can work together one-on-one. Thank you and see you on the next episode of Personal Brand Blueprint.
