Nobody Panic - How to be Better at Social Media

Episode Date: April 6, 2021

Want to stop stressing over tweets and tiktok? Feel like you don’t know what to do with social media at all? Stevie and Tessa are NOT experts but Stevie used to be a social media consultant and they both have figured out a good, balanced (ish?) relationship with their online selves and have some tips that could help you have a bit of fun with it all. Want to support Nobody Panic? You can make a one-off donation at https://supporter.acast.com/nobodypanicRecorded and edited by Naomi Parnell for Plosive Productions.Photos by Marco Vittur, jingle by David Dobson.Follow Nobody Panic on Twitter @NobodyPanicPodSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/nobodypanic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Carriad. I'm Sarah. And we are the Weirdo's Book Club podcast. We are doing a very special live show as part of the London Podcast Festival. The date is Thursday, 11th of September. The time is 7pm and our special guest is the brilliant Alan Davies. Tickets from kingsplace.com. Single ladies, it's coming to London.

True on Saturday, the 13th of September. At the London Podcast Festival. The rumours are true, Saturday the 13th of September. At King's Place. Oh, that sounds like a date to me, Harriet. Oh, and welcome to Nobody Panic. I'm Stevie. I'm Dessa. Come on in, take a seat, take a load off. Relax. Tweet about it. Oh, what? Tweeting? Oh, God. I suppose I should. Do a TikTok dance. I don't know how. I don't get it. How are those children editing things so fast? Oh, what is Twitter? Oh, God. Oh, Lord. Welcome to the podcast.

Welcome to the podcast. Each week we do a different how-to to try and help ourselves and other people just do things, I guess, a bit better in life. And today is about social media. We won't be explaining how to be good at TikTok because, listen, that boat has sailed. We do not know. But we will be talking about Twitter and about Instagram and about how there's this new sort of attitude that even if your job in no way involves social. media that you're sort of pushed in that way by your company or that there's a feeling that you should be on it or that it feels like there's this whole community that you're not part of and you think, should I be out there playing with them? We had a nice email which I'm going to read a small bit of. This one is from Hannah who says hello and then she says that also that she likes the podcast, but she is concerned that Tessa and my partner would be a match made in heaven. Hello, let's get in touch. He too seems to be making a

ridiculous amount of things from copper piping and I've attached a shoe rack which cost him 65 pounds to make and I think the shoe rack looks incredible. Listen, I think it's a work of art. I wish him all the best with his, with his creations. Her ask is, I'm a teacher and the world of Twitter is apparently a beacon of teachers connecting and developing practice. For some reason, I just cannot get the hang of using Twitter professionally. I wondered if whether you had any tips on being successful on social media. I don't necessarily mean breaking the internet or getting the kind of like Stevie gets on her bread tweets, I just mean getting to the point where you're not just yelling into the ether. And yelling into the ether, I think, is a perfect way of how it can feel on the

internet when you really don't grasp what's going on and that horrible feeling of feeling that everyone else is having a good time here, or is it at least taking from this experience and you're not. Yeah, and I think there's this kind of feeling that, for example, everybody, everybody under 25 is amazing at TikTok. Everybody who's a millennial is amazing at Twitter. We're all digital natives guys. We know what we're doing. But actually, a lot of people feel a bit like,

well, I don't know what to do. I remember, like, I feel like that about Instagram, for example. If you are on social media, everyone's got maybe their one. So, like, my one is Twitter, because I just feel like I know what I'm doing. Whereas the others, I'm like, ah, yeah. So I think what we'll do with this episode is we'll definitely look at, you know, for absolute beginners, like, oh God, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to

even engage in this when everyone else needs to be talking to each other, like you said? And I'm just sort of shouting to my, essentially my mum that follows me. That's it. Like, what's the point? Straight through to just anybody who feels like they want to kind of, I don't know, understand it a bit more or like, just get, just have a bit more fun on it. And I think that's the thing. Because the fun is very difficult to have on anything that relies on numbers that tell you how you're doing and how that person's doing better than you? Like, it's very hard to just have fun, isn't it? When you're graded every single time you do anything. Do you want to hear my good theory about podcasts? Yeah. Yeah. Yes, please. My good theory is that part of the sort of

wild west of podcasts, which I truly love, is that like they are complete, they're free. You could make one right now in your bedroom, anybody could, and put it out. And the crucial thing is, you cannot see other people's download numbers. And I really, really think that is the reason that it feels like such a freeing and fun and safe space to like make things is because someone says, I have a podcast, someone else says I have a podcast. Someone has 10 downloads. Someone has a million. Like there's no, no one sort of takes their podcast down because it's not doing well because no one can see that. And I really, really think it's one of the very few places that we have that you are not constantly judged on how well something is doing. Like it can just be enjoyed for its own

sake rather than being like, oh, these are the numbers. And I think the numbers thing is what sends everybody insane. Because I think a big part of it is just feeling, and I feel like that sometimes, like, you'd be embarrassed, you'd be like, oh, no one liked that. Yeah, right? Why have we introduced that? Why have we, what's happened here that we say, like, oh, I only got 12 likes, so I took it down? Be like, you still thought it and liked it and thought it was interesting to say. Like, the fact that there's this, anyway, it's, this insane sense of external validation that I think is makes things nuts out there and is a really is a really really tough and and for kids I think going through it who have always lived with the internet like the internet was invented when we were

six form is like when I feel like Facebook arrived for us and like everyone had yeah social media kind of came into when we were in six forms to uni like I remember my first year of university the first first first time someone was like you've got to get Facebook and everyone was on Facebook and now obviously Facebook is like just purely for the over 60s right but it used to be the cool place. And before that it was Bebo. And it was very much, there wasn't the same sense of, it was very much, you know, you just put weird stuff out there and like made quizzes. And like it was, it had less of this like, who's liked it. It was more just, and I think that's, anyway, anyway, so much to unpack that we won't be going into here. Before we get in,

like we're chomping, we're chomping here. Let's do our, what adult thing we've done this week, which is what we do and we sort of say the most grown-up thing that we've done in case you've not listened to the podcast before. Go on, Tessa, hit me. Long time follows of the podcast will know. I have had these invisible braces in for so... Oh my God, do you still have them? Yes. It's a long time, guys. It's a really long time.

And I am... Listen, it's twofold. I am bad. No questions there. I'm bad. I lose them all the time and I don't wear them enough. But two, even people who are really good at it have said the process is way longer than they say at the beginning.

And when it starts and what has been happening to me for like a year is we've been moving one tooth, basically. It's not even the tooth I went about. The thing I went for is fixed long ago. But then when you start, because they're dentists and their perfectionist, they say, let's just, let's just, let's just. And then you keep let's justing forever. It's not costing me. They hate me because I paid up front. So they're not getting any more money out of me. Anyway, this is the adult thing. I have, and obviously this year, it's been very bad because obviously loads of the appointments been cancelled this year. I've been impossible to do it to do it to. I am on my very final, final pair, and I lost them.

And then I went to the appointment and they were like, okay, okay, we're just going to keep going with these because you're going to, we can move it, we can do it. You just keep doing it. You've got to like chew these things and you've got to wear this stuff. And in my head I was thinking, this isn't the right pair. Like this is number six and I've lost number seven. So there's only so far we can ever get here. And then I, and I was like, okay, I'll just have to accept that like that tooth is never going to move.

And then my mum was like, just get another one. And I was like, no, you can't. I lost it. And she's like, just tell them you lost it and get another one. And I was like, oh, yeah. Like, why am I so obsessed with like pretending I haven't messed up? Like, I messed up. So I just rang and I was like, hello, I messed up.

I've lost number seven. Please, can I have a replacement? And they were like, yeah, it costs 20 pounds and we'll send it to you in the post. And it was there like two days later. And I was like, okay. Okay. So that's the adult thing. is just is me owning up to my mistake rather than always trying to be like,

what's the sneakiest workaround I can do here? Honestly, at one point, I was like, I was trying to build myself a thing with string and like pull it forward. Oh my God. I can't actually cope with that. That's what, oh my God. Yes, no, no, don't ever do that. Just, anyway, God.

My other thing is really quick. Sincely explain. It's that we moved into a new flat. I decided to rather than what I normally do, which is just like, oh, I can't do, I don't know how to do those things. And then my partner will kind of just, for example, knows how to do the electric or knows how to like, and for some reason, I just stepped back quite a lot. I'm like, oh, I'll mess it up. But then I decided to step forward. And I was like, okay, what things could I do? And I was like, oh, yes. So I decided to take control

of when we saw problems in the flat contacting the property manager to be like, here are the problems. Can you please arrange for a plumber tour come? Can you please? Just little things. And then I'm like, I'm going to add to them. Like, there was a radiator that doesn't. work and I was sorting out all the radiators and I'd like put them all on the same thing and this radiator didn't come on and rather than be like ah this radiator didn't work I was like oh I'm stupid and I did the nozzle knobby thing wrong and then realized no so then like got in touch to the woman it's like I think the radiator's broken please my lady and they're like sending over a plumber I was like yay oh my god are you're going to bleed the radiators I don't think so they are they're

electric does that no they know yeah okay so I'm not doing that okay good to know Good to know. Don't bleed if you can't. Thanks. It's an ongoing process. If you don't need, don't bleed it. It's electrical. If you don't need, don't bleed because it's electrical.

I'll remember that in the future. And other top tips from my DIY store. That's what we say. If you try, you won't cry. Or like, if you just spend an hour learning, that's good. What's your DIY store called? No, I haven't got one. I think it's called yes, you can.

can. That's lovely. That is lovely. Let's get in here. Come on in. So let's actually use your, so let's use your new DIY shop. Yes, you can as a model. Great. Perfect. We'll start off and this, you know, many people listening will obviously be on social media and be absolutely fine with it. You can just enjoy, do you want to just sit back and enjoy this next section. And then we'll get on to kind of like improving your relationship. This is for beginners. This is for absolutely beginners. So you've got yes you can and you're like, okay, I do need to be on Twitter. What do you do first, Tessa? First of all, I'm going to take one step back from that to be like, I need to be on Twitter,

to be like, okay, why? And I would say, obviously, if you don't want to, please, you don't have to. But the world is moving in an increasingly online way. And I would say that even if you're like, I operate by word of mouth and people should just know my shop is good and all of these sort of things. I would say that like if you are trying to build a brand, you are trying to open a shop, or you are trying to do whatever, it is useful, at least like knowing the ropes of things like Twitter and Instagram and TikTok. maybe that, you know, if you were looking for something online or you were looking for something on Twitter and you search like keywords, the things that come up, you'll be like, oh, great, okay,

well, there they are, you know? There's the stuff. Yes, especially if you've got an online contingent to your business. So if you are, like, selling through an online shop or as well as your store, even like cafes and stuff in the area, people who are in the area on social media will be able to sort of find you. And it means that when people Google you, if your website, you know, there's all that stuff about like SEO and stuff, like where, if someone Googles your, your company name, are you the first

thing that comes up? Maybe not. But your, your social media, if you have social media, that helps with that. SEO stands for search engine optimization. And it means that like, if you type in DIY shop, Hampshire, it'll be high up in the Google hit list. You know, and that's what you obviously want. If people are searching for things, they don't know specifically to look for you, you'll be there. So that's just what SEO means. Yeah. Also, we're not social media managers or market. I don't know if that's not apparent from our, from our, from our authoritative tone. It's probably a really outdated term now. I know, I know. About sort of five or six years ago, we both worked. The online movement for like writing articles and things was absolutely SEO focused. It was constantly like, how can you get these words into a totally unrelated article in order to like boost the SEO optimization? SEO optimization. And so everything is moving at such speed on the internet that like those sort of things will probably become out of date very, very soon. But that is basically, all it's saying. It's like, can you just be out there? What is your, what's your shop window?

You know, what is your, what is your stuff? Yeah. If you have a DIY shop that people can then tweet, like, had an amazing experience in this DIY shop and then, you know, at you, people can find you. It's basically just moving word of mouth to word of phone, you know? Yes. Also, you need to be following and engaging with people that you genuinely want to to create, because you create your own little world there. So you, the idea of, well, a perfect example is about six, seven months ago. I was like, I hate Twitter. I just hate Twitter.

I hate, it's so depressing. It's so, it's all newsy stuff. It's all really like downbeat, just terrible stuff. And then I was like, hang on, I'm only seeing that because I've liked it. Obviously there'd been like a news that happens, a big, like, because of coronavirus, I'd been seeking out information about it. So it kept giving me. And so then the things I'd liked had obviously been then served to me again.

And it was those sort of Twitter handles that I don't even follow that are like, you know, doing that kind of scary, breaking news stuff. So it was like, oh, okay. So what I started doing was I just started liking anything that was silly. And now my Twitter feed is just full of like stupid jokes, memes, silly stuff. With the odd bit of news, sure. But it's like you do fully create. So if you are, for example, a teacher or you work for an education department and everyone's

like, you've got to be on social media. You work for it in a cafe. and you're like, I've got a DIY shop. So then just follow literally every single, obviously, every other DIY shop that you can get your hands on. But also people who are involved in the industry, people who are like, and also as well, they don't have to be boring. There'll be like loads of really fun, funny people talking about stuff that they've tried to do off Pinterest and then they've failed. Or, you know, if it's education stuff, you don't have to only tweet or only be interested in education stuff. You can be interested in harmless stuff that doesn't affect how you're seen in your industry.

So, for example, there's like that I really like him. He's like an anchor on Channel 4 News called Matt Frye. And I'm just obsessed with because he's just so intense. But his Twitter feed is like he retweets stuff about like fun animals sometimes. The thing is, is that the more that a company tries to be like professional working, following the rules, then the more actually unappealing they are. And that puts people off. And I think the more that you can just follow like normal people like doing your job.

And so like for Hannah's one, like, when she's just getting into teaching, like if you just if you go into the search bar of Twitter and you just put in the word teacher, there's like hashtag teacher five o'clock club, which seems to be people, teachers just saying nice things that they do at five o'clock to celebrate adorable. But then like, once you're in there, you get like hashtag PGCE and then you're like, okay, where does that take you? And I think just like, allow yourself to sort of go down the rabbit hole of like, okay, and admit, and at the beginning, you might be like, I don't get it. But like, just, just commit to sort of staying in there as long as you can and sort of allowing that rabbit hole to happen, much like how you go on Wikipedia

and then you like see an interesting blue line to like another totally unrelated thing and then you get there and then you get somewhere else and then you're like, now I'm learning about, you know, Guam. Absolutely, yeah. Take that as the same sort of thing of being like and then like being like, oh, okay, here's another hashtag like ed you Twitter and we're like, okay, did of fun. And again, like the numbers is gross, but like if you do, when you click on somebody's profile, if they have like seven followers and they are a grayed out, um, egg as their symbol and the

name has nodes of numbers in it, you're probably like, maybe not the greatest person to follow. If their name, if they have like a picture and a name and like several thousand followers, you're like, okay, this person like is, is regularly online and is like committed to being here and it's probably going to be doing some good stuff. So like, follow that person. So just like really, just follow loads of people and a sort of pick a hundred people. Like, and even though you're like, You don't need to create them. You don't need to be like, oh, I'm carefully boutique choosing, like, who I'm doing. Just like, get them in, get anybody in.

People that you like, it's the same with literally anything as well, isn't it? Like, you can, even things like books, people will go like, oh, I just don't like reading. But then it turns out that they don't like reading because they don't like reading the books that people, that they think that they should have to read. It was actually, they really like graphic novels or they really like, but they don't see that. So it's the same with social media. A lot of people kind of are like, oh, I don't like Instagram or I don't like Twitter. I don't like it. And it's like, no, but you don't like the thought of it.

You don't like, yeah. You haven't found your people yet. And your people are out here. Like, there is everything you can imagine out here. Like, there is communities of everything. Like, if there is a group of men who like, my little pony enough to, like, have a sort of subset of the internet, like, then of course your thing can also exist here. Like, there can be, you know, there can be people who just want to do key stage one. There are people who are doing stuff for A levels.

There are people who are like trying to do interactive learning. There was like whatever the interesting thing you're into, like it will be there and there will be people talking about it. So like hashtags are a good way to do it. Typing just the phrase in seeing anything else is tweeting about it. Like topics as well. The topics on Twitter see you can select topics that you're interested in. But also through that you will find like look at the people rather than the big broad like hashtags as well. So like for example, there was a tweet the other day that was about like it was a threat.

He was a year one teacher and he'd got his class to tell jokes. And then in the thread he like graded them. And the jokes were like ranging from like a joke to like a fish, a fish, a fish. It was like zero out of ten. Abigail did not even attempt a joke structure. Like it was really fun. No, Abigail scored really highly and it said like, not a joke, but very committed to the anti-comedy style. Oh yes.

Yes. And it was like, it was really sweet and funny. Yes. It has to be a real human element to social media. And also with TikTok, it's exactly the same. We've obviously talked about Twitter a lot, but with TikTok is exactly the same. I was really resistant to TikTok.

I was really like, it's just family of dancing with a glazed expression on their face, and I don't like dancing, so I don't understand what I'm doing. The point is, with TikTok, it is terrifyingly in tune to what you are scrolling through. So you basically, I found recently there's dog training TikTok, which is just like loads of people who give excellent tips on how to train dogs.

And I'm thinking about getting a dog, so it's like amazing. So I was just like good, I'm, there's like, recipe, there's cooking, there's beauty, there's carpentry as well, so you can like learn how to do DIY. So it's basically like there's anything that you want. So me saying like, oh, I don't like TikTok, I don't feel like it's, that's, that's, again, I haven't found the thing. And of course, as well, watching stuff and finding people is different to actually putting stuff out there. And that's the thing that people, like, doing your first tweet that isn't to retweet or isn't to reply, doing your first, filming a TikTok. But the thing is, is you don't have to, unless you are listening

and you want to grow your following, because of course, if you don't have anyone listening, then you do feel like you're just shouting into the ether. But the only way to do that is for you to, A, be comfortable there, which is why you have to find your people and create a place that you're quite interested to look at rather than just being like, oh, shit, it's this again,

and I don't know what to do with it. Well, then you're looking at the wrong people, if that's how long you feel. And also to take baby steps. So you don't have to, like, tweet every hour. Like, there are so many rules that when I used to, advise brands and stuff. It was so frustrating because they would change every five seconds. For example, Instagram, I think currently, they advise you to post like three times a day.

Now, any Instagram influencer, I am not one, but I do know many, they will tell you that that's probably too much and you're actually spamming people. So there is no rule. And also, I don't, I tweet much less now. Also, you are supposed to tweet and engage and the more that you engage on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, the more you get out of it. That's like the rule for all of it. because obviously they want to hold your attention as much as possible. That's very bad for your mental health. So I, for example, have stepped back from Twitter and I don't really tweet very often.

I only really tweet when I really have something silly that I think of, rather than just trying to think of fun things to tweet all the time, which is what I used to do. And my followers have absolutely gone insane, but it's got nothing to do. So it really does have anything to do with these rules that you might go online and go, how to be good at Twitter,

ignore them and just do what you feel comfortable doing, and then you will have a nice time. you will then, so like if you are constantly like replying to people, having little chats with people, then suddenly the thought of doing a tweet of filming a TikTok of, so uploading a TikTok, I think filming a TikTok makes me sound like I'm a grandma or posting an Instagram. It will feel less frightening because you've already been in this space and you've already kind of half done it. Like if you go if you're on Instagram, try doing like a story rather than a main post or try to see it as like Instagram is more like a scrapbook of your life rather than Twitter, which see. to be about like you have to have an opinion on everything. But there are lots, like we're saying, lots of subsets of those platforms where you don't have to have an opinion. You can just have fun. And you can be professional at the same time as having fun too.

It's exactly that. Like make stuff that you think is interesting and joyful and put it out and don't and don't do it for other people do it for you because you think it's fun. Unless you think, okay, so what's the point of my tweet? So am I trying to inform somebody about something interesting that I've found out. Or am I trying to entertain them? For example, a fun picture of my dog with his head in the bucket. Am I trying to spread the word about something really important

to me? Like, all of those things are like, it's like, well, unfortunately, we're all like editors and writers of our own magazines now. And distributors and PR and the brand. And an entire brand. But the more you get caught up in that, the more frightening it is, but it's not frightening because there's such a throwaway culture about social media, but if you do something wrong, you can just delete it and try again. No one's going to be like, you just deleted that very sort of fine tweet about a thing that you found out.

Like, no one cares. So you can get, there's no kind of wrong. You can just get stuff wrong and then change it. But yeah, I absolutely agree that you should do things for yourself. But the same time, don't, sometimes with social media, if you feel like you're just doing it for yourself

and then you don't really know why you've done it because it's like, well, I could just write this down or tell someone. Yeah, I understand. of like, I'm going to show, I'm going to show some people for your DIY shop. I want to spread the word about my DIY shop. So, okay, what about, what do I have in a shop? Can I say my suggestion for my DIY shop? I would begin by saying, hello, I'm new to Twitter. Here's my DIY shop. I'm happy to answer any, if you've got any questions, we'll always answer stuff. And I would definitely

not say like, hello, don't know what I'm doing here, but guess this is Twitter. Guess I should be here. There's a real energy of people being like, no one ever replies to me, but like, here I am. Everyone's like, yeah, get out of the party. Just be like, here I am. And this is my, and this is what I'm bringing. And I'm going to answer questions. You've found something to offer. You're going to answer.

That's what I'm going to like post. And then I thought I would say like, here we are in the shop. And I would do a little video in the shop, always keeping it under a minute. And I would say, like, today I thought I'd explain about screws. And then I would explain about screws. And I would tell people. I think a lovely person to follow is, you know, that guy with the, you've seen him on the memes. He's the guy with the massive onion, little old man with the massive onion.

Yes. His name is Gerald. Yes, I thought like that. His name is, I think it's Gerald Stafford, and he's on Twitter. And he's a great example of someone who's like, just putting out because he thinks people would like to see his massive onions. Like, and he's like, hope everyone's having a good day. Like, here's a marrow.

And you're like, thanks. And people are like, thank you. Like, I did need to see that big marrow. Like, sun's shining in the allotment today. Like, here's a blackbird. You're like, delicious. Thank you. So I think it's about being like, what would.

people like to see or what would I what have I learned today that's really interesting that I might be able to share with people like what something that people yeah if you're giving it has to be about like who am I giving this to and why um you're completely right me being like just put out things that are joyful be like no what do they for like why are you telling people just so that you feel like you're doing it right because there isn't really a right and a wrong way to do it but there is a better and a worse way to do it and so you and it always feels worse when you don't know why you've done the thing. But the, as well, you can lean on things like retweets. You know, you don't have to always be making your own stuff. You can, you can, if you find stuff elsewhere on the internet, then put

it up on Twitter to show people on Twitter because people haven't seen it. And, like, you know, jump on, like, there are hashtags and stuff that you can jump on with, like, TikTok as well, duetting with people and, like, stitching stuff rather than always being like, okay, what is my original piece of content that I'm going to. And it's all about trying things out, trying things out. And chatting to people that work in your industry, in your job. And also, even if you're not, you know, tweeting or on TikTok or on Instagram for an industry, you're just on it to try and like, you know, you're on it because everyone else is on it. You've got to then ask yourself, okay, so, but why am I on it?

Be honest. If you are on it because you're like, I want to have loads of followers and be an influencer, look, that's fine. You're not, no one's ever allowed to say that. But, yeah, be open to it and then just really dig down and be like, okay, what is it that I, rather than just being like, I want to be viral, be like, what is it I have to get? that I think is more interesting than not more or less interesting. Like, what's the most interesting thing about me that would make,

would people want to watch me? You know, like, what is it I have to get? Yeah. What is it I, what is I do that's interesting? And everyone has something. Absolutely. And also, you know, moving on from like, if you're not, you're not a beginner, like if you are, for example, a good, I'm a good example.

Like at the start of, at the end of last year, no, at the end of 2019, I'd done two Edinburgh's and I was like, nothing had happened from the second one. It was like, I didn't have any meetings. It was like it was like I hadn't happened. And I was really like, I pumped in so much money and so much time. And I was like, okay, what can I do? And I was like, well, on social media, I could put out, I'm going to aim to put out one sketch a month. And that's obviously people do like YouTube videos every day.

But I was like, one sketch a month. I'll learn how to edit. I'll learn how to just because even if it doesn't do in Invertecom as well, if I guess a couple of hundred, that's still like a really good gig. So I was like, okay, that's like a live gig. But anyway, so I was like committed to doing that. And it wasn't until maybe September that one did quite very well. And that was because I'd learnt from the mistakes of the ones I was doing.

Like, oh, that one's too long or that one's too. It's little things that really make a big difference. So, for example, if you are trying to post content and you're wondering why it's not doing well, check that it's like, I know it sounds mad, but like check that it's like the right dimensions. Check that it's not slightly off. Check that you're doing it in the best way to reach the people. to that you're trying to reach rather than what I was doing for example which would be like oh that that'll be fine onto it it's like no because it wasn't the right like all those little things

and it's really and you can Google you know obviously there's you could be doing it for so many different reasons I can't tell you specifically what things to do but like look at the best the people who are the most successful at what you're trying to do and look at how they are presenting what they are presenting look at how often that they post emulate them not in the way that you're not in the actual content that you're doing, of course, but like, what are the sizes? Like, does it have captions? Like, what's their lighting set up? Like, how is something filmed? Like, how is something presented? Like, do the, do tweets in, like, lists do really well. Do pictures of, do photo, when the photos, like, you know, you just have to be like, okay, what is it about this that made this good?

apart being an interesting, good piece of content, what are the other things that are in your control, the basic admin around it? Just to tell people about the learning process, how many views did your first sketch get? Got about 2000? And how many views did your, has your most recent sketch, your best sketch got? The best sketch got 5.6 million. 5.6 million. And that's just on Twitter.

Is everyone listening? But she didn't come out of the gates with 5.6 million. And if you only look at Stevie's best stuff, you're like, okay, I'm going to make that. And then you make it and then you come out of the gates. You're never going to make that. But she came out of the gates with 2000. And she kept going and she kept learning. What's so helpful to see as well is,

that like, so for example, I saw a sketch the other week from someone who I didn't know was doing like online stuff and it had not done very well. And I was like, oh, I feel like that's sad. Like I only got like a, you know, a couple of hundred and I was like, oh, well, you know, keep going and I hope that they keep going because it's hard when that happens because you just feel stupid sometimes because you feel a bit like, and that's the other thing is you want to be like, don't focus on the numbers, but you can't help it because the head and the entire thing is because if you put something out that you've worked on and then it's got seven views, you're like, okay.

What was the point? But there is a point because you can't help. because you're learning. And also the crucial thing is, is then I went on TikTok, and that same person had got 870,000 views on TikTok. So what didn't...

So that just shows you... Well, it shows you two things, that the fact that it didn't do well on Twitter doesn't mean it's not a good thing. And also the fact that, like, different stuff works for different platforms. It's all just a big mish-mash. It's a dark art.

You just have to keep going, and you have to keep learning rather than doing the same thing over again and being like, why isn't it working? I remember there was that, like, thing, silly thing last year when I or a couple years ago when I was like people's tweets that are all in lower case

seem to do much better than when they use proper grammar and puncturation so I'll try that and it actually takes more effort to take the capital off because your phone automatically capitalises it and it did and it worked better and I was like for God's sake but fine like if that's going to get it seen by more people

fuck it. The only way that you can remain kind of interested in engaged is to again go back to that like base level you have to enjoy the space that you and you have to be seeing it in like a positive way rather than a resistant way. Otherwise everything like that is just going to annoy the fuck out of you. And you can be like, I don't want to have to do that. That's so stupid.

What, why do I have to do that? Well, then you don't have to be on social media at all. So, so don't be on it unless you want to be on it and realize that you can make it whatever you want it to be. But of course, it is, it's a business. It's the biggest business in the world at the moment. it's also very, it's not out to make you feel good about yourself. It's out to make you become obsessed.

That's its purpose. That is its whole purpose. And so just go into that, knowing that, and sort of dabble and step away rather than, you know, becoming all in. Just know, if you know, your knowledge is, forearmed is forewarned, knowledge is power. Know that that's what its whole purpose is. And then you'll be a little bit more protected. By the sounds of it, Hannah, you are coming at this from a wanting to take rather than a wanting to give, which is such a healthier and better way of exploring the internet and the worldwide web.

But the communities are out there, no matter how impenetrable it all seems, you just have, you just need to keep on going, keep using, you know, keep following the links and the hashtags and then you find a good person, be like, who do they follow? And then just keep going and building the biggest number of following that you possibly can, because then they will retweet people and send you in other directions and just, you know, basically it's about making that space as big as you possibly can for yourself

and then eventually you will be like, okay, here's my group, you know. But yeah, so yeah, obviously it's very difficult and to cover everything, but I hope that kind of gave some help. And look, you can follow us on social media and after this I think you should, surely, at Nobody Panic Pod,

at Steve, the S is a 5. What's yours, Tessa? At Tessa Coates. My Twitter banner is advertising a show from 2018. So come on in. Oh, brilliant. That's the thing. She knows she's doing it. I know she's doing it. I don't care. She knows it. Exactly. I'm here to take, not to give, I think.

Understood. Have a lovely week. Experiment with some social media platforms. Don't be frightened of them. Don't immediately think you hate all of them. Find the fun. Find the fun. Keep going because the fun is there. Have a lovely week, everybody in. And see you next time. See you. next time of you.