Topics
- News and updates from Diane & Liz [3:25]
- Something new that I'm digging: Feedback from the new edition of Practical Paleo [ 8:40]
- Social media; creating and consuming [13:29]
- Handling the trolls; putting yourself out there [24:33]
- Favorite things about social media accounts [ 34:12]
- Social media etiquette [46:05]
Subscribe to DianeSanfilippo.com
The episodes are also available in iTunes, Spotify & Stitcher.
Show sponsors:
You’re listening to the Balanced Bites podcast episode 282.
Diane Sanfilippo: Welcome to the Balanced Bites podcast. I’m Diane; a certified nutrition consultant, and the New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo and The 21-Day Sugar Detox. I live in San Francisco with my husband and fur kids. I’m both a fan of, and exhausted by, social media. Sigh.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Should I have just sighed? {sigh}
Liz Wolfe: You should have probably just sighed. {sigh} I’m Liz; a nutritional therapy practitioner, and author of the Wall Street Journal best-seller Eat the Yolks; The Purely Primal Skincare Guide; and the online program Baby Making and Beyond. I live on a farm in the mystical land of the Midwest, outside of Kansas City, and at the risk of saying something people will think is political; I just realized that neither the New York Times’ bestsellers or Wall Street Journal bestseller would qualify as real to some people. {laughs}
We’re the co-creators of the Balanced Bites Master Class, and we’ve been bringing you this award winning podcast for 5 years and counting. We’re here to share our take on modern paleo living, answer your questions, and chat with leading health and wellness experts. Enjoy this week’s episode, and submit your questions at http://blog.balancedbites.com. Before we get started, let’s hear from one of our sponsors.
Liz Wolfe: Our podcast sponsorship today comes from Vital Choice, an online purveyor of the world’s best wild seafood delivered right to your door; because juggling a busy life shouldn’t mean you have to forgo healthy meals. At www.vitalchoice.com, you’ll find wild Alaskan salmon, halibut, tuna, sable fish, and cod, as well as prawns, crab, and scallops. You’ll also find grass-fed organic Wagyu beef, free range heritage chicken, fresh frozen organic berries, and dark organic chocolates. Make a vital choice by eating the highest quality food you can. Vital Choice; come home to real food. Use code BALANCEDBITES to save on your first order at www.vitalchoice.com.
Liz Wolfe: Hey everyone; it’s me, Liz, here with Diane.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh hey.
Liz Wolfe: I wonder how many people fell off when I made that commentary about journalism.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I don’t think there’s any doubt that there’s false news being shared all over the place, whichever side people land on. So there you go.
Liz Wolfe: You can tell what’s been in my Facebook newsfeed is basically a bunch of ad hominem attacks against whatever publication is saying anything.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. Yeah. I’m trying to avoid. Well, this is an episode where we’re talking about social media, but we’re not going to be talking all about political stuff on this episode.
Liz Wolfe: Politics. No.
Diane Sanfilippo: But, I have been trying to avoid my personal Facebook feed kind of for that reason. It’s too anxiety producing, so. There you go.
Liz Wolfe: It is indeed. Although both of us have had requests recently from people that say we should be speaking out politically, or people that say we should not be speaking out politically. And I am just; at this point my head is still spinning and I’m trying to make sense of everything that’s going on. So I don’t know. We’ll probably talk about that a little bit later; what kind of responsibility people have or do not have to be mouthpieces for whatever it may be. I’m sure we’ll get into that eventually.
1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [3:25]
But before we do; what are your updates?
Diane Sanfilippo: Well. I’m going on a vacation. Sort of finally; like after the tour I was supposed to have planned a vacation, and Scott and I went to Napa for the weekend. But if anybody knows the Bay area, Napa is only about an hour away. It was a nice little getaway, but we never really got a vacation. So we finally booked a trip, and we’re going to Kauai, which we’ve been there before. And I love the idea, and I don’t know how you are on this Liz; or how our listeners are. But I like going to new places; but for a trip like this, where it’s kind of a beachy, relaxing, we’ll probably do some hiking and mostly just; I’m like a lay down with a pina colada kind of vacation girl {laughs} I’m not an adventure vacation girl. Which may surprise people; but the pace at which I tend to work, my vacations are not activity vacations. It’s not time for me to see all the things and do all the things. Especially when it’s just kind of a warm weather, pretty environment, poolside kind of place. So anyway.
We’re going back to a place we’ve been to before; the exact kind of area and even the same resort. Because I like knowing what to expect .and that’s part of I guess a travel tip that I tend to share; if you like going to the same place and you enjoy that, and you find that fun and relaxing and all of that; why not go somewhere where you know what to expect in terms of what the hotel room is like, and what the food is like, and where you’re going to drive to and get something to eat, and all of that. That was food twice; {laughs} but you know what my priority is. Mostly the food.
So for me that makes it a little bit more relaxing; there’s not this element of the unknown when we’ll get there. And I don’t know; I used to be a big planner, and now I’m not that big of a planner but also, I don’t want a lot of surprises that make things difficult when I’m on vacation. So anyway, I’m really excited about it. We’re going to be away for about a week. So that’s pretty much it there. I think; I don’t know how long ago it will have been by the time this episode is airing, but I posted a picture asking a request; whatever that’s redundant. {laughs} Requesting that folks let me know where they have had success eating gluten free on Kauai, and lots of you responded with some really good recommendations, so we’re excited to go back to some favorites that we had, and also check out some of the new ones. So thank you guys for all those recommendations.
And what else? So business-y wise, the NTA conference is coming up at the beginning of March. As you guys know, the NTA is one of our sponsors. It’s the school that Liz attended for her nutritional therapy practitioner certification, and I’ll be at the conference. So let me know if you’re coming. I will be manning a booth. {laughs} We’re going to have a little booth where you guys can check out some more information about the 21-Day Sugar Detox coaches program and the Balanced Bites Master Class and all that fun stuff. So there you go. That’s what’s up.
Liz Wolfe: Cool.
Diane Sanfilippo: What’s up with you.
Liz Wolfe: I don’t really have any updates of my own, but could I comment on your updates?
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Sure.
Liz Wolfe: Ok.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m scared.
Liz Wolfe: First of all; I just watched. Well you and I were having a marathon text conversation while I was watching; I was like, a glass of sparkling rose deep in watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall as my husband passed out next to me; not from drinking, just from being tired.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: He fell asleep like 10 minutes into the new Pope show with Jude Law, I don’t know if you guys are watching that. But I find it very interesting. I’m very intrigued by it, and he fell asleep about 10 minutes in, so once that was over, I decided to top myself off and watch Forgetting Sarah Marshall and text my friend Diane. Nice little Friday. Or Saturday; whatever night that was. Anyway, love that movie, and they’re in Hawaii in that movie. Mahalo.
Diane Sanfilippo: So were you thinking of me while you were watching it; like, this will be my friend pretty soon? {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm. I was thinking, I hope my friend meets Jonah Hill.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. And Mila Kunis.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, that’s why you were talking about Mila Kunis {laughs}. I didn’t know what you were watching. I don’t think you told me what you were watching.
Liz Wolfe: Oh, no I don’t think we had that conversation.
Diane Sanfilippo: It just came out of left field. And I was like, ok, alright.
Liz Wolfe: I forgot that you don’t know everything I’m doing in every moment.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: Kind of funny. And my other update is folks have asked me if I’m going to the NTA conference, and the answer is I still don’t know. A lot of folks know that my husband is in the military, and a lot of times it just is a last minute call depending on what his schedule looks like, and a lot of times we don’t know. We live in very uncertain times. So I don’t know, but I will certainly let everyone know if I’m able to go. It would be super neat if I could. And that’s it.
2. Something new that I’m digging: Feedback on the new edition of Practical Paleo [8:40]
Liz Wolfe: So Diane. What are you digging right now?
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Well this is a little bit maybe like, I don’t know, random, or not that exciting for everyone but exciting for me and I’m totally digging. I’ve been sharing more about the new edition of Practical Paleo because I know that a lot of folks are like, “Oh, are you going to write a new book, Diane?” and I’m like, well I already kind of wrote a new book last year, even though people maybe think the updates are minimal, or whatever. The new edition of Practical Paleo is like a whole new book. I mean, it took me almost as long to rewrite it as it did to write it in the first place, which sounds crazy, but it is what it is.
Anyway; so I’ve been sharing some stuff about it more recently just kind of to point out what’s different and new and just to remind people what’s going on with the new book. And so many of you guys have commented about how it’s helping your family members. And a lot of you; I mean, to me it’s coming out of the woodwork when I haven’t seen you comment on anything before. Which, may or may not be podcast listeners. You guys tend to be a little more active on our social media in general. But I’ve had a bunch of people who I’ve never noticed them commenting before. And if you guys don’t know; if you’re somebody who comments regularly, we know your names. At least your Instagram handle or whatever name you go by on any kind of social. So lots of people have been coming out of the woodwork and saying how it’s helping them or helping their family.
Even just today I had a woman say she’s a 50-something -year-old grandma and the book has really turned around her life and her health. And you know; it just, it never gets old. I just love it. Sometimes we’re working; I’ve said this before, we’re working in a bubble, and this is totally relevant to today’s episode. But in a bubble on the other side of social media and on the other side of the internet, and sometimes when I haven’t been on the road recently; which that was all of September, and now it’s been months. It’s like you’re out of touch with the people who are using the work that you’ve done, and the resources that you’ve spent so much time and energy and focus and caring on creating that it’s really meaningful when you guys take a moment to just share your experience. And whether that encourages somebody else to grab a copy of the book and change their own life, that’s definitely really meaningful.
But you know, it’s a boost for me. And I think that’s enough sometimes. It’s enough for me to be like; you know what, thank you. I’m so glad you said that and it does make me feel really good. And it makes my day if just one person is like; this book really helped me. Because the reason why it’s so moving to me is that I just kind of do the work that I’m here to do, and I think that a person who takes that; spends anywhere from 25 to 45 or 50 bucks, whatever you’re going to spend on the book, and literally you empower yourself with just that. And you go do the work, and then you come back, and you’re like; here’s everything that I changed with this book. I’m totally blown away, I’m impressed. I feel so revived in the work that I’m doing when I hear that from you guys. Because it’s my pure intention to empower and enable you to live a better life; whatever that means. Whether it’s with your health, or your business, or whatever. So to hear that that is something that’s happened in your life because of that book, I mean, it’s everything to me. So I’m just totally digging you, and thank you guys so much for all of that feedback, and thank you for sharing it with your friends and family, and just for kind of loving the book. So, that’s it. I’m digging it.
Liz Wolfe: I love it.
Liz Wolfe: The Balanced Bites podcast is sponsored in part by the Nutritional Therapy Association. The NTA trains and certifies nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants (including me; I’m an NTP), emphasizing bio-individuality and the range of dietary strategies that support wellness. The NTA emphasizes local, whole, properly prepared nutrient dense foods as the key to restoring balance and enhancing the body’s ability to heal. Nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants learn a wide range of tools and techniques to assess and correct nutritional imbalances. To learn lots more about the nutritional therapy program, go to http://www.NutritionalTherapy.com. There are workshop venues in the US, Canada, and Australia, so chances are you’ll be able to find a venue that works for you.
3. Social media; consuming and creating [13:29]
Liz Wolfe: Alright, today’s topic is social media. There should be some kind of, like, music that comes in there real quick. So we surveyed our podcast audience over on Instagram asking if you use social media to build a following or a business, and what you enjoyed most about the accounts that you follow. And like 80% of the folks said yes, they have a public social media presence, their intention is to grow a business or a following. So it looks like we have a ton of entrepreneurs and business owners who are following along, which is smart.
So today we’re going to chat about some pros about the accounts that folks are watching; some of the cons of social media, etiquette tips, things like that. And I don’t feel like I’m really creating enough buzz about this episode right now. But I’m actually really excited about it. Because Diane, you and I take such vastly different approaches to social media, and there are sacrifices that both of us make in time and in; I don’t know, a return on investment, I guess. And every business owner really has to decide what they’re doing. I don’t know if they have to decide ahead of time, but it really does help to have an idea of what your goals are, what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it. Because we’ve said before, social media is like peeing into a pool. You can’t get it back. So what you put out there; my number one tip, I guess, would be have it reflect you and your values, and do what you think you should be doing. And I think a lot f times, the advice that’s given to entrepreneurs or people that need a social media account for their business, the advice is; “you need to do this, this, this, and this. You need to figure out how to do X Y and Z.” but in my opinion, if it’s not authentic to you, and if it’s not aligning with your values then it’s going to be really, really difficult to sustain and it’s not going to work for you, and it’s not going to draw the audience or the potential customers that you are really going to enjoy working with.
Diane Sanfilippo: Hear, hear.
Liz Wolfe: Hear, hear.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Alright. Do you want to talk first about our social media strategies before we get into what folks are saying about what they like, what they don’t like; etiquette, cons of social media, all of that.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} By strategy you imply that I have one.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} How do you not have a strategy? It’s so pretty.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m sure I do. Ok, so first let’s just talk about the podcast account. And for those of you who might not have a business; it’s still relevant to listen because someday you might have a business on social media; and also, I think there’s a lot to kind of learn about the other side of this whole thing. So if you’re on social media as kind of a user instead of a content creator; if you’re there kind of consuming content versus creating it; I just think it’s good to hear what it’s like to be on the other side. That’s all.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Because I’m somebody who always tries to see things from every side if I can. So anyway, with the podcast account. There are over 10,000 people following that account. We have more than that are listeners, so I’m not sure if not everybody who listens is on Instagram, or we might have a bunch of folks who follow the account who don’t listen to the show; maybe? I don’t know why you’d want to, but maybe. But we do there, and we do kind of have a regular schedule there, because the women on my team actually load the content there in kind of a pattern, where we do a call for questions, which you guys saw; we got comments on this one. We do something random one day; like something in the community, we share somebody else’s picture, we share one of your pictures. We usually do, “here’s what’s coming up tomorrow” then obviously we do a new episode post. Then again something random from the community. And those mix in and kind of are just mixed, whatever. And then we share quotes from the show, as well as throwbacks.
We think quotes from the show are a fun thing to share. It’s a special little peak inside, if you will; maybe a listen inside. Especially for, maybe somebody who has never heard the show before, and wants to get a little bit of a taste of what the show is all about. And those, I think, for those of you who follow the account, the clips that have an audio piece to them, I think are really fun to share. Because if you really loved that part of the show; share it with your friends so that they can hear a little bit and get a feeling for what goes on in the show.
So anyway, in terms of the strategy there, we want you guys to come comment. We want you to tell us what you thought of the episode and all of that; although of course, not being social media, the blog post is always a better place to have a more in-depth conversation. But just a quick comment or something that we post maybe you want to tag a friend. Like, we’ve got an episode that we posted recently it was a greatest hits or a flashback; all about poop was one of them. And when we share those, we hope that sometimes people will tag their friend, and just say; hey! I mean, not the poop one, because {laughs}.
Liz Wolfe: Hey, we were talking about this yesterday; your poop!
Diane Sanfilippo: We were just talking about your poop! But that’s kind of the strategy there. And we really just came up with a schedule, and that’s because it’s kind of a secondary or feature account, some people might call it, where it’s not my main account, but it’s a feature account all about, obviously, the podcast. So that’s different. There’s not as much personal stuff about my life, it’s not pictures about what I’m eating; it’s not all of that. It’s really just dedicated to the podcast.
So on my personal page, in terms of what I post and when, there is no strategy, there is no schedule, there is no one else doing that but me. It’s all purely just organically done. But in terms of the strategy there; it’s not something that’s so strategic in an overarching sense, but I do hope to share things that inspire you or motivate you or get your excited to try a new recipe or remind you about a recipe that you maybe saw two weeks ago and then forgot about. I like to share things that are funny. I like to share just what I’m doing, what I’m eating, whether it’s cute or not. Sometimes they’re just kind of messy plates of hot dogs and a pile of sauerkraut. And part of the time I’m educating and part of the time I’m giving some insight into who I am, and how I live, and what my life is like.
And for me, I like that on other people’s accounts. I like when there’s a balance of the thing that I’m here for; which I know most people are probably on my account for nutrition information and recipes. But I still want to get to know who that person is. Because if I just wanted to follow something very curated, I don’t know that I then want to know who the person is. And I feel like if you do create an account that’s so perfect and curated, you almost close yourself off to just that more personal insight. And I can’t do something on social media that doesn’t have any personal insight, because it’s just not who I am. And even if it were the Balanced Bites account, like the podcast account, I don’t personally run that one, because I think it would drive me crazy to be on that schedule, and to be like; ok, this is what you’re posting today. {laughs} My personality obviously you guys know I’m a Rebel, and I would just break it all the time. And sometimes I’ve done quotes in a pattern and things like that; and then very quickly that pattern ends, {laughs} because I just can’t stay there. I can’t do it for that long.
So that’s just kind of how I post. The one other thing I’ll say, this is the last thing I’ll say about when I post and how. But the one other thing I do that I know turns a lot of people off, and I just don’t care; but I respond to a lot of comments, even if they’re kind of negative. Because I’ve got this thing lately where I am going to hold people responsible for what they’re saying, and if something comes across in a way that’s a little bit snippy or rude or dismissive or whatever it is, it’s not that I’m being defensive; because people often misread my comment as defensiveness. I don’t care what you people might have to say. I don’t care what comment. Not you people; you know what I mean. Not listeners; but the “you people” is more like the random folks who may have decided to follow because of a picture of food. The people who make comments like this are not people who listen to the podcast and have followed along for a long time. Because you guys know my personality.
But I’m going to hold somebody accountable if they say something that’s dismissive or rude or obnoxious; I’m basically going to come back and say, hey, is this what you meant to say, because that’s what you just said. And sometimes it leads into a conversation of just back and forth and it gets kind of ugly; and they’re just nasty people. And a lot of times, it actually comes around to the person saying; you know what, I didn’t realize that what I said came off that way. Or you know, yeah I probably shouldn’t have said that this way. Or just trying to help people understand that there’s a real person on the other side of that picture that just got posted. And we all need to be responsible for the things that we say, and this is kind of the part of maybe it’s etiquette, but you want to treat social media as if that person is just speaking right to you. Because there is a real person there.
But anyway. I am really not about ignoring comments that are rude; and it’s not because it upsets me, because it doesn’t. But I’m going to hold people accountable. So that’s where I’m at with that. And I’ve posted some things recently also about; like you said before, Liz, how folks have this idea of what we should or shouldn’t talk about on our social media. I’m not really interested in what people feel like what I should or shouldn’t do. Again, my personality is that way so that’s going to come through on my social media. But I’m not here to be a puppet and dance for people just based on what they want me to do. I’m here with my own mission, so I’m very clear about that on the page as well, and I have no problem if folks want to unfollow it because it’s just not for them. That’s ok. But what’s your take on that? People who want to talk about what you should and shouldn’t post? Because I know you have specific things about your “strategy” or the way that you post on social media, as well.
4. Handling the trolls; putting yourself out there [24:33]
Liz Wolfe: So, I don’t disagree with any of the things that you do, at all. This is funny; when I’m listening to you, I’m like, “Yeah, totally. That’s totally how I would handle it.” People drop by, and they say something like, “It would be nice if I had a million dollars so I could afford this stuff you’re telling people to buy.” You know, just something negative or nasty or rude. I think it’s awesome that you respond to people like that. But I also can’t emotionally manage; I’m learning to not feel like I have to manage everybody else’s feelings all the time, and maybe one day I’ll get to that point where I can handle everybody’s {laughs} negative emotions and respond to them accordingly, but I general manage my social media in a way that does not invite; not that you’re inviting negative comments, but I pretty much hold back a lot of things and don’t say a lot of things and don’t post a lot of things because I just don’t want to hear from people because I feel like I have to reply, if that makes sense.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, it does make sense.
Liz Wolfe: I feel like; I just can’t. But I’m learning. I’m learning.
Diane Sanfilippo: You don’t have to. That’s the thing.
Liz Wolfe: Ugh; I know.
Diane Sanfilippo: For some people, social media is not a place for that. And that’s why a lot of people, they take my response as defensiveness. I’m like; I’m not even being defensive. If anything I’m going on the offensive.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: And putting what this person decided to be so brash and write back to them, and being like; hey, you just said this. It’s not going into an abyss; I’m a real person over here. But anyway. What do you do about your stuff that you decide to post? Are there times; I’m curious; are there times when you're about to post this, and you’re like; no, I’m not going to post that.
Liz Wolfe: All the time. All the time. I mean; not all the time. I try not to have my phone out so much around the kiddo but {sigh}. It’s actually kind of sad, and it’s something that I struggle with because I feel like I have a lot of; I don’t want to say parental wisdom, but there are a lot of things that I’ve learned about food or that I’ve learned about babies or that I’ve learned about parenting that has been so profoundly amazing for me, and I want to share it, but I know that the second I do it’s going to be a flood of alternate perspectives, to put it mildly. Or people who feel; maybe, I mean, food is definitely very personal. I think one of the only things besides food and politics that might be more personal than that would be parenting.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. Yeah. I’m nodding along.
Liz Wolfe: Oh my gosh; the second you say something about; oh gosh, I don’t know. People can scroll way back in my Instagram feed to a video where I talk about aware parenting and baby sleep, and it was really, the thread probably wasn’t as bad as it is in my mind, but it was not just a lot of questions from people who wanted help, but it was also people feeling judged. And good lord, I do not mean to judge people in what I say. But parenting is just such a tender and sensitive topic. And that in particular.
So the things I post about being food, beauty and babies, really the only noncontroversial thing is to post about beauty, so I tend to do that a lot. Things I like, treatments I’ve used, things like that. But my heart is really with the baby stuff. I just know that I can’t really give people the time and attention and help that I know they’re going to want with each and every post I make about those things. And consequently, I can’t take that time away from my kid; I also can’t take that time away from this official program that I’m trying to build that will help people with all of these things. I just; I choose not to post. Which makes me kind of sad. So that probably takes away some of the leverage that I should if I was a good business woman that I would be trying to build with my social media profiles based on what I’m trying to create. And of course, earn an income from in the future, Baby Making and Beyond. Trying to put together my passion with my job, trying to make that work.
And also the fact that I; on another topic, don’t post pictures of my child. I’ll post her back, but I won’t post her face or the side of her face or anything like that, and I don’t really post any personal details about her, and that is also probably really limiting my reach. But I don’t care. There are certain things that I can’t and won’t compromise just for the sake of setting myself up as an expert or making a sale in the future. It just doesn’t work like that for me, so I’m willing to accept those limits on my business because there are certain things that just don’t feel manageable or authentic or safe to me right now. I just don’t feel comfortable putting my kid out; her face out on the internet for 40,000 people or however many people to see.
And I’m not saying it’s wrong; the people that do choose to put their children on social media. It’s totally cool. I don’t know; maybe I’m a little paranoid about the world at large, but when you’ve been the target of internet spam, even the most benign internet spam, and you go to these pages and you realize they are stealing peoples pictures and putting peoples family pictures on the internet for everybody to see, it just makes you really, really skeeved out. It weirds me out to even see people Regramming pictures of my child. It’s just very, very weird. So anyway, I probably manage my social media to the detriment of my business, but I’ve kind of become ok with that compromise.
Diane Sanfilippo: I can totally understand that. We might eat rice, and people literally lose their minds.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Yes.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, the fact that you might post something about parenting that people are just going to disagree with. That I can’t imagine; I think that opens definitely a more powerful can of worms, and it just opens you up. But at the same time, if and when the time comes that you’re like; “You know what, this is too important to not share,” there’s probably ways to do it with; unfortunately, but whatever, maybe some kind of disclaimer or note at the bottom of every post.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: There’s a beauty Instagramer I follow, and she always has a disclaimer; “Disclaimer, patch test this first, and as with everything, your skin may not react the right way.” Or whatever. It’s kind of like a cover your butt.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Laying the foundations; setting the expectations and telling people exactly how you expect them to conduct themselves in your little world. And I think that’s fair; I also think it’s totally fair to delete comments that are rude, and not just asking a question and maybe disagreeing in a polite way, or saying; oh that thing didn’t work for me but this thing worked. That’s totally legit for somebody to do that, you know, to say, “Yeah, I tried that. It didn’t work, but here’s something that did work.” There’s a different attitude behind it, and we can usually read that in the language that people choose to share. Sometimes tone is lost, but a lot of times you can tell what the tone is. So it’s not just about people disagreeing, it’s just rudeness, and people being obnoxious or people being outright just; I don’t know, just mean on social media. And I could see totally how parenting would just open things up.
But you know; food is very divisive as well. People are extremely; you know, think about it. I really don’t have a lot of vegan, hardcore folks commenting on my page. So at a certain point, I think you would have mostly people who are; if not agreeing with the concepts that you’re sharing, interested in open to learning about them. Or having a pretty peaceful discussion. I think that 80-90% of the time it would be just fine, and being prepared for that little bit that might be a little bit; what is with me repeating everything I say today {laughs}.
Liz Wolfe: I don’t know; it’s a rough day, man.
Diane Sanfilippo: This is, it’s a long one. But you know; I think the downsides will be far outweighed by the benefits of sharing that. You know what I mean; the people who are going to then come back with the comments I was talking about before, who say; you know what, this aware parenting thing for example really helped us, or whatever it is. And I think the power of the work that we all do, and information that we do share on social media, I think that’s just going to outweigh some of those negative people, you know.
Liz Wolfe: I feel like once I have the Baby Making and Beyond program out there, it’s kind of like; you can tell people, “Go pick up Practical Paleo, I cannot counsel you on all of your questions in an Instagram post. So go check out the work that I’ve put out there.” Half the time, that’s what guides the projects we create, actually, which is a good thing about social media. It’s all the questions that we get over and over again that are just not done justice by an Instagram post.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: So hopefully.
Diane Sanfilippo: You need a lot of context and to your point about sharing things about parenting; you might share a really quick note or tip or insight, and somebody might take it the wrong way. But then you’re like; well, I talk a lot more about this in the program, then they could understand the context and how that all works.
Liz Wolfe: Absolutely.
5. Favorite things about social media accounts [34:12]
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, I could see that. Well, maybe we should see what some of the notes that we have here on the things that people like most about accounts that they follow. Do you want to read some of these out?
Liz Wolfe: Yes. This one is from, I’m going to say it wrong. I’m just not going to say it at all. But this person says, “I love it when people make it personal and not just a business front. Getting to see that a business is often run by a regular person makes it more approachable, brings it closer to me.”
This is from All the Healthy Things. “Genuineness. You can’t fake it, and when you see it, you just know. Also, positivity. The world kind of feels like it’s in chaos some days, and I like that my favorite accounts stay positive. It doesn’t mean that they don’t speak about social issues they’re passionate about, but they remain positive and hopeful in their approach.” That is a very good point. You don’t have to be so doom and gloom, even when you’re talking about serious things. “Living Loving Paleo, Fed and Fit, and y’all are some great examples of this. If I’m going to follow someone I don’t really know, I don’t want to feel dragged down by their perspective and outlook on life.” I would have to agree with that.
Diane Sanfilippo: Totally. I think that’s most of what we follow accounts for on social, you know.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Sometimes it’s for, like, deep thoughts. {laughs} But yeah, most of the time it’s kind of to be uplifted or educated or entertained, for sure.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Alright, this is from Lacy. “They’re real.” Ok this is about kind of the personality types that folks that listen to the podcast or that follow us are drawn to. “Folks that are real. They share that life happens, it isn’t always perfect, informative, and they often make me laugh. Most of the accounts I follow go along with my quirky sense of humor, and I love that.”
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Alright, so let’s read this comment from Whole Health Emily. This is about the trust factor. She says, “Authenticity is so important. In this new world, it’s disheartening for people to see only perfect shots, makeup done strategically, executed pose and pictures. Adding the humanness, like Diane snapping her cat and husband bromance.”
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: “And how she hates folding laundry takes down that imaginary barrier that separates us from them and allows you to connect from a personal level. Also I love when it’s apparent that someone is promoting brands they love and use, like you ladies. It’s hard to trust peoples recommendations via social media these days, because so much if it is all about the Benjamin’s; keep it real, that’s what people want, trust and connect to.” Well, I will tell you folks.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: If I can form a relationship with a brand that I like that benefits me monetarily, I will absolutely do that. Beautycounter is an example; Primal Life Organics is an example. I co-designed a serum with them and I profit from that. But I think folks know that I was talking about a lot of these brands that I recommend long before I ever made a dime.
Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.
Liz Wolfe: It’s just smart business if you’re helping people to find a way to make money from that. But what comes first should be the helping people; the money part comes second. That’s where the trust; that’s how you lay the foundation of trust. You don’t find somebody that will pay you to talk about them and then talk about them. That’s not the way to do it.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, I think it’s pretty obvious. I see a lot of accounts out there that just happen to have tons of followers, and they post things that are just kind of out of left field. And no judgment on anything that anybody wants to post about. Your prerogative; do what you want to do. But for folks who are trying to grow a following; for sure I think it’s important to really; I mean, you have to be genuine about it. It has to be something that you already love. And in the case where companies will contact us and ask if they can send products. And a lot of times, if I already know I don’t like the product, I’m like, no please don’t send it.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Or sometimes; you know, I’m not just going to take it just for the sake of it. Or sometimes; well the response is always, “You’re welcome to send product. This is not any kind of contract by sending the product. We’re not engaging in any kind of formal promise to promote or any of that”. And you know, I think that there happens to be a balance of brands and products that I post about; I would say 99% of what I post, I don’t make any money from that. I mean, I don’t; I have never actually had a purely sponsored post on Instagram. Again, nothing wrong with it, but just to kind of put it out there that I think it’s important to put a hashtag on a post if it is sponsored or if it’s an ad; those are the two different ways that people tend to do it. It will be like #ad, or #sponsored, or #spon. {laughs} Like abbreviated.
Liz Wolfe: Oh, come on!
Diane Sanfilippo: Or partner; sometimes it will say #partner, or something like that. And it is a little bit of an afterthought, and you guys might not notice it, and maybe now you will. And I think that that’s the responsible thing to do; especially just because there is so much that can be confusing. And that doesn’t mean that the person still doesn’t genuinely love the product, right? What if somebody wants to send me some running shoes, and I genuinely like them, and they’re going to pay me to post it. That’s usually what you should be posting, stuff that’s both. You genuinely love it.
But I don’t know; I find it too overwhelming to even deal with at this point in time, so we haven’t done it yet. But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t. So typically, when we post; if we post something that we’re eating from Vital Choice, I usually will say something like, proud Balanced Bites podcast sponsor. Because that’s what it is, you know. But I do think that what’s interesting is probably one of the top 10 things we’re asked is about products and brands we recommend. So that completely aligns with the type of content and type of information that people want to get from us. I mean, literally, if I post something and I don’t tell you the brand, somebody is going to lose their mind {laughs} and ask what is. “What is that pan that you're using?” Like, I mean, we just know if we don’t tell you who makes it, somebody is going to ask and you want to know.
And you know, the other way that we can do that is also let you know; and I do this all the time. I put all my favorites on a favorite page on my website. And most of those are linked to Amazon, and it does have Amazon associates set up. Because if I’m going to refer you to buy something, it doesn’t cost you anymore to do it that way, but Amazon should thank me for that, you know what I mean?
Liz Wolfe: Yep. Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: So. And also; it is easier for me to say, “It’s linked there” so you get the exact one that I am trying to show you. Which for me, I just think that’s easier for everyone. But yeah, I feel like adding the humanness; I mean, you do that for sure with your posts. Obviously having a lot of a selfie, talking about whatever the Beautycounter product might be or any beauty product that you’re using or just some kind of beauty habit that you have. I know you talk about that stuff a lot. Or a picture of your kid. And I think all of that is very personal, so I think that’s just how we are. Neither of us has this super polished separation of business and personal, I guess.
Liz Wolfe: I would literally never post anything if I tried to be polished at any point.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: It’s kind of funny. I’m like; yeah, I could post. I don’t know, you see people in their beautiful workout outfits {laughs} and I just. I don’t work out. Anyway, never mind. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: I want to be that. I do. I want to be that. I don’t even know how to set my phone up to take a video of me working out, and then post it. I don’t; I don’t know how to do that.
Diane Sanfilippo: You don’t have to do it. It’s not; it’s not natural for you.
Liz Wolfe: No, it’s not.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think we would all be like; actually, I would kind of be confused. I don’t think I would know that it was you.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} If you posted a workout video; I’d be like, what is she doing? I mean, I know you’ve worked out in your life, and I know we have worked out together. But you walk, and you’re active just in daily life; chasing a toddler.
Liz Wolfe: I walk, and I yeah, I try and do inversions and handstands. {laughs} I don’t know. I get plenty of activity. I mean for a long time over the last couple of years, I knew that an intense workout would be more than my body could handle just because of the stress of parenthood and postpartum anxiety and all that stuff. So I was just doing what was best for me at the time. It’s just funny; it’s not that I don’t want to post what I’m doing, it’s that in some arenas I don’t know; what do people use, like a selfie stick? What do they do?
Diane Sanfilippo: I guess it depends on where they are. I’ll lean my phone up against something and push the button.
Liz Wolfe: I’m just that helpless, I guess.
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t really know. I don’t know. I don’t know. Maybe selfies in the mirror; like the full body kind of pictures?
Liz Wolfe: Oh man.
Diane Sanfilippo: We’ll have to ask some of our friends who do it. But anyway; part of also the way that I share things. So Emily is talking about the bromance snaps that I do; which I have a very, relatively speaking, small group of folks who follow me on Snapchat versus Instagram, email list, and Facebook. Even versus the podcast. And I feel like it’s a bit of a safer environment to share weird stuff that’s personal, because it’s not that many people and it’s people that have decided to come to my house, you know, and make the effort to figure out Snapchat to then follow there. And the people that I like to follow do share kind of random stuff on there. So it is more random. But I don’t tend to do stuff like that as much on, say, Instagram stories, for example. Because I just think that’s not what people are there for. But you know; it is what it is.
So how about this next one, MalPal133; you want to read what she said she loves?
Liz Wolfe: “My favorite accounts are people that I think they really want to share their knowledge and help others, either by inspiring words, recipes, workouts, success stories, or humor. I like the person to be well rounded and share different aspects of their lives so I can relate to them.” This is all very interesting me, because I always think, “Gosh, my name on social media is Real Food Liz, people just want me to share food, I need to stop putting up pictures of my kid.” But it doesn’t sound like that’s what people are looking for.
Diane Sanfilippo: No, I think, yeah I think people like seeing different things that go on in life. You know? Just the reality. I actually think there’s a big divide between folks who like the very, very curated perfect accounts; because a lot of those accounts have a ton of followers, right? Like hundreds of thousands.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: But I don’t know that that would feel the same way to me. I would rather have a way smaller group of folks following along, who are really getting it, you know, and are really there and engaged and know me and know what I’m here to do and help them with versus a much bigger following that’s kind of a little more loosely connected and just kind of following because the pictures are pretty or whatever.
Liz Wolfe: You want 40,000 of your closest friends. Not 100,000 of your mild acquaintances.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Sure.
Diane Sanfilippo: I guess so.
6. Social media etiquette [46:05]<>/b
Liz Wolfe: Ok, so let’s round out this discussion with some etiquette. And I think we should pull from your recent Facebook post.
Diane Sanfilippo: You want me to read this?
Liz Wolfe: Well clearly because it’s your Facebook post.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Ok. So some etiquette for social media. And this was more directed at the folks who are following, not necessarily creating content. So, I guess since most of our listeners do create content to share on social media, I would say keep these in mind. You know? And you can share these etiquette rules if you’d like, somewhere. But anyway, I think first and foremost, if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all. You might scroll by something, and just totally disagree with it. Maybe it’s even on somebody’s account who you usually like what they’re saying, but maybe you don’t. Just let it go. If you want to unfollow quietly because you’ve decided that’s what you want to do, that’s fine. You don’t need to tell someone that you're unfollowing. If you have negative reactions to what people are posting, they’re not going to be sad that you’re leaving if you don’t like what they’re posting, so that’s fine.
Second, if someone’s style doesn't suit you; maybe like me. Maybe they’re too direct, or brash, or they take too long to explain something to your liking; which is something that happened to me on Facebook live. Somebody was like; “Hurry up!” I’m like, “Hurry up? You can leave!” {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Get out.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s like, did you really just tell me to hurry up on this free live video where I’m showing you how I make guacamole?! Calm yourself. I’m doing something here. Anyway. It's okay if you don’t want to engage in that thing. Remember that the stuff is free content and not everybody is here to please everyone, so there’s that. And yeah, I don’t need to read the rest of that note we had there.
If you need information and the person that you're asking on social media isn't responding, your best bet is always to either simply GTS (Google that shiz) or search their website or their blog. You guys would be surprised; I posted this, and somebody is like; “You know what, that actually did not occur to me.” She was really genuine in her response. She was like; “I can’t believe it didn’t, but that didn’t occur to me, that I should go look at their website.” And this is just a phenomenon that we’ve taken people to the second location that they forgot there was a first location. They forgot we ever started home, at our website, you know? Anyway. If want a recipe, search the blog. You want to know someone's take on something; search the blog. You guys as podcast listeners, you’ve pretty much heard our take on most things if you’ve listened to 280-something episodes of this show {laughs}. But you know, it’s fair to ask a quick question and someone says; “oh, I’ve got a YouTube video on that.” Ok, cool. You can find their YouTube channel. You don’t need to ask them for a link, because they’re not going to give you a link on Instagram; you can’t click on it anyway. And it’s just as much effort for them to go get it as it would for you to just go; would be. What is wrong with me? As it would for you to just type it in and be like; I think I asked Courtney Kerr about her eyelash tutorial, and she was like, “It’s on my YouTube channel.” I’m like, “Great.” Courtney Kerr YouTube eyelash tutorial. And I can look it up and go see how to put eyelashes on the way that she does it. Not that I’m doing that right now, because I have eyelash extensions. But anyway.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Anyway. It doesn’t mean not to ever ask a question, but it does mean that we need to be responsible for finding information that’s out there on the internet very easily. And I think it’s ok if you direct people to content that you already have. You don’t have to re-spoon feed it to people all the time, and I don’t know if this is an Oprah-ism, or Maya Angelou-ism that Oprah took {laughs}; I think it’s Maya Angelou; where she said you teach people how to treat you. And I think if we are constantly babying people and spoon feeding them this content then we’re not teaching them what we really want. So we have to kind of follow up that way.
Anyway. We had some stuff we didn’t have time for today, but I guess maybe that’s where we’ll leave things? {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Sounds good to me. Too bad we didn’t capture all of our lead-in to the recording talk, because that was some pretty golden conversation about social media, was it not?
Diane Sanfilippo: I mean, it was, but I’m not so sure that it was filtered. I don’t know what we were even saying at this point.
Liz Wolfe: I don’t know either. Well that will do it for today then. You can find me, Liz, at http://realfoodliz.com/ and you can find Diane at http://dianesanfilippo.com. This week, we would so love it if you would share something from our podcast Instagram account with your friends; let them know what you love about the show. See you guys next week.