76: Shareable Storytelling: The Secret to Brand Visibility on Social Media with Britney Crosson

If you want to grow on Instagram or TikTok, your content has to be shareable, and that starts with better storytelling. Today I’m sitting down with Britney Crossan, queen of scroll-stopping, story-first content. Britney grew her following by over 57,000 people in less than a year using the exact storytelling techniques we talk about in this episode.

We break down how to structure your short-form videos, what kinds of stories hook people immediately, how to move past perfectionism, and the #1 shift that makes content more likely to be saved and shared.

If you’ve ever felt stuck staring at the “Add Caption” screen or wondering why your video isn’t landing, this one’s for you.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

[02:23] The surprising way Britney grew her account by over 57K followers in under a year
[05:08] Why storytelling is the missing link for most short-form content
[06:19] How to come up with story-driven content even if you think your life is boring
[08:31] Britney’s 3-part storytelling formula that hooks people instantly
[10:44] A common myth that’s keeping you from sharing personal stories
[12:06] The mindset shift that changed how Britney showed up online
[14:18] Why your content needs to connect emotionally, not just educate
[17:05] Tips for creating consistently, even when you feel like you’ve “run out” of stories
[20:20] The difference between a personal brand and just “being online a lot”
[23:34] What Britney does when a post totally flops
[25:57] Why storytelling builds trust faster than educational posts alone
[29:14] How to batch storytelling content so it doesn’t take over your life

Key Takeaways:

1. Your content isn’t boring, your storytelling just needs structure.
   Use Britney’s 3-part framework to shape your stories: start with the moment of tension, reflect back, and end with a human truth or learning.

2. You don’t need a dramatic story to be memorable.
   The “small” stuff like feeling awkward on a Zoom call or forgetting to hit record can connect deeply when shared authentically.

3. Storytelling content builds emotional connection faster than educational content.
   People might forget your tips, but they’ll remember your stories.

4. The most shareable content is usually the most specific.
   Don’t water down your stories, lean in. The more detailed and emotionally resonant, the more people will share.

5. Batching storytelling content is possible (and freeing).
   Use prompts, keep a story bank, and repurpose stories across platforms with slight tweaks.

Guest Bio:

Social Media Thought Leader, Britney Crosson, is the Founder and Creative Director at Fun Love Media, a creative marketing agency specializing in organic social media content creation and strategy. She was the Host and Executive Producer of The Social Sunshine Podcast for 5 years, from 2019 – 2024. And she founded Social Success, the most fun and exciting annual in-person conference that helps creators and marketers level up their social media skills.

As a lifelong performer, Britney (Alston) Crosson, has appeared in numerous productions including stage plays, musicals, television and film. As life got busier with parenthood and business ownership, Britney turned to social media as a way to entertain audiences.

You may have seen Britney dancing on her treadmill or lip syncing to 90s music on social media. With 40+ million views, and counting, Britney inspires audiences all over the world with her “post the f***ing video” message. She believes that no matter your age, your looks or your background, you can transform your business and life with the power of social media.

Britney resides in Houston, TX, with her family.

Links Mentioned in This Episode:

• Get on the Social Success 2026 waitlist

• Grab this free download, 7 Values of Social Media for Business Owners

• Learn more about Britney

• Join the Hot Reels Waitlist: elizabethmarberry.com/hot

A Truth You Need to Hear:

“Don’t be afraid to go there. The story you’re scared to share is probably the one someone else needs to hear most.” — Britney Crosson

S3 Ep76 Transcript: Shareable Storytelling: The Secret to Brand Visibility on Social Media with Britney Crosson

00:00

If you're tired of posting content that no one sees, this episode is for you. Because if you want to grow on social media, your content has to be shareable. And that starts with better storytelling. Today I'm sitting down with Britney Crossan, queen of scroll-stopping, story-first content who grew her following by over 57,000 in under a year using this exact approach. We're breaking down how to hook people, keep them engaged, and get them sharing.

00:30

so your business gets seen and paid. Let's go.

00:36

Welcome to Strut It, a podcast about creating bold visibility on social media with zero apologies. I'm Elizabeth Marberry, your host and Instagram marketing coach. I help small business owners get seen on Instagram and monetize their offers so they can make more money doing their sole lead work. If you're tired of spinning your wheels on Instagram and you're seeking simple, proven Instagram marketing strategies that actually work, you're in the right place.

01:05

Let's dive in.

01:16

Welcome back to the show. I am so thrilled that you have joined us today because I am bringing on the most fun guest. Let's just start with that. This girl is fire. You may have seen her dancing on her treadmill or lip syncing to 90s music on social media, but even though she's super fun, it's not all fun and games, okay? She has her own social media company. She runs a conference every year.

01:44

talking about Britney Crossan y'all let's welcome her to the show Brittany welcome. Yay! hear the crowd? Yay! We need like a sound effect. okay so that was just like me riffing your intro but I want everyone to really know who you are so I'm gonna roll out the red carpet and formally introduce you so today on the show we have a social media thought leader Brittany Crossan.

02:10

She is the founder and creative director at Fun Love Media, a creative marketing agency specializing in organic social media content creation and strategy. She was the host and executive producer of the Social Sunshine podcast for five years, and she founded Social Success, the most fun and exciting annual in-person conference that helps creators and marketers level up.

02:39

their social media skills. As a lifelong performer, Britney has appeared in numerous productions, including stage plays, musicals, television, and film. And as life got busier with parenthood and business ownership, Brittany turned to social media as a way to entertain audiences.

02:59

With over 40 million views on social media and counting, inspires audiences all over the world with her post the effing video message. I love that about her. She believes that no matter your age, your looks, your background, you can transform your business and life with the power of social media. Welcome to the show Brittany. Thank you for having me. I love that intro. It doesn't happen all the time, but like, please give me more.

03:29

I love that I also like intro'd you twice, but like this is how much I love Brittany. She is to me like the perfect package of a human because you're just so fun and you're so smart and you know about strategy and business and all the things and Brittany and I originally met on Instagram because we are both dancers. We both love to be silly and goofy in our content and I remember us connecting and going back in the DMs and

03:58

We are just so aligned in that energy of like, just post the video, right? Right. Yeah, just go for it. Just go for it. Easier said than done though, right? Yeah, so we're gonna get into that today so you, my beloved listener, know exactly how to do that. Our topic today I'm really excited about, it's all about shareable storytelling on Instagram and social media because it's a huge part of

04:25

really boosting and growing your visibility on social media. And Brittany is a total expert in this space. So Brittany, first and foremost, can you tell us like, what does that even mean to increase your visibility on social media? And why does that matter for businesses and brands? Increasing your visibility on social media means essentially getting more eyeballs on your content. And that can be new eyeballs or ones that already follow you. Honestly, both matter.

04:55

very much, but increasing that visibility is important because it's the whole point. Like, if we're not visible on social media, then what are we doing? We have to be seen, and you can do it in different ways, of course, but we need to be seen by the right people in order to accomplish our goals, no matter really what the goals are.

05:19

Yeah, that's right. I love that. Because I always say, like, if people don't know you exist, if they don't know your product or service exists, they can't buy it from you. Right? Exactly. And it's a tricky subject, as you know, because numbers on social media can be tricky. First of all, they used to be like fake as hell for a long time, right? Like people were buying followers left and right back in the day. I don't know if people still really do that much, but

05:44

That was a thing. So that kind of skewed the view of numbers on social media. And then also, I think the whole comparison thing, like I don't have the same numbers as that person, which is understandable to some degree. Of course, we're gonna notice what other creators and businesses are doing, but like everybody's goals are different, we're all unique snowflakes. And we need to keep our eye on our goals because I always say not everybody needs a million followers.

06:12

Some brands genuinely benefit from that, but most don't. So you have to know what you need as a brand or a business and get visible to as many of those people as you can in that target. Yeah, I love that because it's interesting. I'm in this Meta creators community and we get to go on calls with Meta and there's all these different.

06:38

creators and influencers in the room and not all of them are business owners or in that realm. But it was fascinating to me because there was people in there with like 400,000 followers, a million followers and they're just like so frustrated. They're like, I'm not growing. I'm not getting followers anymore. And I'm just thinking to myself, when is it ever enough? You know what I mean? And I feel like when it comes to marketing and business, I love that you're highlighting the importance of

07:08

It doesn't have to be a specific number. It's like the quality and it's knowing that it's the right followers, meaning people who are your ideal client or customer prospects. Exactly. Who it is matters. And I have like a balanced look at it. I think it's really great to strive for bigger numbers, but striving for bigger numbers has different meaning. Does that mean striving for a million followers? Or does it mean that you have, you know, 500 right now and you're striving for a thousand?

07:35

So the actual end number is not necessarily the focus. It's just making sure it's increased and then hopefully gradually increasing just always, just always gradually increasing the best that you can. But like those people you're talking about with a really big following that want even more, I mean, I don't know, maybe like certain brands, you just kind of get to a big ass number and like that's the number maybe. Maybe it's not gonna be more than that and that's okay. As it's helping you with your visibility and accomplishing your goals.

08:05

Okay, love that you just said, just listen to the last piece of what Brittany just said, accomplishing your goals. Because I think a lot of times as businesses were in this treadmill of like, have to keep posting, I have to keep creating, I have to keep posting. And it's easy to forget about the end goal. And you have to be really clear on that to make sure that the content is actually going to move the needle for your business. for sure. And I think that it's understandable that maybe at first,

08:35

If someone is just like, I'm diving into this social media thing, I don't even know why, and I don't have a business yet. Oh, okay, fine. Like you're just gonna see what happens and trial and error, you may not know your goals yet, and that's okay. You you do have to give yourself some grace and some patience. You may not really know the role that social media is gonna play, because it's not always going to play the money role, everybody. It's not always necessarily gonna lead directly straight to transactional sales. Sometimes social media plays a different role.

09:03

in a business and it's brand awareness and it's community and it's just keeping in touch and keeping your customers informed on what's going on. Right. Like so there's so many different things that it's going to do rather than just that one transaction that one sale. And I think you just get in there and you figure out what it does for you and what feels right for you. I love that. That's such a great point because you're right when I think back on both my brands on Instagram.

09:29

It totally was experimental in the beginning. It wasn't like I was like, this reel is gonna do this one thing, right? I was just experimenting with, okay, what kind of content do I like to create? What kind of content is resonating with my audience? And it really was a lot of trial and error. So I really love that you said that because I think it takes some of the pressure off too and kind of allows space for everybody depending on their journey.

09:57

What I heard you say is that you don't necessarily even know, especially when you're getting started with growing a brand on social media, what it's gonna do for you because maybe you have this intention in the beginning, but then all of a sudden it leads you to other opportunities. Like I know for you and for me, we've landed opportunities because of dancing in our kitchens that had nothing to do with dance, but it was due to our...

10:24

our visibility that we created through dancing in our kitchen, right? Yes, exactly. You never know what it can lead to. And that's why I love it so much. It's so exciting. The opportunities for a business, a company, an organization, but also for an individual. Honestly, it's pretty magical. It's so magical. Oh, I love that. OK, so if people are listening and they're like, OK, I'm in, I want to grow my visibility, what?

10:48

is something they need to focus on in terms of their content and content strategy, specifically regarding the use of storytelling. Because I know that that's something that is so, important in 2025 and beyond. Storytelling is honestly one of the most impactful things we do as humans, period, in life. It's not just about social media. And a story can be a long,

11:17

a that's told verbally, a story can be a book, right? A story can be on social media, it can be one sentence of onscreen text that explains something, right? Like all of these things are different versions of storytelling. So when we say storytelling for social media, it doesn't necessarily mean you're just sitting there on camera literally telling a story from A to Z. It appears in different ways. And I think that's important for people to hear because I think that if you don't quite know how that translates on social media, that's what I mean. So it can be,

11:45

a really quick story that you can tell in two sentences or maybe a few visuals and you're real with one sentence or it could be longer. It always can be. But storytelling is just one of those things that humans already love. And if humans already love and receive it well, then why not use that as a tactic on social media? And people remember stories. It's very, very difficult for someone to remember when you told

12:13

everybody your business numbers and the cool big number you accomplished. It's neat, but that's not memorable. What's memorable, that story you told them at that time whenever you met that customer at their place of business and y'all were locked out because they brought the wrong key. That's what they're going to remember. I don't know where that story just came from. just made it up. I love it. Yeah. No, you're right. I love how you're highlighting how.

12:43

storytelling activates like a sense of belonging and connection that we all seek. And I think a lot of people come onto social media to connect and build bridges with other humans. feel that stories really build bridges. And of course, from a marketing business standpoint too, we know the whole.

13:09

people buy from other people that they know, like, and trust, right? So how do you build know, like, and trust? It's through showing up authentically and sharing your story. I'm curious about some just examples, and let's think about Instagram specifically. I know that there's different ways of doing this on different platforms, depending on.

13:32

you know, short form video or a carousel or a longer thought leadership post on LinkedIn. There's so many different ways of telling stories, but we love to talk about reels on the podcast because that's my favorite. That's my jam. They've been such a game changer for my business. So can you share a few ideas with our listeners about a storytelling formula or hook or maybe an example of

13:59

what a brand telling a story would look like or what a founder sharing a story would look like and maybe how that would even connect the dots for people in terms of showing up and marketing their business. Yeah, for sure. I can. I can give you a few examples. The first one I'm thinking of is, well, the first two I'm thinking of are associated with a client that I worked with for a long time. I personally worked really closely with them and it's a hair salon.

14:25

And so we created content for the hair salon for the company brand, but also for the owner and her personal brand. So it really was a cool experience to have the full well-rounded overall experience with them. A great example for the hair salon, so this would be for really any kind of business, with them, a big priority is education. And every single hairstylist that comes to work there has to go through their in-house education program, even though you have already gone through hair school.

14:53

And that's just so important to them. And it's just proven to be so successful because then everybody's like on the same level and understanding each other. We all learn the same things, da-da-da-da, and like the values of the company and all these things, right? So because that's so important to them, we were able to use that and use storytelling in reels in so many different ways. I mean, you could, there's tons of variables, obviously, tons of things you could do, but we would make sure that the visual, first of all, was there, we're in the hair salon. We are seeing hair salon action.

15:22

Because that you need to stop the scroll. If you don't stop the scroll, all of this doesn't matter. Throw it out. So we have the great visual somebody's doing here. Somebody's walking through the salon, whatever it is. And then on the screen, we're telling a story about education. And like after Sally completed the salon education program, her clientele blew up, but we're connecting it to the education. Right. So whatever the value is for the company and whatever is important for the brand. And then we're telling actual little bitty miniature stories of how that matters and how that makes them

15:53

Excellent and superior. Right. Now on the other side, an example with the business owner of that salon and just like a little storytelling thing on Reels, which actually, by the way, this reel got her over a million views, was talking about the fact that she is not a hairstylist and never has been. And she owns this successful, it's a cool, that's such a good hug. Cause you're like, wait, what? You own a hair salon, but you're not a hairstylist and you've never been one? Yeah. You have this like successful hair salon for more than 20 years. You've never been a hairstylist. And some people,

16:22

Got pissed. You know what mean? Some people didn't like it, which is totally fine. Bring the engagement. That's good. Let's go. And some people thought it was just so impressive and amazing. same with that video. We had the visual. It was her walking through the salon, checking on some things, saying hi to a customer that was sitting. You know, these kinds of things. It looks beautiful. It's well lit. She looks great. And everything's on brand and perfect. And then on the screen, it's like, you know, something along the lines of like when you own Houston's top salon.

16:48

but you've never been a hairstylist a day in your life or something like that. Yeah. That's telling a story. Now it's very simple and it doesn't give you all the details because we don't have time for that in a reel, but that's a story. What that does is it helps people to get to know her better, get to know the salon a little bit better. It's interesting. And then it's like, wow, well then what'd she do? Now we're curious. And of course we're getting to know her with every single reel that goes out. So that's two different ways like from her personal brand versus

17:18

the business brand to tell stories, but you just do it in a way that makes sense for the brand to help accomplish the goal. Yeah, yeah, totally. I love that. I want to highlight a couple of things you said. One is there's a visual hook at the beginning of the reel. What we mean by that is like the video, the actual video that's being shot. there's what you described as like there's movement and the setting of the business and there's people. I always am like,

17:47

put people in your videos. I know there's not one way of doing it, but I'm a fan of that. So it was like a visual hook with a video. And then you also had a hook with that text on screen that really was the hook of the story. So for the personal brand where she said, I'm the owner of this salon and I've never been hairstylist in my life, in the caption, does she explain more context around that story? Does she deepen the story? Yes.

18:14

In that case, we would deepen the story. And sometimes story doesn't need to be deepened. It really kind of in the situation. And that could also be trial and error, like what even feels right for you whenever you're doing this. But that's always a great opportunity. And look, a lot of you aren't going to bother reading it. So like just as long as you know that you manage your expectations and you know that it's just really those like next level people, which is cool. That means they're next level people. They're learning even more about you or your brand. Then those are going to be the ones that are going to probably go on and read it.

18:41

So as long as you kind of understand how that works and manage your expectations, then cool. But that onscreen text is like everything. That's a huge, huge deal. And you get good at it. You get good at basically being your own copywriter. You get good at also editing things down. Like if it gets too wordy, how can we reword this? And you really do it. Practice can get really, really great at that, where it's incredibly powerful.

19:06

Yes, I totally do that when I'm writing out a hook. I'll look at it again. Like I'll write it how I would say it or how I'm thinking it. But then I look at it and I'm like, okay, what filler words are here? Okay, delete just, delete the. What words can I remove? So it's even more succinct and clear and just like pops more. Yeah, agree. I can't express how important that skill is. And if you don't...

19:33

do it well or you don't want to, then find someone that can. Because I'm telling you, once that is working for you, it is working for you. Yeah, totally. It is a skill. So another storytelling idea that's coming through to me that I want to share that I think is a simple framework, and I've seen you do this too, Brittany, is like an intro, what I would call an intro reel. And I tell my clients, like, try to do these at least once a month if you can.

20:00

I love doing them, but it's essentially like reintroducing you to your audience again. There's so many different ways you could do this, right? You could do like a direct to camera, like talking head video where you're just literally like, you you speak a hook and you have some highlights of your story, you know, whatever call to action, like drop in the comments below, like tell me what we have in common, you know, or something like that, right? It could be that it could be what I like to do. Cause I thought

20:28

would take me too much time to do that. So I'm like, I'll do something easier for me is I'll do like one of my dance videos, because you know, that's part of my background. And I'll do I'll film a video of me dancing that's like 15 seconds, which is sometimes it's like long, right? And then I'll use the text bubbles that like pop up to tell my story in the most succinct way. So it'll be like, Hey, I'm Elizabeth, CEO and mother of two, dot, dot, dot. And then like four seconds later, that goes away. And then it's like,

20:58

I built a multi six figure brand, blah, blah, blah. And then next thing, now I help small business owners leverage Instagram, you know, and I'm like working on my messaging. So it's like as easy as possible to read, but I've had a lot of great success with those videos. I introduced myself and then I have like a ton of texts that pops up on the screen, like all the different random facts about me, you know, like I'm a Libra, I'm a mother of two. I have ADHD, like whatever it is. And then.

21:26

I love using like top line of caption, like tell me what we have in common. And of course I'm speaking right now from the personal brand standpoint where I am the brand, like I'm building a personal brand. But of course you could do that from a company perspective, team perspective, founder story perspective, whatever. And those reels, I just feel like are so great at really leveraging your story to remind people like who you are and what you do because people forget, like, right?

21:54

And of course, attract new people into your field who are like, oh my gosh, who is this girl? I love that. Right. Yeah, for sure. That's a great way to introduce yourself. And like you were saying, if it's action on the screen, then at least there's also like that visual of keeping their attention in that way. So like for you, you're dancing or for somebody else might be doing something else. You always tell people like, if you know how to juggle fire, I better see you doing that on social media. Like don't keep your talents to yourself, people. It's time to shine. Now's your moment.

22:24

That's so good. Let's use what we've got. Like, why do we think that I am on there acting a fool and doing comedy stuff and like, yeah, that's what I got. So I'm using it, you know? So yeah, I love that you do the dancing and everything. It's a whole like, kind of like putting together, it's like a recipe, like all the ingredients, right? Like the visual hook, the hook and the copy and then, you know, but once you get that right combo. Yeah, it is. And there's so many examples of it right now. Like if you just

22:53

go on Instagram and you're scrolling with intention of, I'm gonna look for storytelling. Like after you listen to this episode, you're gonna go scroll and you're gonna look. You're gonna see storytelling everywhere. And it doesn't have to be as complicated as sometimes we make it out to be. That's definitely one of the goals I have for this episode. For you, my beloved listener, is that you're just like, oh, I can tell a story. Like, Brittany, I love how you said weave in those parts of your personality and skills that you have.

23:21

that is your it factor, right? Like that is how you get to be, you know, everyone's always talking about like be authentic. Well, yeah, if you can juggle fire sister, I want to see it. Like I want to see it on social media. Like that's such a great point, because I think especially when it comes to businesses and marketing, I don't know about your experience with your clients, but a lot of times when people first start to work with me, I'm trying to like break down their shell because anytime they start to record for their business, they get really buttoned up.

23:49

like deer in headlights and it's like they totally lost their personality. And it's almost like they're afraid that if they show more of who they are, it's going to be deemed like unprofessional. Yeah. I don't know. So I do think it's always a balance, right? Because you obviously have to think about your audience and all of that. But I just, think it is so important to, and there's different ways to showcase those parts of yourself too, right? It doesn't have to be in a reel. could be in a story or different formats, right? Right. Yeah.

24:19

For sure, for sure, for sure. I was gonna share something more recent that I've done, very specific, is really, really helpful for increasing the visibility on top of storytelling is when you can make it shareable. And I'm doing that, like what you're saying, like using talents and skills that I already have, right? So in my personal brand, but this could go for any kind of brand. I'm using those skills of like being an actor, being performer, being a dancer, cool. So we're gonna use that because why not? And it also makes me happy. I'm sure same with you.

24:49

Yeah, it makes me so happy. And if you enjoy making the content, then like you're decreasing the odds of quitting. So that's good because you're not going to quit something that you love doing. So I'm incorporating that those skills as a performer. But what I've been doing to actually grow my visibility, like exponentially is making it shareable because when people will share your content, you're it's a whole other ballgame. So you've got the storytelling, like what we're talking about, whether it's a

25:17

little snippet or a little bit more of an elaborate story. And they're getting to know you in that way. But for me, what I've done is I've shifted my storytelling just enough to where I'm basically acting as the voice for the viewer. I am able to kind of be their voice, like a better word. They will share it because my content that I shared represents them too. And I didn't just say me, me, me, it's all about me, me. It's a Britney show, but it's not.

25:46

The Britney Show, you know what I mean? I know what you mean. And so I've noticed that and that's why I was saying earlier, if you can get good with your words on the onscreen text, it's a game changer because I started doing that where I have like a lot of these videos recently are lip sync videos and they're to a certain target audience on purpose. Like everything is strategic. I'm sure the same with you. Like even down to the music choice, it's all strategy. And I'm aiming for a certain age range of people and

26:14

So I'm choosing things accordingly in my words and my music and all that. But because I am wording things in a certain way, they're willing to share it to their stories, to their friends and the DMs, repost it on Facebook or all these things you can do with sharing. And when that happens, the content explodes. Long story short, I would say somebody that's interested in doing that and really interested in seeing growth and that's a priority at this time for them is just really

26:42

try to tweak those words to where it's not me, me, me, me, me, only me. Make sure that if someone shared that with their best friend or their coworker, that it really would represent them. Does that make sense? Yes, no, you're doing such a good job because I know exactly what you're talking about. It's a small tweak, but a big difference. I totally know exactly what you mean. And by the way, I totally witnessed you doing this. I know that everything that you're doing is just so strategic.

27:10

and you are totally blowing up right now. Like you have so many videos that have gone viral on Instagram and TikTok and Facebook and you are totally killing it. So if you guys are like, what is she doing? Definitely, of course, go follow her and see what she's doing. It's very specific and so smart. I know exactly what you mean and it's really funny because I think a lot of people, especially who are just new in the social media marketing world or content creation world,

27:39

this is a really important reframe. So another way I would describe like an example of how this works, the shareable by tweaking your message on the screen is I did a video that went viral over a year ago. So it's not a recent video. It had a hook that said something like, when your last reel got 47 views and two likes and yet you're still showing up or like something like that. Super relatable.

28:07

Yeah, exactly. So that's super relatable. And people what's really funny is like, so Brittany, I love how you said, you're writing it from the perspective of the person that you want to share it, right? So think about how why I would pick that hook, because I'm trying to serve businesses and brands who are frustrated, because they're posting reels, and they're not getting great views or likes or any of that right in the engagement. So I'm writing as if I am them. Yep.

28:36

I don't know if this happens to you, Brittany, but I remember some people would comment and be like, oh, Elizabeth, it's okay, keep going. And I'm like, no, this isn't my problem anymore. This was my problem a few years ago. I'm actually highlighting my I've seen that sort of thing, yes. Have you seen that where they're like, oh, Brittany, I feel so bad for you that you're still hung up on your high school crush and you're like, girl, I'm I'm okay, this isn't about me. I'm trying to be helpful. Oh my God, that's so good.

29:03

That's a great one because you took the words right out of their mouth. And the same with like a lip sync thing of mine. Like it could be as simple as one that I shared yesterday, which was songs we sang along to as kids and had no business. And it's like a super inappropriate song. And I was like 11 when it came out and I just knew I was like in the backseat of my mom's suburban, like singing that thing, you know. And that's funny because that's relatable and that brings a certain community of people together because we all, get it. We're all in on the joke.

29:31

Or it could take it even a little bit more specific, but that's where it gets tricky. If I get too specific about my life, I lose people, but you also don't want to be too broad. It's a line to walk. But like, I also have some that help kind of incorporate everything together, like personality and lifestyle and the whole shebang. And it'll be like when you're a 40 plus working mom and someone asks what you do in your spare time, this is one I've used multiple times. And then it's...

30:00

skips a line that says this Janice because I called her Janice don't know why this is what I do on my spare time and the video is me just like a mess lip-syncing to some song and acting ridiculous you know with a drink in my hand one that's relatable right like yes or in my age range that are also 40 plus working moms are like yeah we only got like three minutes spare time and I'm gonna spend that three minutes

30:25

having fun listening to my music, having a glass of wine or whatever. Right, right. People are actually living that life and if they share it, it genuinely represents them. Uh-huh. And something they would want to say themselves, that maybe they just couldn't quite find the way to say it. It also helps like describe their personality and it's fun. Yes. And once you can get people sharing stuff and look, I focus on that like literally almost every single video I share.

30:51

It's like this cool challenge that I have for myself. Nope, how can you make that shareable? know, and I also learned that I can help clients and stuff like that. But yeah, does it have to be every post? Maybe you make sure that one of your reels each week, you're, say you're sharing three a week, I don't know, maybe one of them, it's like, it's going to be shareable. Damn it. It's, mean, we are focusing on that goal and we're going to make sure it's shareable. It's going to help you grow because not only are new people going to see it, but more of your existing followers. Cause unfortunately,

31:20

You know how goes, you can kind of fall out and like suddenly you like follow these people and like you haven't seen their posts in like four months. Yes. So it helps bring those people back also. I love this so much. It's such a good reminder. One way that I've been creating shareable content over on my dance studio page, not as much on my personal brand, but I do like to do it on my personal brand as well, is I do a remix.

31:46

of someone else's content, but I have like a really super savvy hook on there that is usually pretty hysterical. Like, so I actually have a remix of a mother daughter dance and they did this whole choreographed mother daughter dance. And I added a hook on the screen that says like POV when you got it from your mama, because they're just like totally dancing. And then there was already another text on the screen. And side note, I...

32:15

have totally learned best practices when you're remixing someone else's content, it's good to, in the caption, give them a shout out, like tag their handle and be like, video credit to Brittany Crossan, you know. I also will tag them in the video and then when I share it to my story, I will also tag them my story. Anyways, I used to only do like one of those things and now I've learned the more you can do the better, so people aren't just like.

32:42

Why are you using my content? Because they don't know how remixes work. But anyways, that is a lazy man's strategy to do what Brittany's describing. You kind of created a meme is really what you did. Yes. And that's another great way to have shareable content is memes or versions of them, whatever you want to call it. But that's essentially what you did. And people love sharing those. Yeah. I mean, if it makes sense for the brand, which it did because it was a dance and, you know, just brings everybody back.

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you're just getting more eyeballs on you, on your brand. when you're, as you know, obviously, when you're prepared behind the scenes for the rest of your process to lead people to buy your thing or to do your thing, whatever you're doing, whatever you're selling, and the people that are ready to get to know you more will go to your bio and they're gonna read and they're gonna, oh, click there and so on and so forth. Exactly, yeah, absolutely. And that one video that was so...

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relatable and shareable, got over a million views. And we got like 600 new followers. And yeah, you're not going to follow wedding dance coach unless you're preparing for a wedding, I would think. But maybe unless you just like to stock wedding dances, which I guess could be a thing. New hobby. Yeah, a new hobby. I love what you said, Brittany, which is that like essentially, this is where I think as businesses, we just need to be kind of clear on like having our back end pieces.

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you know, in place. like having your bio optimized. So it's speaking really clearly to your ideal client or customer and like having a really clear call to action of like, what do want them to do when they come to your bio and all those things. But then when you create that really fun, shareable content that is so relatable, then the people who do come over and they read it and they follow you, you know that they're like a really high value follower because you've done that homework of really optimizing and dialing in your customer journey.

34:38

Right, exactly. It's all connected. It can all be strategic and you don't have to just throw stuff at the wall and you can think it through and connect it all and then you get those results. Yeah. Like I said earlier, easier said than done. I mean, I know that all this stuff can get quite complicated. I mean, it's an entire job for me and for you. And so a lot of people are out there kind of like alone, but thankfully they have your show and a few other valuable resources. It's also funny how many social media experts there are.

35:07

in the world. Yes. We have to be careful. But I think that, you know, once people start consuming some content, then they can start to build trust for people. So it's good that you have this show because you're a reliable source. mean, really, because there's a lot of people in art, you know? Yeah. Well, OK, so this is so intuitive of you because I wanted to start to wrap up. I've been having a lot of fun with asking this question, which is what is a piece of Instagram

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advice that you wish people would stop listening to because like I have one recently that I'm like dying to share but like I know you have a lot too so like what is one thing that you're like please stop believing this lie or like please don't stress about this there's so much bad advice out there and it kills me because people get so confused and then they end up hating Instagram and social media and I'm

35:58

No, it's just it got too complicated or you're focusing on the wrong things or whatever. Recently, I've seen a couple of things and like what they're saying is not true. And also the way they're saying it is really the biggest problem. Whenever someone who's trying to teach you about Instagram, it gives you a very black and white matter of fact, it's my way or the highway. It's just this way. It's just that way. This is not good because

36:22

There are so many variables, there's so many ways, there's so many factors, everybody's different, and not everybody can follow the same plan. So that's a first kind of red flag. If somebody is telling you, have to do something on Instagram only this way, I mean, there's only a few of the basic skills you would have, like as an Instagram creator, beyond everything is gray, it's all kinds of different variables, right? Yes. An example of that is hashtags are dead. Like- Oh my God. First of all,

36:51

They're not, shut up. They're not dead, stop saying that. Second of all, calm down. Everybody should know, we all know what a hook is now. That's a hook. They're trying to hook you and get your attention. This is like a news headline, right? And I saw one the other day talking about reels. Reels are dead. Because they were trying to say like use carousels more. I was like, Oh, geez. You can't start with that because that makes you sound like you're trying to tell people don't make reels, which is the dumbest thing ever. You should always make reels. Yes.

37:21

Anyway, whenever people do that, they're using these skills to their advantage to get your attention. But then when you go to read on, it's like, they kind of explain more. It's just so tricky. It's clickbait. It's total clickbait. And it's not cool. Look, hey, I love like a salacious, cool hook and everything. But like, not when it comes to something like that. Whenever you are trying to tell somebody, don't do this, and you're trying to make it sound like it's this way or that way.

37:47

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Thank you for saying that. I actually haven't even brought the whole hashtags are dead thing up on the show. Every day. I don't know. they're not dead. So everybody listening, hashtags are not dead. It's just that I think the context around that conversation is, and Brittany, you can totally elaborate on this. If I'm missing anything, this is my understanding is that, you know, years ago, hashtags were so important on Instagram because Instagram wasn't search engine optimized really at that time.

38:17

it was minimal, right? So the hashtags were so important in terms of, you know, classifying your content. It's not that they're not important anymore, but it's just they're important in like a different way. like Brittany, how would you describe it? Well, I would just say that there's not as much writing on it as there used to be. It used to be like, pretty much essential. Like if you didn't have hashtags back in the day, and not even that long ago, like literally I'm talking like a year ago and like 2023 and earlier, like really.

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and you didn't have at least like three or four really great hashtags, then you probably weren't gonna be found very easily. But now Instagram's SEO abilities, in my opinion right now in 2025, still aren't as good as TikTok, but it's improving. And so I just think that now instead of, know how, what was it you can use how many? You can use 30 or you can use 20 or hashtags in a post. There was like a limit, but it was really big. What we do at FunLove Media and what I do personally,

39:15

is I still use them, I just don't use 20 or 30 or whatever it is. Scaling it back, we're just calming it down. So they're not dead and they do matter. And they still also help tell the platform because it's kind of like giving the platform keywords essentially. Exactly. Three to six, not 20. The way that I teach hashtags to my clients is...

39:36

basically like don't stress about how many you use. know, like don't be like, oh my God, I have to use five or like, like basically don't spend a lot of brain space on it. But they still are important in terms of like classifying your content and telling the algorithm what the content is about. It's not the only way that the algorithm knows what your content is about, right? It can read the text on your screen. It can look at your caption. It can look at all the keywords and

40:01

every piece of your content. So it's not the only indicator of like what your content's about. But what I tell my people is that your hashtag needs to just be very specific to the content that you're creating in that moment. like Brittany's hashtag would be like hashtag 90s music, hashtag over 40 women, or I'm just making this up, hashtag like old school music, right? Because if you looked at her video, like all those hashtags would make sense with her reel. But a lot of people make the mistake of like

40:31

they're posting a video about their business and they're walking outside, you know, in the fall and the whole point of the video is to maybe teach a concept in their business. But then they're like, hashtag fall leaves, hashtag I love fall. it's like, no, the video is not about fall, even though you're walking in the fall, it's about this topic. So that's kind of how I describe it is like your hashtags need to be really specific in terms of the keywords that would match that piece of content. Yeah, I agree completely. Like you can get more specific. You don't have to

41:01

have a million of them and you don't have to be as broad as what you did back in the day. Because it's just, it's less pressure. It's like, it's piece of the puzzle now rather than like one of the only pieces. Yes, yes. But I just don't like this. Black and white. They're dead, don't ever use them. It's like calm down, just that's not really the case, you know. People wanna get attention. Yes, the one that kills me and like one of my private clients asked me this recently and she was just like.

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So I saw this reel and it said that like, have to go in my settings and if I like turn on these certain settings, like it'll help my content to be seen by more people. And I'm like, if there was just like magic settings that you would like turn on that would like make you go viral or something, everyone would do that. To me, that is like total BS. Like obviously you need to have a public account. Like you need to have your content shown to the public. But besides that, there's not like a magic setting that like all of those settings are like default settings on Instagram.

41:58

They are and that's I've seen those videos and I'll be like wait at first like when I first start right you second guess I would look at my phone. I'll be like wait do I have this? Yeah And then you look and you're like wait, that's the default setting like I just wasted a minute of my life Oh my god. Oh my god. Okay. This is amazing. I so love

42:21

this conversation, I have one more question for you regarding like business and everything. If people are listening and they're like, people are always curious about like, how often should I be posting on Instagram every week for my business? Do you have any thoughts? Because I know you work with so many different companies, you mentor them. I'm just curious how your approach on that. For us, for our clients at my company, we really approach quantity based upon, of course, their goals.

42:51

And we're doing organic, we're not doing ads, right? So as long as it's great quality, which we're professionals and that's what they're hiring us for, so it's going to be, then the more that you post in that situation, the more likely you are to reach most goals in a shorter amount of time. But it's funny because we have some clients that don't even care.

43:21

about having an aggressive approach to social media because maybe that's not really how they're bringing in sales leads. We talked about that earlier. You know, it serves different purposes, social media. So a great example is we have an interior design client and we're doing two Instagram posts per week. Only Instagram, no other platforms. Two per week, that's it. And she doesn't really ever post anything extra herself. It's just us doing that. And it's been...

43:46

Amazing. She's actually, she's gained business. She has like this cool Instagram online portfolio thing going on to show all her work, you know, like it's actually been amazing for her. So again, it goes back to knowing your business. So choosing that quantity really depends on the situation. But I would say that if someone is in a situation where you feel for your brand, that you do really need the bigger numbers to thrive, then I do think that you should be posting a lot. I think that you should be posting.

44:14

At least five times a week if you really are like truly needing those numbers. Now, only a smaller percentage of brands actually need the numbers. Or you just want to, because you think it's cool and funny, you want to grow and I don't know. That's the way I judge it. It's like, what is the end goal? Yeah. Well, with us, like, I usually almost never recommend somebody only post once a week when they're paying us, because it's like you're paying someone to create this stuff. Like, let's, the most bang for your buck. The general answer, I, but.

44:43

It's all very situational and your end goal. Yeah. No, totally. There's so many different variables, right? Because this actually came up at one of my, I had a coaching call this morning with my clients. Like I did a masterclass for them and this came up and a great example is that one of my clients has grown her business big enough to have a social media manager. So because she has that person,

45:08

editing her content and posting it for her. She's still, you know, the creator, the filming and all, and doing all of that. But she has someone to help her. And because she is at that level, she can produce more content. She actually does like two reels a day. She does way more than I do. And then I have other people who are more like me, where they're doing a lot of their own content. And so for them, it's like, okay, if I can do like four really high quality reels a week,

45:38

and hang out my stories, like I'm good. That's a good target for me. So I think it's all dependent on your team and as you said, your goals because there's also seasons of my business. I'm actually in one right now where I haven't been posting as many reels as I normally do because I'm building out these back end systems of my business. And that's honestly where I need to be focusing all of my energy.

46:04

And that's okay because I know Instagram is gonna be there and I can like turn up the fire when I'm ready again. You know, I can turn up the heat and drop more content and do all of that. But sometimes it's okay for me to step back because of my business goals and priorities at that time. So I love how your answer honestly is just sort of like, it depends. And I know that that's so hard when you're listening, cause you're just like, well, I don't know what to do. But I will be real with everybody and say that if you are

46:34

in a position like you're saying, the client of yours has some help or you just get better and better at it. You're more skilled at creating content. So like you can do more of it easier or whatever. If you can share more and it's good stuff that you're proud of and all that, please do, please do. Like I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that it's okay to just do it whenever you want to. I'm not gonna tell you it's okay for even a lot of brands to only post once or twice a week, even though we had that.

47:02

kind of cool lucky situation with that one client at twice a week. I do encourage people to share more just so long as you have gotten to a place to where you're creating stuff that is effective. Yeah. If it's not effective and you share 10 times a week, well, that's silly because it's not effective. If it's effective, dude, take it and run with it, especially when you start gaining momentum and you have something that's getting a lot of views.

47:31

That is not the time to slow down. No, that is so true. Because when the algorithm's on your side and your stuff's being shared and you're going viral, you got to ride that wave. You ride the wave and also do more of what's working. Like we do this thing where we all want to reinvent the wheel. I understand. I understand. We're creative people. We're like, oh, let's try this other thing. But you know what? If you've got something that's working right now, I'm always like, ride that. Until the wheels fall off. Yes. Yes. And you're so good at that.

47:58

Why not? You know, I just kind of like give the people what they want kind of thing. Oh, absolutely. Repurpose ideas that I've already proven to work. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. That is gold. I love that. All right, my darling, I am so grateful for your time. If people want to follow you, work with you, go to your conference, like give us all the goods. And of course, we will share all of your links in the show notes as well.

48:25

Yeah, come join the party. Follow me under my name, Brittany Crosson on Instagram is like my hub, my love, my, you know, you know, we share that to you and I both, but I'm sure most people listening love Instagram, but I also am Brittany Crosson everywhere else. Facebook has been wildly successful. That's a whole other story. So don't sleep on that. And I'm on TikTok and I'm on LinkedIn and you can go to funlovemedia.com to find out what we do at my company.

48:55

Oh, so good. And does FunLove Media host your conference? So if they want to learn about your conference, is it on there or is that a different website? There's a tab on the website called Social Success. That's the name of the event. So you can just click there and you can get on the wait list for next year and just kind of like see some pictures and learn of how it's gone in the past. It's really, really fun. We're not called FunLove Media for nothing, you know. I mean, hello, have you met Brittany? Well, now you have and now you get why she's so fun.

49:24

and now you're gonna go watch her content and then you'll really get it. Or maybe you'll run, but you know what, whatever works. Whatever works, whatever floats your boat. Okay, well thank you again, Brittany, for being here. I so appreciate you. This conversation was so fun and I just appreciate you so much. Thank you, thank you so much. I appreciate you too. That wraps up another episode. Thank you so much for being here. I hope you loved my conversation with Brittany. I hope you...

49:53

are going to go create some content that shares your story. And definitely your homework this week, I know you love when I assign you homework, is I want you to create one shareable piece of content. I want you to write that hook from the perspective of your ideal audience, write it in their words and see if you can get it shared to boost your brand visibility. If you got so much out of today's episode,

50:21

Please share it with a business bestie or colleague. I so appreciate you just spreading the word about this show. I pour my heart and soul into it every week for you and I would so appreciate you dropping some love, leaving a review, sending me a message on Instagram and I cannot wait to strut it with you next week. Thank you for listening to Strut It. If you're ready to start leveraging Instagram to grow your business,

50:49

then you're gonna wanna grab my free Monetize Your IG Guide, where you'll learn seven simple and proven ways to finally make money on Instagram. You can grab your guide at ElizabethMarberry.com slash freebies. That's ElizabethMarberry.com slash freebies to get my Monetize Your IG Guide. If you got some incredible value from today's episode,

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Be sure to leave a review and subscribe on your favorite PodCast platform, and I cannot wait to start it with you again next week.