Ryan White is a social media influencer and the CEO of Social Revelation.
SocialRevelation is a 7 figure marketing agency that helps businesses and personal brands increase their digital footprint and brand awareness online.
In this episode, Ryan White shares Instagram tips and tricks for startup founders.
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Show Notes
You are listening to the Manos Accelerator podcast in partnership with Google Launchpad. We interview rockstar entrepreneurs who share their exact formulas for success in customer acquisition, growth hacking, fundraising or scaling. And I’m your host, Juan Felipe Campos. Manos Nation, there is no better way for you to support the production of this podcast than by giving us a review and a 5-star rating on iTunes. Let’s help each other out: I will send you a list of 100 grants to fund your startup if you review the podcast on iTunes and then tag us on A social media post. Ok, it’s very easy— Step 1: Support us by rating this podcast 5 stars on iTunes, Step 2: tag Manos Accelerator on a social media post, and Step 3: I’ll send you a list of 100 grants for your startup.
Juan: 00:54 Hello and welcome to another episode of the Montas Accelerator podcast. Today we have a very special guest, Mr. Ryan White. Thank you so much for coming on the show.
Ryan: 01:02 Juan, I appreciate you having me, man. I can’t wait to drop some value to your audience.
Juan: 01:06 Yes. And Ryan, tell us a little bit about your background.
Ryan: 01:09 Yeah, so I’m, I’m uh, I’m Ron White, obviously I’m from a small town called Lakeland, Georgia town. I’m about 3,300 people are recently upgraded their back in 2013 to one Robbins, Georgia. Tell them about a hundred thousand people. And then June of 2018, I actually moved to Atlanta, Georgia, which is where I’m currently residing now. I was a private baseball instructor after I graduated college. I, so I played collegiate baseball for those who know me, you know, that was pretty much the core of my life from literally the time I could walk. I had a bat and a ball in my hand. And uh, so I went on to play college ball on a baseball scholarship, graduated with a degree in accounting. Um, didn’t really, you know, like the accounting kind of mindset and just the whole workload there. So I kind of transitioned back into baseball where I was a private baseball instructor and coach from 2013 to 2017 and then march of 2017 I kind of started this side hustle, which is now known as social revelation, which I am now doing full time. Um, so our first full fiscal year was actually 2018 we’ve now grown and scaled it very quickly into a seven figure business. And in essence what we do there is, you know, we just help business and personal brands increase their digital footprint and brand awareness online through like social media platforms
Juan: 02:20 and rapid fire. Right. And can you share with the audience some of the highlights of the business as it is today? Like what are some of the cool things that some of the cool clients you’ve worked with?
Ryan: 02:27 100%. So, uh, we have 600 clients from all over the world, but we went out and, and, and develop non partner agencies who now white label in resale our services, which is cool. So we’ve met, you know, some of my best friends, you know, that I’ll have for the rest of my life who actually be at my wedding in 30 days. You know what I mean? We have basically went out and form partnerships with those people. But, um, another cool little fun fact that I like to tall sand that people think is awesome is, you know, Dwayne Johnson, the rock actually follows my brand on Instagram. So you know, he’s only follow them like 300 people. And so we’re actually the only social media marketing company. So we get a lot of foot traffic from him to us.
Juan: 03:01 And you’ve done this very quickly, Ryan, you certainly know something about Instagram that most of us don’t. So what is it that you can share with the audience about how to grow an Instagram brand and also be able to monetize it or turn that into traffic, uh, for our SAS or our tech products?
Ryan: 03:15 For sure. So, so the biggest thing is getting real clear cut on who it is that you are. It’s kind of like with, with Pr, social media is all about how you want to be perceived by others, right? So we can present ourselves online and in such a way that we can kind of control that whole image. And so it all starts, like for me, I’m very Instagram focused and so I tell people a lot of times like get clear cut on who you are in your bios. So your bio is, you know, a cold leads, first impression of you. And I like to tell people that it’s kind of like your resume, you know, when you land on my page, you know, if you’re, if you’re a seven figure earner or you know, you’ve went out and you’ve, you’ve gotten a such a ward or achievements that, you know, like for instance, you know, if you’ve been featured in Forbes, Inc entrepreneur or anything of that nature, put that in your bio because it’s only adding credibility to you as a person or your business or your brand or you know, if you’re, if you’re a tech startup, you know, to, to that startup, right?
Juan: 04:08 So you needed to start generating some awareness. And you know, again, if you as a personal figure, as a founder, as a CEO or as someone who works for the company, if you can leverage the fact that you’ve been in a major publication or you’re a seven figure earner, you know that’s only going to going to help your case. You know what I mean? And so a lot of times it’s just getting real clear cut on what your end vision is. How do you want to be perceived? And then really structure that in your bio and a resume type format.
Juan: 04:34 Right? So what I see a lot of startups fail to do is they, they don’t get that clarity about what it is that they stand for or what it is that the company is, what it is that the value proposition is for the end consumer. And so you beat these bios and you see the content feed and it’s just a hodgepodge of all kinds of different things. Sometimes it’s behind the scenes. You see something from a pizza party, then you see people traveling, then you see, and it’s like, I don’t really understand what this is all about. And that is a problem for new visitors’, right? If they can’t understand the essence of the founder of the essence of the company very quickly. And that’s what you’re speaking to is having that clarity about what it is that how it is that you want to be perceived. So let’s say someone’s listening to this and they’re like, okay, got it. I do feel some conviction around that. My feed is a little messy. I’m trying to talk about too many things at once. Let me just boil it down to one or two things that I want to be known for. They take action there. What’s the next step then to grow and then ultimately drive traffic from that?
Ryan: 05:27 Yeah, for sure. So, so there’s a couple of different ways obviously. So once you kind of have your bio’s set up the way you want to, a lot of times what I do as it’s all starts with your posting feed for sure. The type of content you’re putting out. So a little strategy that I use is I actually break my columns down into categories. So like on my personal page, it’s a lot easier to get structured and organized and build consistency in your life around your posting if you were, again kind of structured. And so for me, I have one column which is geared towards the business aspect of my life, right? I have another column which is geared toward like motivational quotes, you know, because I’ll throw out stuff and tidbits because a lot of people follow me based on just the value that I can give them in terms of you know, entrepreneurship, social media, marketing, digital marketing, net sword.
Ryan: 06:08 And then my third column is kind of broken down into more of my personal life. So you know, again, to kind of give people a little bit more of a behind the scenes look into who I am versus just this guy who is standing on stage. When we start talking about growth strategies, again, we could have a 45 minutes segment on that. But the first thing before we even start talking about growth and monetization and all that type of stuff is it really comes down to there has to be a mindset shift in which is what I talked to my class about, where you’re seeing social media as a business rather than just getting on, getting on it for fun, for pleasure. Right? So you see people always on their phone and they’re just constantly scrolling through their feed and they’re killing just hours and hours of time.
Ryan: 06:46 That could be going into actually generating more of a follower base, right? Or, or monetization strategies that they could put in a place. And so it’s really just trying to take a step back, go, hey listen, I, every time I get on this app, which is what I do, I’m going to, I’m going to get on here, I’m going to spend, you know, 15 to 30 minutes. I’m going to be very, very proactive in moving mass situation forward in my business and not just killing three hours by looking at what, you know, Joe blow was doing last weekend on Friday night.
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Juan: 07:58 Definitely it’s making that mind shift change of becoming a creator and not just a consumer of the platform. Right. And that’s something that if you, you know, so you probably see this all the time, Ryan, people are like, well, there’s no way that I could create as much content as you are because I don’t have that kind of time. And you’re like, I also don’t have that kind of time, but the only time I ever opened Instagram, it’s deposed or the only time I ever opened Instagram, it’s to grow. So you do have the time, you just have to change your time on, on the platform.
Ryan: 08:25 Oh, 100%. And everybody’s situation’s different. One. Um, you know, but again, when I started this company, you got to understand I was working a full time job. So I not only was I trying to build my personal brand, but I was working, you know, 40, 50, 60 hours a week just like everyone else. And so we all start somewhere. Okay. And you get better at it, but you’d have to understand, you’re never going to get any traction at all if you’re not putting in the time. You know, I had some, a client actually before we got on here, text me and said, hey, you know, I just, I’m not being able to get enough content up as I would to, and so I’m thinking about, um, you know, do I, do I need to be in these engagement pause and stuff of that nature, you know, to, to basically take my account to the next day when I say, Hey, here’s the reality.
Ryan: 09:05 You’re investing literally hundreds of dollars a month into your brand on social media. The fact of the matter is, what are you doing? You know, if you’re not taking the time to create content, you know, you’re, you’re just, you’re, you’re basically rolling down the window and throwing, you know, $500 a month out into the wind. You know, if you’re going to invest $100 a month into your brand, why are you not taking the time, you know, to, to, to focus on your content creation to 2% yourself the way you want to be presented and move your business forward. You know? And so, so that’s just kind of where we have to, sometimes we have to just be blunt with our customers and go, hey listen, you know, if you don’t have the time then go hire someone who does, who does have the time. But the point is is if you’re going to be on social media, social media is driven by content. So you know, it makes it, it really makes no sense for you to be investing hundreds of dollars a month if not thousands to some of our bigger clients. But you know, you say you don’t have the time to create content. It’s just like, if this doesn’t make sense. So
Juan: 10:02 yeah, and there’s a partnership there when we as founders start working with agencies that are kind of like the growth engine of our social media efforts. But like that’s fine. Like, let’s say someone is working with you and you’re running that growth engine, but if the creators that client are not actually creating more content is what you’re saying that you’re, you’re studying your own growth and just running the growth engine under something that isn’t actually creating a community around the content that you’re posting is a missed opportunity. So on the one hand you’re saying get clarity about what it is that you as a founder are you as a startup or offering. The number two is post consistently. That’s super important and the easiest hack is to just set a little schedule for yourself. Even if it’s like two or three buckets of themes that we’ll just keep you accountable for. Have I posted that day on that theme and that way you don’t have unlimited possibilities looking for lightning to strike you with creativity. You have a pattern and a process for it. And then w what does time spent on the APP actually look like if we, if we want to grow it, do you recommend we’re dming people? Are we commenting, are we engaging with other content? What does that look like? If we’re just actually spending time on it trying to grow.
Ryan: 11:05 Yeah, for sure. So, so people’s, Tom, I mean obviously you don’t, it’s all relevant to come into your situation. Like for me, I can, I’ve gotten so big now I don’t have to spend as much time because I’m kind of now the salt after. But when you’re very first starting out, if you’re less than 10,000 followers, you know you have to go create those ripple effects, right? So, you know, the easiest way to do it is again, make sure that all the time you are spending on the APP each day is being geared towards again, pushing you forward. Right. You know, we, we want to make sure that we have that momentum and so a good way to do that is to figure out, you know, where, where is the core of my audience base? You know, again, if I’m a baseball instructor, when I first started out, I’m like, okay, well where are the people who were interested in baseball?
Ryan: 11:46 Okay, well let’s be realistic. They’re probably following, right? Bryce Harper. Okay. Mike Trout or major league baseball. Okay. The actual at MLB. So it would make sense for me every day to go spend my time actually interacting within that community. So if they’re following Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, or major league baseball, and I’m a baseball guy and I’m posting baseball specific content, by me interacting within that community is going to bring awareness right to, to, to obviously my personal brand. And when they get to my page and they see the baseball specific content, there’s an instant connection right there and I’m more inclined to convert a lot more of that traffic.
”You have to understand: you're never going to get any traction at all if you're not putting in the time.
Ryan WhiteCEO of Social Revelation
Juan: 12:23 Right? So it’s just a matter of asking ourselves, who has my ideal target audience? You know, who, if I could like steel, you know, ethically anyone’s followers, whose followers would that be? Exactly. When you searched the Hashtags, you look for the influencers, you try to find the accounts that are posting the content that already has the audience you want. And then it’s as simple as looking at the people that are commenting on those posts that are actually engaging there, that are following those accounts and then interacting with them. And the moment that they get a message from Ryan White, they’re like, who is this guy? Then they go and check out your profile and because you’ve been super one dimensional about what it is that you want to be known for, you’re like, I’m all about baseball, trophy, trophy, trophy, check this out. I’m like, super. Yeah, one dimensional with my topic and what I’m content creating around that. Then you get a really high follow back rate, right? For sure are actually like, okay, this is awesome. I liked this guy, I’ve never met him, but he’s talking to me and I see what he’s all about.
Ryan: 13:16 Yup, and if you’re putting out good content, again, that’s why it’s so important, but if you’re actually getting value in whatever niche or Geo location that that is your own. If you’re a brick and mortar company, you can do the exact same thing when people who are uploading photos and whatever city that you’re in. Right? If I have a gym in downtown Atlanta, I could literally go interact with the community of people who are uploading to Atlanta, Georgia every day and so again, it works obviously a lot better if your niche specific but 100% it can also work for for Geo based businesses and so when I was first starting out I was, I was in baseball as you said, I know this tactic work because again, I was growing my personal brand over 10,000 new followers per month and so I was, that’s how basically I started scaling because I’ll, I was generating a lot of attention to myself.
Juan: 14:01 Okay. There you have it. Mondo station, Ryan White has grown a seven figure business on the backbone of Instagram and digital marketing. He has worked with over 600 customers in the last two years and was growing his own accounts by over 10,000 followers a month using the strategies that he shared with us, namely having focus on what it is that you want to be known for, number one. Number two, posting consistently and having a set protocol for the kind of content that you post so you can hold yourself accountable to whether or not you’re publishing consistently and finally engaging with the right communities so that when people see your comments, people see your dms, they go back and you’re going to get a very high followed back rate. They want to follow your content because you’ve been one dimensional because you’re posting valuable content for them. Okay. Mahnaz nation, do not forget my offer to help each other out. I’ll send you a list of 100 grants to fund your startup. All you have
Juan: 14:52 to do is leave a five star rating on iTunes and then tag mottos accelerator on a social media post. Again, leave a five star review on iTunes and then tag amanos accelerator on social media to receive a list of 100 grants to help you fund your startup. See you on the next one,
Juan: 15:11 Ryan, as you continue to grow and take her career forward, where’s the best place for people to stay in touch with you and learn more about what you’re doing? Yeah, for sure. So obviously Instagram on my Instagram handle was at Ryan White. If you want to check out my website as well, it’s just official Ryan, white.com. Perfect. Ryan, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing all this with us, Shauna. I appreciate it.
Ryan: 15:30 She hasn’t any wine and I know we’ll do a bigger things, more collaborations in the future as well.
Social Media:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanwhite12/
- Website: https://www.officialryanwhite.com/
- Website: https://www.socialrevelation.co/
