speaker-0: Everyone's creating content right now, but very few people are actually building visibility.
speaker-1: If they're doing one thing and they're doing it over and over again and it's not working and it's not getting them the results, it's time to maybe think outside the
speaker-0: I think now more than ever people crave that authenticity that AI kind of sucks out of the content world. Use it or lose it, essentially. Stop doubting yourself. Get out there. Get messy. It's not gonna be perfect. You'll get better over time.
speaker-1: Sure, user User. If you're a brand, if you're an individual, I think one thing that would stand out is your story. It has to draw attention in the first three seconds, honestly. So it could be something that would disrupt the viewer's attention.
speaker-0: Building your personal brand for me is ten times over ten gonna give you a better return of focusing just on your company branding.
speaker-1: People love the journey.
speaker-0: Everyone's creating content right now, but very few people are actually building visibility. This is the Algorithm Isn't Enough podcast, where we break down how brands can earn attention that is so hard to get right now. I'm Jade, the founder of Voice Scale, and each week I'm going to be sitting down with marketing leaders talking about what they're seeing, what's changing, and how they're staying relevant in the age of AI. Today, I'm joined by the beautiful, the talented, the stylish Kim Covert. Who's a creative director, social strategist, and photographer? So this isn't just about strategy, it's about the execution that cuts through the noise.
speaker-1: Thank you for joining me.
speaker-0: I love this. I'm so excited to chat because I've seen the work that you've created. It's for brands, it's for individuals. You're making people seen and heard in a way that not a ton of creatives are really doing in this day and age. So talk to me about you're you're in social, you're in creative, you're in photography. What are you seeing that brands are doing wrong right now when it comes to visibility?
speaker-1: You know, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what they're doing wrong, but in terms of where I'm at in my field, so I create content. And you can create content with anything, with a phone, with a camera. But I think one thing that brands are doing wrong is you create the content and you miss out on opportunities to grow in terms of rolling it out. So the proper way of or the proper use of The algorithm, the posting, the different platforms. So they're just kind of creating it and not making the most out of what they produce.
speaker-0: I think that's one thing. No, I love that. And I agree. It's like it's going out with no plan. They're like, all right, it's fun to just get it out and things are getting scheduled constantly with no real strategy behind it. Yes. Okay, let's see. And this actually tests my next question about brands creating content that looks good but that doesn't earn any attraction or attention. How do you think we solve this? So
speaker-1: Something that brands are doing in this day and age that looks good but doesn't really gain traction or doesn't really do much online would be hiring out a professional photographer-videographer, creating high-quality content, but then just sticking to that one thing that might not be working for them. So for me, and I'm sure you have experience in this as well, when I'm creating content for brands or for founders for individuals. I'm trying everything. I'm trying UGC. So I'm using my phone. I'm trying organic day in the life content for them. If that and sometimes that works. Actually, that works a lot more than the ad professional camera content that I've been creating. So if they're doing one thing and they're doing it over and over again and it's not working and it's not getting them the results, it's time to maybe think outside the box and not only rely on, well, it's professional grade ⁓ footage.
speaker-0: One hundred percent.
speaker-1: Not always the case. 100%. My most viral videos are just the most random phone. I didn't think about them, but I intentionally posted it because I mean I enjoyed it as part of my brand. It's something that I experienced as a human experience as we're talking about AI later. Yeah. And that's kind of what gained more traction than just nice looking content.
speaker-0: One hundred percent. I think now more than ever, people crave that authenticity that AI kind of sucks out of the content world. And so if someone can see something that just feels real and genuine, it makes all the difference.
speaker-1: ⁓ yeah, you can feel it. Yeah. No, there's there's a difference and you know, we're gonna talk a lot more about AI, but if you're a brand, if you're an individual, I think one thing that would stand out is your story. Yeah. I'm I crave human story. I wanna feel what you felt in that moment. And AI can create a story, but that doesn't resonate with the audience as we're craving human connection, like you said.
speaker-0: Exactly. Okay, so tying into what stops someone from scrolling, right? When you're building content, what are the things that you think hit the mark?
speaker-1: You know what? The hook, not gonna lie, the one thing that will stop someone from scrolling now is the hook. It has to be engaging, it has to create curiosity, it has to draw attention in the first three to three seconds, honestly. So it could be something that would disrupt the viewer's attention. Right. ⁓ so I think that's the first thing. And then of course, one thing that I just recently have been noticing is it's not necessarily just the type of content. It's not what's in the content. Because you can be we can be talking like this. It's the way you edit the story. It's the way you cut it up. It's the way you highlight what would draw attention. Yeah. Put it in the beginning and then kind of reel them in. So there's an actual recipe. There's an actual formula to creating engaging content that doesn't just look good but would actually stop you from scrolling.
speaker-0: One hundred percent. Actually and this is a funny thought, but I noticed this on TikTok ads, like right on the ads that they're like promoting some service product, whatever. They say the most wild things up front and you're like, Wait, I have to scroll back sometimes 'cause I'm like, did I hear that right? And it's so true because then to once you get that out, you can get into the real meat and potatoes, but you need something that gets people's attention. And at this
speaker-1: point the creators that get it that are on that level where they're just creating, they don't care what it is. It could be them eating spaghetti and throwing it at the wall. And then it could go into sometimes you just gotta see what sticks. Yeah. You know, it just it's different now. Cause now everyone's creating content. So you have to create something that will be engaging that would cat capture attention in the first three seconds. I'm funny. I love funny. I love entertaining content. I love something that would catch something that would catch my eye would be something that I just would not expect. And I think a lot of the times now that I've been working with AI, I'm getting a lot of AI random transitional videos on my feed. Yeah. And I think it's cool. Yeah. So, you know, it's a lot of different ways to to grab people's attention.
speaker-0: Freaking Lutley. And we spoke about AI, right? So let's talk about the AI of it all. How do you think AI has changed the way people are creating and perceiving content now?
speaker-1: So AI offers a lot of software or a lot of ⁓ tools. I see AI as a tool in creating content because it helps with the tedious little things where it could help with AI could help with the actual strategy behind it before you even go out to create the content. It could do research on a whole different market. It could it could do market research free before you even go out into the field to shoot content. ⁓ it could help with the actual editing process. And that's kind of where I'm at as a photographer, videographer, ⁓ and a content creator is I've been looking into these different tools like Higgs Field. ⁓ there's different engines in there that help create really creative ⁓ visuals in content. And I what were we talking about? I forgot. What was my
speaker-0: How does how does AI change the way content gets created and perceived?
speaker-1: So that's how it kind of helps with the creating side. But then when it comes to the how it's perceived, now we have automated ways with AI to post the content, to schedule the content, to go to all these different platforms. There's ways to edit types of videos that go specifically on these different platforms that would get that would gain engagement. ⁓ finding trending audio, helping with captions, with ⁓ anything that's going on right now culturally that's trending. Like it's As long as you use it as a tool for us, it's it's leveraged. Right. So w whether that be content, whether that be admin work, whether that be from the beginning stages of creating the brand to just continuously creating throughout the month.
speaker-0: Yeah. And that actually ties into the next question I was gonna ask about is AI creating more noise or better content? And I think you really answered it, as long as you're using it as a tool versus just saying, All right, the first thing it spits out, this is what I'm doing and it's out.
speaker-1: Yeah, because it could be used, people could use AI in creating content and just create mass generated content that has no story, that has no soul. But then you could use AI as a creative as leverage where you could tell a story and use the tools that AI has to offer to make it more visually appealing. Right. Or, you know, find AI can make music now. People can make scores based on the video that you create. So there's really ways. As long as you're using it in the right as or as long as you're using the right tools for what you need. ⁓ AI would elevate your content.
speaker-0: What are some of the markers of okay, I immediately know this is AI generated.
speaker-1: I mean AI is AI. It's gonna do its thing, you know. Now that I've been experimenting ⁓ alongside my boyfriend, he's also a videographer, we've been experimenting with Higgs field and just creating ⁓ people or things, it's still going to create something out of the normal. Yeah. ⁓ there's always that, but I think that's you know, in ten years that's not gonna be an issue anymore, the little extra fingers and ⁓ I think another thing is the clones. one thing that you could spot right away that it's AI would be the clones would be you could hear the vocals, you could hear the robotics in how they sound as they talk. ⁓ and and I think just as humans, we have that instinct where it's just it doesn't feel right. Yeah. You know, you if you kinda can tell. Yeah. But we are in the day and age now that it is kind of scary, that it's hard to differentiate now. It's hard to tell apart what's real and what's AI. Yeah. It's crazy.
speaker-0: It's nuts. And I'm of the camp of I don't mind AI. I I think it's a tool. It's empowering and enhancing me and my workflows daily. And I welcome it. And I even think brands that can lean in and own when it's AI, I think also makes a big difference. Cause if you're trying to kind of slide things under like, ⁓ it's here, it's real. And it's like not, just own it and say it's okay. Everyone's using AI. If you're not, you should be. But it's totally fine. To be using it, I think it's about just being authentic and honest about using it. So
speaker-1: Just recently I I did a graduation shoot with a creative writing graduate from ASU. And I was asking her about AI because she on ⁓ on her or in her defense, she's never used it. So she can't really say her experience. Yeah. But she's not really with the whole AI in terms of the creative writing, which I I I had to ask her, okay, so are you going into the angle of I'm going to be a creative writer with novels and but bios or and she she just she said that ASU is rolling out a lot of AI, but her ⁓ professors are really against using AI for any writing essays or projects. Yeah. And to me, ⁓ I feel like it's really nice to have still those people that are just I'm against AI. I'm only going to write with my heart, my experience. I love those. Yeah. And we need those, I feel like we're going to need those AI still need those people that want to be no, I am going to be completely human experienced in terms of writing, in terms of their art. Yeah. ⁓ but when it t when I could see AI going into our day to day life in ten years, it's gonna be nothing. That's already gonna be integrated into the human day to day experience, right? Yeah. So
speaker-0: It's just not everyone.
speaker-1: Now I'm just learning how to get ahead of the curve to just and I advise everybody, if you're a business owner especially, to start learning the basic tools of AI, whether that's chat GPTs, ⁓ whether that's Claude. Now we have AI to help you structure down to your laundry or down to your to-do list. Yeah, you know. So I think it's gonna be part of every day for everyone. One one of these days, it's not. It's not gonna be a big deal.
speaker-0: Yeah. And I love what you said about even the writing portion because me working in the thought leadership and personal branding space, a lot of my clients have been like, well, I don't want to necessarily be using AI to write. And I think it's an enhancement. It's not the everything. And so I think if you already have an idea, a thought, a plan, if you're like, this is what I want to say, here's how I want it to feel, I think really scripting and prompting your AI so that it it's actually matching what your intention is. But also we're gonna make sure like the spelling is now correct. Cause some of my clients I'm like, You okay, we need AI to clean things up, these small things, while it's still your voice and you putting it out there.
speaker-1: You said something about prompts. Yes. So that's where I asked her, okay, so you're a creative writing major. At the end of the day, what is your say on AI when it comes to the humans are the ones that are putting in the words to teach them, to give them the prompts? That's still, we still need creative writings to create.
speaker-0: The human touch. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-1: So we need create we still need creative writers to create AI generated what is it called? Like we we made it more human. Exactly. Yeah. So I mean
speaker-0: Use it or lose it, essentially. Hey, that's it or lose it. Exactly. That's true. 100%. Okay, so teetering a little bit. We're talking about the human aspect of it all, right? We've also noticed there's a shift in just the marketing space where people are more pulled to hearing from individuals versus brands. Why do you think that is?
speaker-1: True, username. Because individuals tell stories. We're talking about brands, like we're talking about companies that are kind of out of reach from the normal, the masses. Brands now they're getting better, but the a lot of the brands are bigger companies, don't have that human touch, so it's hard to gain trust. It's hard to have connection. But the founders, the brands, the or not the brands, but the founders and individuals. Those are the people that you can bring out their story. You can captivate the audience with their experiences. And that's what creates the trust. That's what the creates community. Yeah. And so I think ⁓ companies nowadays, I'm gonna give you an example of a brand that's doing really well with creating the human touch into their marketing. It's Duolingo. So Duolingo has created their mascot. Yeah. Has used their mascot and made it
speaker-0: Crazy.
speaker-1: into a human what is it called? Human not humanoid but like human ⁓ my gosh my brain I should have ate that before this. No just kidding. No but but duo the Duolingomascot is
speaker-0: It's an avatar.
speaker-1: It's an avatar. It's presented as a human avatar, basically. So now their content duo is doing memes. It's doing trends. And so it's reaching the masses with that human touch. So I think Duolingo is a really good example of a brand or a company that's still integrating the AI and the high-end content with human experience.
speaker-0: Yeah. And I think they're doing that well without having to put anyone as the face of the brand. Exactly. Right. I feel like there's tons of founders that are like, I don't necessarily want to be the person that's on the front lines. And honestly, I for me that's why I shifted my marketing agency in general. I was doing Fortune 500 branding and then I was like, this is boring and it's not telling the story. And that's why I shifted to personal branding, where we're able to actually hear from humans that are behind the scenes that are running the show. And I've noticed that people also want to hear Who is running this brand? Do I align with them? Do I feel like I relate to them? And that is how they're making their buying decisions.
speaker-1: Especially now with cancel culture. People wanna know. Yes. Our new what is it called? The the Gen Z. No, yeah. They they they are serious. Yeah. City brands, they will boycott you if you're against their values. And I I'm not against not at all.
speaker-0: And here's the thing: if you are a founder putting yourself out there and sharing your thoughts and what you believe in, absolutely fine. Just be okay with it. It will be polarizing. And that's okay. You don't need everyone to agree with you. And I think that's another reason why so many people stay silent. Cause you're like, I don't want to say the wrong thing. And it's like, say the wrong thing. That means you're getting rid of who's not for you and attracting who is, and that's what matters. It's uncommon.
speaker-1: that's uncomfortable. There's growing pains in that where you're like, do I really want to put myself out there? Right. Because then the self-doubt because now people are going to see everything that you think you or you believe in yourself. So just put it out there. Get your get your content out. It doesn't really matter. Yeah. So the right people will the right people will see you. The right people will reach out. And whatever your purpose is with putting that out there will
speaker-0: Be fulfilled. 100%. And I think also you have to think about it's more than about just you. And this is something I talk to my clients a lot about. You have employees, you have families. These are people that are relying on you to grow this business and to make things happen. And I think building your personal brand for me is 10 times over 10 gonna give you a better return of focusing just on your company branding. But at the end of the day, like it's not about you. And you need to put yourself out there, especially we're in the world of AI search now. ⁓ yeah. Where people, there's a consensus online and if you're not narrating that it could go either way and then your competitors are now getting the client. So I think it's now more than ever so important to be out there getting your personal brand out there, sharing what you think, share what your wins are. What are you working on? What what is your team dealing on? Share the losses. Be real. People love that and it's okay.
speaker-1: Love the journey too. You don't gotta be perfect. A lot of people ref do not want a lot of people do not want to post online because they are waiting until they're ready. Yeah, they're waiting until ⁓ I got my dream life. ⁓ I I I I achieved this goal of mine, so now I'm ready to put myself out there. Girl, there was one time that ⁓ I wasn't ready to to put myself out there because I thought one day I'm gonna get titties. Ten years later I'm like, Well, I still didn't get titties, you But I'm like, I should've done but I didn't if broadening titties one day they're gonna see the difference before and I
speaker-0: And that's new that's new content then. Exactly. Here's my journey. This is what I want to look at.
speaker-1: Back to the ⁓ founders, isn't it?
speaker-0: Exactly, exactly. We're locked back in. We're serious. ⁓ so you work with a lot of founders in different teams. What do you think make what do you think makes someone like compelling online?
speaker-1: They're just authentically themselves. Yeah. I think the one thing that makes someone stand out and that makes them authentic or what was it? That makes them compelling is that they know who they are. Yeah. They know what service or what their purpose is or what they want to do. They have a goal and they know what they want. Yeah. And they put themselves out there and you can feel it in their content. You can feel it in how they say things. You can feel it in how they move.
speaker-0: That makes them compelling.
speaker-1: you can see their team. You can just see their how real they are online. And I think that's very, very compelling. Yeah. Instead of the hi, I do I'm a photographer and ⁓ if you need a shoe, let me know. It's more so like, did I did did I did you know that I found my mother through social media? And that's why I do social media.
speaker-0: Now that's compelling.
speaker-1: Do you know why I do social media? It's because I found my mother on social media. If I can find my mom on social media, I can find you leads on social media.
speaker-0: Come here first. No, I love that. And so we spoke a little bit about founders being authentic, being online, getting themselves out there. What are your thoughts on companies having their employees create content? ⁓ do it. Yeah. A hundred percent.
speaker-1: Yeah. I actually one of my goals in the next year is to create a course. ⁓ I got invited to actually ⁓ work with GCU at one point, this is a few years ago, but to create a course on creating content with what you have. And so for me, instead, not everybody can afford a marketing agency, but a lot of restaurants, a lot of businesses have idle time throughout the day. Yeah. Where the employees are kind of just on their phone or they're kind of just waiting around. Yeah. I highly suggest Employees create content. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be anything crazy. It doesn't have to be a high production value. Right. Just put yourself out there. And so I do I would go out and train these businesses and tell them, All right, so give me a day with your employees. I'm just gonna teach them super basic. All right. So when when you have time, when you have fifteen minutes, do this angle, do this shoot, tell this story, maybe do it ⁓ what's your sale of the day, you know. Right. Content is king. Yeah. And it's not a joke. If you're a business, yeah, as a single mom who's running a business, yeah, it is so hard to balance everything and just expect that things are just gonna work out. Yeah. Content is your key is to opening the door and letting your your clients in. One hundred. If you're not posting content, no one's gonna know about it. No one's gonna know. Your employees should be on it. Exactly. If your employees have time and you're paying them per hour.
speaker-0: And
speaker-1: If they if there's nothing to do for an hour, post content. And that's fine.
speaker-0: something to do it's and even you can make it hot you can make it fine that's what it is and I think it it ranges right because if you're maybe you have like some brick and mortar and you have your employees in there that's TikTok content. ⁓ I love that if you are B2B this is what propelled me to build foy scale shameless plug ⁓ because I was working with B2B companies and they were doing these employee advocacy programs seeing no growth but your employees really are your most underutilized marketing asset. ⁓ 100% and so I was like you know I'm just gonna build a tool where We're just gonna hand over the content to the employees. Here was a company update. Here's a piece of content that's based on your writing samples. It sounds like you. It's based on your role. And that way you look through it, you say, it looks great. You one click publish to LinkedIn and it's out there and it's done. But there's so many ways to get creative, to involve your employees. It doesn't just have to be you. It doesn't just have to be your brand page. Get your employees involved, whether you're B2B, your brick and mortar, whatever your business is, there's a place for your employees as well.
speaker-1: It's teaching them a skill. It's actually teaching them a life skill outside of them working for that business. You can use content for your personal life. Like a lot of people have, ⁓ a like a lot of moms out there that I work with, they create content and they get sent baby products. They get sent whatever they need, you know, but then they create the content. There's so many different ways to make money. Yeah. To collaborate with different businesses to ⁓ Bring awareness to any advocacy that you have, or just anything you need can be created with putting it out there on.
speaker-0: One hundred percent. Okay. Two rapid fired questions before we close up. What's one thing brand should stop doing immediately?
speaker-1: Doubting themselves when comes to content. Yeah. Stop doubting.
speaker-0: Totally agree. Get out there, get messy. It's not gonna be perfect. You'll get better over time and it still won't be perfect, but it'll be authentic. It'll be you, it'll resonate, it'll be compelling, and it'll make a difference, and it will drive revenue. I think that's the biggest thing people overlook, thinking that content is just about vanity metrics and the likes and the falls. This is about generating revenue and reducing the friction that your customers feel when they go search you online.
speaker-1: Actually, this thing called content marketing. Yeah. Like that's where you get leads. That's what I do. Yeah. Content marketing, marketing through content. You tell the stories, people want it, then they buy. Yeah. You know, they either they buy from you, or so they're going to ⁓ what would it what was it? They're gonna subscribe, buy, or they're gonna die. Yeah. So when it comes to leads or when it comes to people who are viewing your content of your business or brand, put it out there, they're gonna react. And then engage and there you go. Yep.
speaker-0: Simple as that. Okay. Tell the people how to find you how to do
speaker-1: Rapid, real quick. What was the other ones that just wanted Well, that wasn't rapid. ⁓ damn.
speaker-0: Well this is the second rapid now. ⁓ okay, okay. Where to find you, how to reach out, all this will be on the screen as well.
speaker-1: Okay, so you can find me on social media. I have my personal brand and I also have my photography page, Kim Covert, and then my photography page is Genesis Images Arizona. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and I also have my website at jenimages.com, G-E-N-I-M-G-S dot com. And anything you need, photos, videos, content. I work with brands, individuals. I do everything from weddings to family photos to going with your chef in the kitchen and creating content for his a day in the life. I do everything. So and I love it. I tell worker. I'm a visual storyteller. That's what I like to say. How about you?
speaker-0: get into that. Because if you are a founder or a marketing leader and you're looking to scale your company through content, absolutely, voice scale is for you. We can chat more about that. All the deeds are in the description. But if you found this useful, please share it with someone else in the marketing industry. Everyone needs to know what they need to do to move their career forward in a way that's aligning with the times at this point. So that was our episode for today. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for joining me today.
speaker-1: This was awesome. This was like an amazing We needed this. We love that.
speaker-0: Bye guys.
speaker-1: If they're doing one thing and they're doing it over and over again and it's not working and it's not getting them the results, it's time to maybe think outside the
speaker-0: I think now more than ever people crave that authenticity that AI kind of sucks out of the content world. Use it or lose it, essentially. Stop doubting yourself. Get out there. Get messy. It's not gonna be perfect. You'll get better over time.
speaker-1: Sure, user User. If you're a brand, if you're an individual, I think one thing that would stand out is your story. It has to draw attention in the first three seconds, honestly. So it could be something that would disrupt the viewer's attention.
speaker-0: Building your personal brand for me is ten times over ten gonna give you a better return of focusing just on your company branding.
speaker-1: People love the journey.
speaker-0: Everyone's creating content right now, but very few people are actually building visibility. This is the Algorithm Isn't Enough podcast, where we break down how brands can earn attention that is so hard to get right now. I'm Jade, the founder of Voice Scale, and each week I'm going to be sitting down with marketing leaders talking about what they're seeing, what's changing, and how they're staying relevant in the age of AI. Today, I'm joined by the beautiful, the talented, the stylish Kim Covert. Who's a creative director, social strategist, and photographer? So this isn't just about strategy, it's about the execution that cuts through the noise.
speaker-1: Thank you for joining me.
speaker-0: I love this. I'm so excited to chat because I've seen the work that you've created. It's for brands, it's for individuals. You're making people seen and heard in a way that not a ton of creatives are really doing in this day and age. So talk to me about you're you're in social, you're in creative, you're in photography. What are you seeing that brands are doing wrong right now when it comes to visibility?
speaker-1: You know, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what they're doing wrong, but in terms of where I'm at in my field, so I create content. And you can create content with anything, with a phone, with a camera. But I think one thing that brands are doing wrong is you create the content and you miss out on opportunities to grow in terms of rolling it out. So the proper way of or the proper use of The algorithm, the posting, the different platforms. So they're just kind of creating it and not making the most out of what they produce.
speaker-0: I think that's one thing. No, I love that. And I agree. It's like it's going out with no plan. They're like, all right, it's fun to just get it out and things are getting scheduled constantly with no real strategy behind it. Yes. Okay, let's see. And this actually tests my next question about brands creating content that looks good but that doesn't earn any attraction or attention. How do you think we solve this? So
speaker-1: Something that brands are doing in this day and age that looks good but doesn't really gain traction or doesn't really do much online would be hiring out a professional photographer-videographer, creating high-quality content, but then just sticking to that one thing that might not be working for them. So for me, and I'm sure you have experience in this as well, when I'm creating content for brands or for founders for individuals. I'm trying everything. I'm trying UGC. So I'm using my phone. I'm trying organic day in the life content for them. If that and sometimes that works. Actually, that works a lot more than the ad professional camera content that I've been creating. So if they're doing one thing and they're doing it over and over again and it's not working and it's not getting them the results, it's time to maybe think outside the box and not only rely on, well, it's professional grade ⁓ footage.
speaker-0: One hundred percent.
speaker-1: Not always the case. 100%. My most viral videos are just the most random phone. I didn't think about them, but I intentionally posted it because I mean I enjoyed it as part of my brand. It's something that I experienced as a human experience as we're talking about AI later. Yeah. And that's kind of what gained more traction than just nice looking content.
speaker-0: One hundred percent. I think now more than ever, people crave that authenticity that AI kind of sucks out of the content world. And so if someone can see something that just feels real and genuine, it makes all the difference.
speaker-1: ⁓ yeah, you can feel it. Yeah. No, there's there's a difference and you know, we're gonna talk a lot more about AI, but if you're a brand, if you're an individual, I think one thing that would stand out is your story. Yeah. I'm I crave human story. I wanna feel what you felt in that moment. And AI can create a story, but that doesn't resonate with the audience as we're craving human connection, like you said.
speaker-0: Exactly. Okay, so tying into what stops someone from scrolling, right? When you're building content, what are the things that you think hit the mark?
speaker-1: You know what? The hook, not gonna lie, the one thing that will stop someone from scrolling now is the hook. It has to be engaging, it has to create curiosity, it has to draw attention in the first three to three seconds, honestly. So it could be something that would disrupt the viewer's attention. Right. ⁓ so I think that's the first thing. And then of course, one thing that I just recently have been noticing is it's not necessarily just the type of content. It's not what's in the content. Because you can be we can be talking like this. It's the way you edit the story. It's the way you cut it up. It's the way you highlight what would draw attention. Yeah. Put it in the beginning and then kind of reel them in. So there's an actual recipe. There's an actual formula to creating engaging content that doesn't just look good but would actually stop you from scrolling.
speaker-0: One hundred percent. Actually and this is a funny thought, but I noticed this on TikTok ads, like right on the ads that they're like promoting some service product, whatever. They say the most wild things up front and you're like, Wait, I have to scroll back sometimes 'cause I'm like, did I hear that right? And it's so true because then to once you get that out, you can get into the real meat and potatoes, but you need something that gets people's attention. And at this
speaker-1: point the creators that get it that are on that level where they're just creating, they don't care what it is. It could be them eating spaghetti and throwing it at the wall. And then it could go into sometimes you just gotta see what sticks. Yeah. You know, it just it's different now. Cause now everyone's creating content. So you have to create something that will be engaging that would cat capture attention in the first three seconds. I'm funny. I love funny. I love entertaining content. I love something that would catch something that would catch my eye would be something that I just would not expect. And I think a lot of the times now that I've been working with AI, I'm getting a lot of AI random transitional videos on my feed. Yeah. And I think it's cool. Yeah. So, you know, it's a lot of different ways to to grab people's attention.
speaker-0: Freaking Lutley. And we spoke about AI, right? So let's talk about the AI of it all. How do you think AI has changed the way people are creating and perceiving content now?
speaker-1: So AI offers a lot of software or a lot of ⁓ tools. I see AI as a tool in creating content because it helps with the tedious little things where it could help with AI could help with the actual strategy behind it before you even go out to create the content. It could do research on a whole different market. It could it could do market research free before you even go out into the field to shoot content. ⁓ it could help with the actual editing process. And that's kind of where I'm at as a photographer, videographer, ⁓ and a content creator is I've been looking into these different tools like Higgs Field. ⁓ there's different engines in there that help create really creative ⁓ visuals in content. And I what were we talking about? I forgot. What was my
speaker-0: How does how does AI change the way content gets created and perceived?
speaker-1: So that's how it kind of helps with the creating side. But then when it comes to the how it's perceived, now we have automated ways with AI to post the content, to schedule the content, to go to all these different platforms. There's ways to edit types of videos that go specifically on these different platforms that would get that would gain engagement. ⁓ finding trending audio, helping with captions, with ⁓ anything that's going on right now culturally that's trending. Like it's As long as you use it as a tool for us, it's it's leveraged. Right. So w whether that be content, whether that be admin work, whether that be from the beginning stages of creating the brand to just continuously creating throughout the month.
speaker-0: Yeah. And that actually ties into the next question I was gonna ask about is AI creating more noise or better content? And I think you really answered it, as long as you're using it as a tool versus just saying, All right, the first thing it spits out, this is what I'm doing and it's out.
speaker-1: Yeah, because it could be used, people could use AI in creating content and just create mass generated content that has no story, that has no soul. But then you could use AI as a creative as leverage where you could tell a story and use the tools that AI has to offer to make it more visually appealing. Right. Or, you know, find AI can make music now. People can make scores based on the video that you create. So there's really ways. As long as you're using it in the right as or as long as you're using the right tools for what you need. ⁓ AI would elevate your content.
speaker-0: What are some of the markers of okay, I immediately know this is AI generated.
speaker-1: I mean AI is AI. It's gonna do its thing, you know. Now that I've been experimenting ⁓ alongside my boyfriend, he's also a videographer, we've been experimenting with Higgs field and just creating ⁓ people or things, it's still going to create something out of the normal. Yeah. ⁓ there's always that, but I think that's you know, in ten years that's not gonna be an issue anymore, the little extra fingers and ⁓ I think another thing is the clones. one thing that you could spot right away that it's AI would be the clones would be you could hear the vocals, you could hear the robotics in how they sound as they talk. ⁓ and and I think just as humans, we have that instinct where it's just it doesn't feel right. Yeah. You know, you if you kinda can tell. Yeah. But we are in the day and age now that it is kind of scary, that it's hard to differentiate now. It's hard to tell apart what's real and what's AI. Yeah. It's crazy.
speaker-0: It's nuts. And I'm of the camp of I don't mind AI. I I think it's a tool. It's empowering and enhancing me and my workflows daily. And I welcome it. And I even think brands that can lean in and own when it's AI, I think also makes a big difference. Cause if you're trying to kind of slide things under like, ⁓ it's here, it's real. And it's like not, just own it and say it's okay. Everyone's using AI. If you're not, you should be. But it's totally fine. To be using it, I think it's about just being authentic and honest about using it. So
speaker-1: Just recently I I did a graduation shoot with a creative writing graduate from ASU. And I was asking her about AI because she on ⁓ on her or in her defense, she's never used it. So she can't really say her experience. Yeah. But she's not really with the whole AI in terms of the creative writing, which I I I had to ask her, okay, so are you going into the angle of I'm going to be a creative writer with novels and but bios or and she she just she said that ASU is rolling out a lot of AI, but her ⁓ professors are really against using AI for any writing essays or projects. Yeah. And to me, ⁓ I feel like it's really nice to have still those people that are just I'm against AI. I'm only going to write with my heart, my experience. I love those. Yeah. And we need those, I feel like we're going to need those AI still need those people that want to be no, I am going to be completely human experienced in terms of writing, in terms of their art. Yeah. ⁓ but when it t when I could see AI going into our day to day life in ten years, it's gonna be nothing. That's already gonna be integrated into the human day to day experience, right? Yeah. So
speaker-0: It's just not everyone.
speaker-1: Now I'm just learning how to get ahead of the curve to just and I advise everybody, if you're a business owner especially, to start learning the basic tools of AI, whether that's chat GPTs, ⁓ whether that's Claude. Now we have AI to help you structure down to your laundry or down to your to-do list. Yeah, you know. So I think it's gonna be part of every day for everyone. One one of these days, it's not. It's not gonna be a big deal.
speaker-0: Yeah. And I love what you said about even the writing portion because me working in the thought leadership and personal branding space, a lot of my clients have been like, well, I don't want to necessarily be using AI to write. And I think it's an enhancement. It's not the everything. And so I think if you already have an idea, a thought, a plan, if you're like, this is what I want to say, here's how I want it to feel, I think really scripting and prompting your AI so that it it's actually matching what your intention is. But also we're gonna make sure like the spelling is now correct. Cause some of my clients I'm like, You okay, we need AI to clean things up, these small things, while it's still your voice and you putting it out there.
speaker-1: You said something about prompts. Yes. So that's where I asked her, okay, so you're a creative writing major. At the end of the day, what is your say on AI when it comes to the humans are the ones that are putting in the words to teach them, to give them the prompts? That's still, we still need creative writings to create.
speaker-0: The human touch. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-1: So we need create we still need creative writers to create AI generated what is it called? Like we we made it more human. Exactly. Yeah. So I mean
speaker-0: Use it or lose it, essentially. Hey, that's it or lose it. Exactly. That's true. 100%. Okay, so teetering a little bit. We're talking about the human aspect of it all, right? We've also noticed there's a shift in just the marketing space where people are more pulled to hearing from individuals versus brands. Why do you think that is?
speaker-1: True, username. Because individuals tell stories. We're talking about brands, like we're talking about companies that are kind of out of reach from the normal, the masses. Brands now they're getting better, but the a lot of the brands are bigger companies, don't have that human touch, so it's hard to gain trust. It's hard to have connection. But the founders, the brands, the or not the brands, but the founders and individuals. Those are the people that you can bring out their story. You can captivate the audience with their experiences. And that's what creates the trust. That's what the creates community. Yeah. And so I think ⁓ companies nowadays, I'm gonna give you an example of a brand that's doing really well with creating the human touch into their marketing. It's Duolingo. So Duolingo has created their mascot. Yeah. Has used their mascot and made it
speaker-0: Crazy.
speaker-1: into a human what is it called? Human not humanoid but like human ⁓ my gosh my brain I should have ate that before this. No just kidding. No but but duo the Duolingomascot is
speaker-0: It's an avatar.
speaker-1: It's an avatar. It's presented as a human avatar, basically. So now their content duo is doing memes. It's doing trends. And so it's reaching the masses with that human touch. So I think Duolingo is a really good example of a brand or a company that's still integrating the AI and the high-end content with human experience.
speaker-0: Yeah. And I think they're doing that well without having to put anyone as the face of the brand. Exactly. Right. I feel like there's tons of founders that are like, I don't necessarily want to be the person that's on the front lines. And honestly, I for me that's why I shifted my marketing agency in general. I was doing Fortune 500 branding and then I was like, this is boring and it's not telling the story. And that's why I shifted to personal branding, where we're able to actually hear from humans that are behind the scenes that are running the show. And I've noticed that people also want to hear Who is running this brand? Do I align with them? Do I feel like I relate to them? And that is how they're making their buying decisions.
speaker-1: Especially now with cancel culture. People wanna know. Yes. Our new what is it called? The the Gen Z. No, yeah. They they they are serious. Yeah. City brands, they will boycott you if you're against their values. And I I'm not against not at all.
speaker-0: And here's the thing: if you are a founder putting yourself out there and sharing your thoughts and what you believe in, absolutely fine. Just be okay with it. It will be polarizing. And that's okay. You don't need everyone to agree with you. And I think that's another reason why so many people stay silent. Cause you're like, I don't want to say the wrong thing. And it's like, say the wrong thing. That means you're getting rid of who's not for you and attracting who is, and that's what matters. It's uncommon.
speaker-1: that's uncomfortable. There's growing pains in that where you're like, do I really want to put myself out there? Right. Because then the self-doubt because now people are going to see everything that you think you or you believe in yourself. So just put it out there. Get your get your content out. It doesn't really matter. Yeah. So the right people will the right people will see you. The right people will reach out. And whatever your purpose is with putting that out there will
speaker-0: Be fulfilled. 100%. And I think also you have to think about it's more than about just you. And this is something I talk to my clients a lot about. You have employees, you have families. These are people that are relying on you to grow this business and to make things happen. And I think building your personal brand for me is 10 times over 10 gonna give you a better return of focusing just on your company branding. But at the end of the day, like it's not about you. And you need to put yourself out there, especially we're in the world of AI search now. ⁓ yeah. Where people, there's a consensus online and if you're not narrating that it could go either way and then your competitors are now getting the client. So I think it's now more than ever so important to be out there getting your personal brand out there, sharing what you think, share what your wins are. What are you working on? What what is your team dealing on? Share the losses. Be real. People love that and it's okay.
speaker-1: Love the journey too. You don't gotta be perfect. A lot of people ref do not want a lot of people do not want to post online because they are waiting until they're ready. Yeah, they're waiting until ⁓ I got my dream life. ⁓ I I I I achieved this goal of mine, so now I'm ready to put myself out there. Girl, there was one time that ⁓ I wasn't ready to to put myself out there because I thought one day I'm gonna get titties. Ten years later I'm like, Well, I still didn't get titties, you But I'm like, I should've done but I didn't if broadening titties one day they're gonna see the difference before and I
speaker-0: And that's new that's new content then. Exactly. Here's my journey. This is what I want to look at.
speaker-1: Back to the ⁓ founders, isn't it?
speaker-0: Exactly, exactly. We're locked back in. We're serious. ⁓ so you work with a lot of founders in different teams. What do you think make what do you think makes someone like compelling online?
speaker-1: They're just authentically themselves. Yeah. I think the one thing that makes someone stand out and that makes them authentic or what was it? That makes them compelling is that they know who they are. Yeah. They know what service or what their purpose is or what they want to do. They have a goal and they know what they want. Yeah. And they put themselves out there and you can feel it in their content. You can feel it in how they say things. You can feel it in how they move.
speaker-0: That makes them compelling.
speaker-1: you can see their team. You can just see their how real they are online. And I think that's very, very compelling. Yeah. Instead of the hi, I do I'm a photographer and ⁓ if you need a shoe, let me know. It's more so like, did I did did I did you know that I found my mother through social media? And that's why I do social media.
speaker-0: Now that's compelling.
speaker-1: Do you know why I do social media? It's because I found my mother on social media. If I can find my mom on social media, I can find you leads on social media.
speaker-0: Come here first. No, I love that. And so we spoke a little bit about founders being authentic, being online, getting themselves out there. What are your thoughts on companies having their employees create content? ⁓ do it. Yeah. A hundred percent.
speaker-1: Yeah. I actually one of my goals in the next year is to create a course. ⁓ I got invited to actually ⁓ work with GCU at one point, this is a few years ago, but to create a course on creating content with what you have. And so for me, instead, not everybody can afford a marketing agency, but a lot of restaurants, a lot of businesses have idle time throughout the day. Yeah. Where the employees are kind of just on their phone or they're kind of just waiting around. Yeah. I highly suggest Employees create content. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be anything crazy. It doesn't have to be a high production value. Right. Just put yourself out there. And so I do I would go out and train these businesses and tell them, All right, so give me a day with your employees. I'm just gonna teach them super basic. All right. So when when you have time, when you have fifteen minutes, do this angle, do this shoot, tell this story, maybe do it ⁓ what's your sale of the day, you know. Right. Content is king. Yeah. And it's not a joke. If you're a business, yeah, as a single mom who's running a business, yeah, it is so hard to balance everything and just expect that things are just gonna work out. Yeah. Content is your key is to opening the door and letting your your clients in. One hundred. If you're not posting content, no one's gonna know about it. No one's gonna know. Your employees should be on it. Exactly. If your employees have time and you're paying them per hour.
speaker-0: And
speaker-1: If they if there's nothing to do for an hour, post content. And that's fine.
speaker-0: something to do it's and even you can make it hot you can make it fine that's what it is and I think it it ranges right because if you're maybe you have like some brick and mortar and you have your employees in there that's TikTok content. ⁓ I love that if you are B2B this is what propelled me to build foy scale shameless plug ⁓ because I was working with B2B companies and they were doing these employee advocacy programs seeing no growth but your employees really are your most underutilized marketing asset. ⁓ 100% and so I was like you know I'm just gonna build a tool where We're just gonna hand over the content to the employees. Here was a company update. Here's a piece of content that's based on your writing samples. It sounds like you. It's based on your role. And that way you look through it, you say, it looks great. You one click publish to LinkedIn and it's out there and it's done. But there's so many ways to get creative, to involve your employees. It doesn't just have to be you. It doesn't just have to be your brand page. Get your employees involved, whether you're B2B, your brick and mortar, whatever your business is, there's a place for your employees as well.
speaker-1: It's teaching them a skill. It's actually teaching them a life skill outside of them working for that business. You can use content for your personal life. Like a lot of people have, ⁓ a like a lot of moms out there that I work with, they create content and they get sent baby products. They get sent whatever they need, you know, but then they create the content. There's so many different ways to make money. Yeah. To collaborate with different businesses to ⁓ Bring awareness to any advocacy that you have, or just anything you need can be created with putting it out there on.
speaker-0: One hundred percent. Okay. Two rapid fired questions before we close up. What's one thing brand should stop doing immediately?
speaker-1: Doubting themselves when comes to content. Yeah. Stop doubting.
speaker-0: Totally agree. Get out there, get messy. It's not gonna be perfect. You'll get better over time and it still won't be perfect, but it'll be authentic. It'll be you, it'll resonate, it'll be compelling, and it'll make a difference, and it will drive revenue. I think that's the biggest thing people overlook, thinking that content is just about vanity metrics and the likes and the falls. This is about generating revenue and reducing the friction that your customers feel when they go search you online.
speaker-1: Actually, this thing called content marketing. Yeah. Like that's where you get leads. That's what I do. Yeah. Content marketing, marketing through content. You tell the stories, people want it, then they buy. Yeah. You know, they either they buy from you, or so they're going to ⁓ what would it what was it? They're gonna subscribe, buy, or they're gonna die. Yeah. So when it comes to leads or when it comes to people who are viewing your content of your business or brand, put it out there, they're gonna react. And then engage and there you go. Yep.
speaker-0: Simple as that. Okay. Tell the people how to find you how to do
speaker-1: Rapid, real quick. What was the other ones that just wanted Well, that wasn't rapid. ⁓ damn.
speaker-0: Well this is the second rapid now. ⁓ okay, okay. Where to find you, how to reach out, all this will be on the screen as well.
speaker-1: Okay, so you can find me on social media. I have my personal brand and I also have my photography page, Kim Covert, and then my photography page is Genesis Images Arizona. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and I also have my website at jenimages.com, G-E-N-I-M-G-S dot com. And anything you need, photos, videos, content. I work with brands, individuals. I do everything from weddings to family photos to going with your chef in the kitchen and creating content for his a day in the life. I do everything. So and I love it. I tell worker. I'm a visual storyteller. That's what I like to say. How about you?
speaker-0: get into that. Because if you are a founder or a marketing leader and you're looking to scale your company through content, absolutely, voice scale is for you. We can chat more about that. All the deeds are in the description. But if you found this useful, please share it with someone else in the marketing industry. Everyone needs to know what they need to do to move their career forward in a way that's aligning with the times at this point. So that was our episode for today. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for joining me today.
speaker-1: This was awesome. This was like an amazing We needed this. We love that.
speaker-0: Bye guys.
