Alright y’all so listen, we all know the dances, we know the tunes and when we think about Tiktok, we love to scroll. But as coaches or consultants, sometimes we’re just like, Nah, I ain’t going to do that. I will scroll, I will watch people dance but you will not get me to dance on TikTok. So, listen, today we have a friend of mine. And somebody who’s really figured out TikTok for coaches and TikTok for female coaches specifically to be able to monetize TikTok without all the dancing. And so today we’ve got Keenya Kelly as my guest now, she is a digital marketer, marketer of the year nominee. And she has also not only done that, y’all but in the pandemic. Listen, in two years, she grew her account to over 489,000 followers and helped her clients reach millions of followers as well. So, just a second we’re gonna dive right in with Keenya.

Welcome to the Relationships Make Money podcast where it’s all about the people, partners and profits. Each week we’ll explore conversations around partnerships, leadership, our thoughts and profits. And now your host Roberto Candelaria. Well all right, y’all. So listen, we’re here with Keenya Kelly. I know you heard a little bit about her before the intro, but I gotta say this. I didn’t say this earlier is like, you know, one of the things I love about Keenya, and this is not the official bio, and this is where PR teams get mad at me. But what I love about Keenya, she’s just the whole hot mess like me. And now what that means y’all is some people see that as bad. That is not something bad. When I say that somebody is a whole hot mess. It’s somebody that’s just able to just like live in themselves and vibe in themselves and flow in themselves. And when they see something, they’re just like, oh, let’s go try that. Let’s flow with that. Let’s go out. They’re just like, they trust their intuition. And she just like, jumps into it. And I think that that’s important to today’s conversation. And about TikTok, about relationships about how we make money in our businesses, because we’re gonna talk about TikTok. So I guess let’s start there.

Roberto: Why TikTok of all platforms? Why TikTok?

Keenya: Yeah, so like my honest answer. Every time someone asked me that is like, TikTok wasn’t my idea. You know, I am a, I’m a Christian. And so, but I’m a like a legit Christian who prays about everything. And so when the pandemic hit, I was afraid like the rest of the world about a recession happening and all this stuff. And I just started praying like, God, what do you want me to do for my business, and I heard TikTok, and I thought it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. But because I’m used to always praying about everything. I said, I think it’s done but this could be the one. And so that’s what got me on the platform. But after I’ve been there now for two and a half years, you know, I look at TikTok like Super Bowl Sunday. And Super Bowl Sunday means that when you when you step up to the plate, you got your A game on. Because what TikTok is doing is it’s magnifies people, is magnifying peoples message faster than any other social media platform right now. Like there’s people that have exploded in their businesses because of Tiktok.

Roberto: Yeah, and you know, so… Well, first of all, listen. You said something that I’m just like, oh my god. Like you need to go check out if this is even a thing. Like I really said, like, I’m a Christian, but like, I’m a legit Christian. Like, I’m wondering is like, does somebody even have the Instagram or the TikTok Legit Christian? That is a whole community. Like, could you love that on the shirt walking? Oh, yeah. Christian, and people be like, what does it mean? You a legit Christian? Like, that is a whole community. That’s a whole vibe right there.

So I heard several other things. And so I love the reason for TikTok. I love like the Super Bowl stage, it’s in it’s stepping into your A game. And I also love that you brought your faith into it. And I think that that’s so important for who you are and for who people are. Because as people step into business in any platform, sometimes people just like, can I bring my faith in? Can I bring my gender in, can I bring my sexuality in? Basically, can I bring all that is me in. And it’d be good and it’d be okay. And so I love that you just like, I’m not just a Christian. I’m a legit Christian. Yeah. Like, look, somebody needs to go look up legitchristian.com to make sure it’s a thing.

So, you know, you pray about this. You’re on TikTok, and you’re at the Super Bowl, per se. Yeah, y’all don’t come after me for saying Super Bowl, y’all. We ain’t using it for marketing. Right? I know the big game. They’re probably going to trademark that now. But you know, they’re out there. And if anybody’s like me, like, I ain’t created no TikToks yet, but I finally created a TikTok account because they made me to start, start watching the videos. There was a time we didn’t have to. And I sit there and y’all I can scroll for hours. And the reason I actually started scrolling for hours. Again, like hot mess, we just say what we say is, you know, because friends, primarily women, y’all know who y’all are. Like, y’all were sending me thirst traps to look at.

Keenya: That’s funny.

Roberto: And I was receiving them so look. Like, I opened them. And now the bad part about TikTok will be like, ‘Keenya sent you’…now Keenya didn’t send me a thirst trap y’all. It wasn’t Keenya. But it’d be like, you know, so. I almost said somebody’s name I shouldn’t have but it’d be like so and so sent you. Like, and it tells you who sent you the video. And so like you’re watching this, you’re looking at this. And so it’s one of the few platforms that like when content is actually shared, it actually gives the share-er, the share-er, the share-ee whatever it’s called, like credit for actually sharing the information. So for coaches, for consultants, for community leaders that are like sitting back and be like, Yeah, that’s cool, but TikTok’s for the kids. You know, TikTok’s for people that, you know, the the middle school crowd or the the thirst trap crowd. How does this apply to me? As a coach? How does this apply to me as somebody that’s running a business here? Like, how does that work for them? Like, are coaches actually making money on TikTok?

Keenya: Yeah, for sure. And I will say this, so like, I’m a Christian, but I have, I still have my regular personality. And I will send my best friend who loves Jesus, thirst trap videos. We will sit done crazy, but I’ll be like, Lord Jesus, we need to pray. You know, you know.

Roberto: We need to manifest that man into your life.

Keenya: It’s I’m saying. We like, we like to manifest too. So you know, it’s all good. Okay, but here’s the deal. So I speak all, all the time. The different, like, events and stuff. And I’ll just tell you guys what has happened every time I speak.

So I’m usually in a crowd of like, 200, maybe 300 people or more. And I know that 99% of the people don’t believe that TikTok’s for them. And so I’ll say, okay, stand up, if you’re between the age of 30 and 60. Right, or I’ll do this online too. And 99% of the room will stand up and I say, okay, keep standing. If you watch videos on Tiktok, 85% of the room will still stand. And I said, now say standing, if you’re posting content on TikTok, only 3% of the room will be standing. And so then I tell them, here’s the deal, you are your own target audience. And the thing is, is that you’re just not seeing the content because you just like the rest of the world, and your audience doesn’t know how to post on TikTok. And so when I talk to coaches and consultants, I say, you’re in that 30 to 60 demographic of that’s who your target customer is. They’re on the platform they’re watching, they’re engaging, being entertained, they’re just not posting because they don’t know how. And so when we as coaches and consultants get onto the platform, our job is to be on the Superbowl Sunday, as a commercial. We know that people came for a quote-unquote, the “big game”, but we also know Doritos is going to bring it and Budweiser is going to bring it. And our job as marketers is to create 15, 30-second, maybe one-minute videos that are captivating about what it is we do, who we do it for. Stop the scroll, and then convert them into a lead.

Roberto: That part y’all just wrote that. Unless you drive in, definitely don’t be doing that.

Keenya: Right. Right. Right.

Roberto: So you know, you hit on the part here, and it’s just like, sometimes people just don’t know.

Keenya: Yeah

Roberto: And I think that there’s a few things that people don’t know about TikTok. I didn’t know until I was having conversations with yourself and a couple other people. And I think one of the biggest myths about TikTok is I gotta dance, and I gotta fall off his dance trends. And y’all don’t listen, don’t get me wrong. I did learn the Lizz, About Damn Time dance.

Keenya: Really?

Roberto: But y’all ain’t gonna see it. I learned it with my niece. And she had, she was like, I’m gonna save it in my drafts. I was like, No, you’re not. So, you know, I did the dance. Like, for me, the dancing part of Tik Tok has actually been an amazing way to connect with my niece.

Keenya: Yeah.

Roberto: Who’s 13 but for that coach that saying like, hey, for the business owners. Like y’all, I ain’t gonna dance. I ain’t gonna take off my shirt. I ain’t gonna twerk. What types of content are coaches and consultants creating when you talk about these 15-30 second commercials? Like, what should they be thinking about? Like, like, do they have to dance?

Keenya: Yeah, so no, you do not have to dance. Now, it’s really important to understand that TikTok started out as a platform called Musical.ly, so it’s very music heavy. And then it became a place where younger people started to dance and do things like that. And so that’s why TikTok had the you know, the reputation of that, especially in the older generation like us. Because when we came on to TikTok in 2020

Roberto: Wait. You just called me an older generation.

Keenya: Me too. I’m 41.

Roberto: I’m 41 too, when did we become older?

Keenya: Well, if you think about 20-year-olds, were ancient to them.

Roberto: I do not receive that. Okay, keep going. Sorry. See, oh, that’s the other thing. I’m always listening. Yeah, I’d be thinking not just over here, not listening. But I listen when she called me older.

Keenya: Yeah. What do you want to my knees? Tell me I’m 41. So I just you know, appreciate, you know, the reminder. But it started out that way. And then we came on to the platform in 2020 because we had nothing else to do because we were all quarantined. Dealing with, you know, the plandemic, you know, what they call it, the paramedic or whatever. And so it became this, this dancing thing that we all that’s all we knew. But as a course creator, you don’t have to dance now if you want to dance, you can. Like sometimes I will see a dance and I just want to do it because I’m a good dancer, but I will make sense teaching within the dance. But most times, I’m just recording a talking head video.

So, we typically would do a Facebook Live that could last 30 to 45 minutes, but I just take one line from a Facebook live video. And then I’ll record a 15 or 30 seconnd video, just like that. And I will use the features on Tik Tok, like adding music, text on screen, captions and things like that to convert, you know. Now it is important to understand that you know, with short video marketing being a thing, that means you’ve got a short amount of time to captivate somebody’s attention. What that means is that 8 to 11 seconds is the average attention span. And so on TikTok, people are used to 15-second videos. So you’ve got about one to three seconds to capture someone’s attention, the moment they scroll and see your video. So it could be your energy, your lighting, your textbook screen or whatever. But literally, you can just be a talking head, but you got to say to yourself, what is going to cause the person to stop and watch this particular video.

So sometimes I am talking about, you know, making more money in your business, or how I bounce back from divorce. And so oftentimes, I will use the headline, the $1 million divorce. And that stops people they think I took a million dollars from my ex and I’m like, No, we were both broke. But I’ve made a million dollars since leaving him. And they go but that captures them. And then I’m able to teach them how I made a million dollars since leaving him and that that headline works.

Roberto: I love it. I love it. I love it. He was like we was both broke. Yeah, he was broke. And we’ve been there. We’ve been there. Yeah, yeah. And listen, and if you there right now, I hope you hear it like what Keenya saying as inspiration that like wherever you at wherever you want to be, it’s also possible. And it’s about you deciding that you want something more now that you can see that somebody else has done it and you see that it’s possible that you can step into that, too. So on this TikTok thing over here. Listen, I’m still stuck on the you call this an older generation. For those of us that may or may not be in an older generation, thinking about TikTok over here. You know, you mentioned about capturing people’s attention doing it one to three seconds. And you know, and just even the different headlines of things you’re doing if, if somebody’s not on TikTok right now, or maybe they are and they’re just not seeing the results that they’re doing, you know, that they want? What are three things or two things, whatever that you think that people should consider when posting quality content on TikTok? And I guess maybe that’s a good place to start is like, what is quality content? Because every platform is different. You know, you talked about Facebook Lives and even just grabbing a line out of that, you know, what do they do on TikTok? What do I do on TikTok?

Keenya: Yeah, so one of the first things I tell every single person that talks about TikTok is number one, gotta download the app. Right. Second thing is you want to start binge watching the content of people in your industry. Oftentimes people are on the ‘for you’ feed, which is the feed where TikTok is sending you content, and they’re sending it based upon your behavior.

So if you’re a cat person, a dog person or Disney person, like you know you are and you start watching Disney content, well TikTok is going to keep sending you Disney content. But it’s important for you to get onto the app and go into the search and search what it is you do. Whether you are a course creator, whether you teach on manifestation, you got to search and then you got to start binge watching that type of content. And what’s going to happen is that you’re going to see the top performing videos first, in that search field, that’s going to give you the blueprint of what you should be doing on the TikTok platform because like I can tell you obviously I give you all my tips. But if you can see that this is what’s working for manifesters or tarot card readers, or someone that is an inclusive marketing expert or whatever. Then you can go oh, people love this. But oh, these videos are doing bad for people, hate that. So that’s gonna really help you get to know the culture of the TikTok platform. Because most of us, we know Facebook, we know Instagram’s culture, but Tiktok has its own world of a culture. And once you get engrossed into that thing, you’re gonna be like, Oh, this is so much easier. But if you come on TikTok trying to act like you’re on Facebook, act like your Instagram, everybody’s like, Get out of here, grandpa, you know, because they just they don’t understand what’s going on there, you know, with you and your video. So that’s the first thing that I would do.

The second thing, the third thing I would do besides downloading and researching is I would just start creating bite-sized pieces of content, because it’s not normal. It’s just not normal to record a video that is 15 seconds long. That is just like not normal. It’s like we didn’t grow up going. Let me look into the phone and record a video for 15 seconds and get somebody to be a lead. No, it’s not normal. And so you have to train yourself this new, normal and Only way to do that is to start creating and then you just put it in your drafts, there’s something on TikTok called drafts where you can record a bunch of videos, and nobody ever sees it, because you put it in drafts, right? And if you do that over and over and over again, you’re gonna see, okay, I feel pretty confident in this one, and then you post it. And next thing you know, now you’re starting to get the rhythm of what’s going to work. But lastly, you won’t really know what your audience wants from you on TikTok until you start posting a content. You know, I didn’t realize how happy I make people feel on TikTok until I watched myself do some dances with a lot of energy, but teaching business and watching these videos go viral. And I was like, Why didn’t go viral? It’s like one my energy was high. Two, I was doing a cultural thing. But I was teaching something that was so good about business and making money that it caused more people to watch it and share

Roberto: All of that y’al. I took notes of that over here. No, for real like and, and it was so like, I was having fun listening over here in writing. And the reason that I say all of that is that…what I realized the more and more conversations I have around business and social media and different platforms is as much as everything is so unique. How much is everything is so similar.

Keenya: Yeah.

Roberto: And so you know, I personally, I am like a total job. I’m not the TikTok person. I looked at it like, I, it feels overwhelming to me. I’m so glad that you manifested that because, first you called me an older generation and an old grandpa. So I am so glad that you manifested that for old grandpa over here.

Keenya: You’re calling me grandpa because my birthday is on June. What’s your birthday? Roberto?

Roberto: May.

Keenya: Oh, you are grandpa cause you’re a month older. So you grandpa, I’m Auntie.

Roberto: We something. We something. See y’all. See this? Why we started the way that we did? See, yeah, yeah, this is what happens when we. Listen to, this is what happens when we together to in person. Oh my gosh. So you see, like, what I was saying is that all of this, like literally all of it. When I was looking at it is like, so similar is that you know, you started with like this, this know the culture. And so while I’m not this TikTok person, I know how to consume content on it. You know, one of the ways that I’ve always described relationships and relationship building in business. It’s very much just like, hey, like, just think of relationship building like a potluck?

Keenya: Yeah.

Roberto: Just like, hey. Like, first you got to know who has the table. So in this case, TikTok has the table. Secondly, like, you got to know what you bring to the table. Right? And so in this case, what you’re saying is like, hey, like know what content you want to bring to the table? Know your expertise. Know, the type of content style you want, you know. Is it the dance scene? Is it informational? Is it like what content are you bringing. What I’ve also said is like, hey, know what you want from the table. And so it also sounds like you’re saying like, Hey, are you here for fun to consume content? Are you here to get leads? Are you here to this, and based on that is how you’re going to post and engage. On the platform. But then the old thing that we don’t want to be is that we don’t want to be the auntie that shows up with, you know, her Ziploc bag just to put her food. And she don’t bring nothing into the potluck. She just shows up her Ziploc bags and her containers and just take all the food, but she never contribute. She just takes everything.

Keenya: Yeah.

Roberto: And like you just don’t want to show up just to like just take, take, take take, take, and never bring value. And so as I was hearing you explain TikTok. I never had that perspective of the platform and the relationship building that coaches can have on the platform with new audiences and existing audiences. And where that really came from is when you started with that phrase, like, just know the culture of the platform. And I think that that was just such an aha for me today as well.

Keenya: I think that one of the things that TikTok. Because I just did a podcast on it, it’s called “TikTok helped me expand my brand and heal”, right. And I didn’t know that it was doing that until. I knew, my brand was expanding. I didn’t know that I was healing or I had an ergo, I needed healing. And what I mean by that is, is that I spent majority of my life in corporate America, right? And in corporate America, there’s a way you behave to stay out of human resources, right? It’s like, here’s this personality I have to adopt from 9am to 5pm. Right? And so when I got on to Tik Tok in 2020, I was able to be my whole personality. So most people knew that the Billy Graham inside of me, the one that’s like the minister, and they knew the Oprah side me who gets it who gets all the things done? She’s like, she’s gonna go after it. But they didn’t know that I’m also like Jim Carrey and Spongebob Squarepants. People did not know how I could be because I couldn’t be that way. But when I got on Tik Tok, and I started being Billy Graham, Jim Carrey, Oprah and SpongeBob Squarepants. I started being my total self, and I took off like crazy. People trusted me even the more. Because they were like, this girl is insane. This girl is hilarious. This girl knows her stuff. Wow. And then as I started being that same person on Facebook, how I hadn’t ever been until Tik Tok. That’s when I started getting booked on all the podcasts, all the stages, not only because I knew TikTok, but people could see me as my 100% authentic self. And so, I look at a person, a coach, when they come on to the TikTok platform, not saying you have to dance, but it really gives you this permission to be your 501 personality, right? Where so you get to be your total self and you get to like, it’s like, when someone if I’m gonna pay you $10,000 to coach me, I want to know that you’re not just gonna be rinsing repeating something, I want to know that I can that you are relatable and lots of different aspects. And when I look at all these people on TikTok that I’m learning from that I never knew they existed, investing money in them. I’m like, why is it it’s not because I just saw them on TikTok. But I when I binge watched 15 second videos of theirs, I fell in love with their whole person because they’re being more themselves. Roberto: Yeah, so key, be you, whoever that is. Yeah. I love you. And, and, and I think that you also said, like, the big part, like on the corporate part is that, you know, we’re all on this journey. Like, evolving of who the new us is. And, you know, that’s something that I’ve even been on the past couple years, you know, since my father passed. Just like, who? I, that that was such a big identity shift. It’s like, who am I now, now that I, I’m not this. And it was such a growth perspective. And so y’all, we just get to be us. That’s so awesome.

And so we’re, you’re going to be with us in December. I’m so excited about having you with us. And having people do all the things. I’m not promising that I will have a TikTok video by then. But we might make make make one that weekend. We’ll see. Yeah, the case study we’ll see.

Keenya: On site.

Roberto: But question. In this event, we’re going to be talking about its called position, partner, profit live. And it’s because that’s really what all businesses need, you got to be able to position yourself and your expertise. You, I truly believe need the partnerships, the collaborations, the relationships to go forward. And like let’s face it, revenue, like revenue pays the bills, but profits, what really gives you the freedom in your brand. And that’s why the name is just so simple. Position, partner profit. We’re going to be in Houston, Texas. And so I called Keenya, I was like, Hey, listen, we’re doing this thing. And it, it was so funny, because I was actually like Instagram messaging a friend, Judith Khatam. And she’s like, Oh, my God, do you know Keenya and I was like, Oh, my God, I know, Keenya. And she was like, I’m gonna mastermind with her. I was like, I know her. And then I just called her right away. And so, you know, as we ended in the show today, I guess, two questions closing out here is, number one, what has the power of partnerships done for your brand? And number two, when you think about the phrase “relationships, make money”, cut ties to partnerships, but what have what does that mean to you? Like, how have relationships helped your business over the years?

Keenya: Yeah, so I would definitely say it has. I mean, it’s exploded, not just the revenue, but it’s exploded, like, just being able to be connected to just good, genuine people who are doing well for themselves into businesses. They’re also emotionally stable. To some degree, you know, but it’s kind of like.

Roberto: Why we gotta go there? Why we gotta go there? It’s true.

Keenya: Yeah. But it’s kind of like years ago, I was friends with Nicole Walters. I knew her personally, I know her personally. And she had just connected with Chalene Johnson. And I said, Well, which one of her courses would you recommend? And she said, Marketing Impact Academy. Bought her course. And Chalene was looking for testimonials a couple years later, and I like filled out a form and showed my testimony of how much money I’ve made since the course. They reached out and said, Hey, we want to feature your story on stage, are you going to be there? Do whatever, whatever. And I said, okay, so they brought me backstage to like, film some stuff. But then they said, we also got to talk about you on stage. And I’m like, Okay, awesome. And so then over the years, what ends up happening is that they start watching me on social media, I guess, to see how authentic I am and all this type of stuff. And then we start developing a relationship. And over the course of that relationship, now we’re like real friends. But what also happened was when I started with TikTok, I reached out and said, hey, you know, you don’t usually do this. Because I don’t like to do that to my friends that are like very well known. I just don’t like doing that.

I said, I want to be on Social Media Examiners Podcasts, I want to be on that one day. She goes, well create a Facebook, create a Tiktok, and create a reel and tag him. And so I see gave me some tips. I did that thing. And then he reaches out to her and says, Who is that? Because she, he realized that we were connected. And she goes, Oh, that’s Keenya, yada, yada, yada. They ended up researching me, well, I don’t even know it. And they come around and say, Hey, we want to feature you on the show. Fast forward. I’ve been on the show, probably like 10 times, I just spoke at Social Media Marketing World. I’m speaking again on tomorrow on their podcast. And it’s all because I started this relationship with Nicole and Chalene years ago without expecting anything, you know. And so I look at, like, when you’re connected with the most amazing human beings, and you’re giving with not with the expectation of receiving things, you actually end up receiving things. You know, overall, and when I think about like partnerships, like partnerships changes the game. Because there’s only so much that you know, and there’s only so much that you can do, right? I know TikTok, I know TikTok marketing for coaches. I don’t know what Roberto knows, right? But he doesn’t know what I know about TikTok but us together partnering, I get to share and teach his audience. Amazing things about TikTok, I help them explode. And Roberto has so much knowledge in and expertise as well as different relationships that he’s able to connect me to, with what it is that I do. And so and I’ve known Roberto since like, when did we meet at your conference? April?

Roberto: Well, I, I was trying to figure this out the other day, it was either 2014 or 2015.

Keenya: Yeah, I think it was 15 or 16 at April’s conference, but I met her because I was in a mastermind was an Obeah prior to. And so it’s like all these things over the years. Just can, just connect you in a beautiful way. And as long as you’re not burning down bridges, you know what I mean? Then they make everybody money.

Roberto: Absolutely. I cannot say better than that. And so in closing, where can people find you outside of December? Where can people find you online?

Keenya: Yeah, so literally, I’m everywhere. Keenya Kelly. K-E-E-N-Y-A K-E-L-L-Y. You can find me on Instagram, on TikTok. But all my links, products, free tools are all on keenyakelly.com.

Roberto: All right, well, thanks for being here, y’all. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the show. And we’ll see y’all next week.

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