Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marie Ann Altuve. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Marie Ann, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry
The biggest trend in the industry is creating video content. It’s evident with platforms like TikTok that more and more the younger demographic is using the app as its own form of search engine. Before going on to Google or YouTube, the younger demographic of TikTok are using the app to help them figure out the answers to their questions.
If someone wants to learn how to cook a Penne Vodka Sauce, they can learn how to do so in under a minute on TikTok, sometimes under 15 seconds. If someone is looking for restaurants to check out in their city, it’s a quick TikTok search.
With top performing video content, it has to educate, inspire, and/or entertain the watcher. If the video doesn’t have either of those content pillars, the video won’t perform well.
Marie Ann, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hi, I’m Marie Ann Altuve. I founded Self Made Babe, a community, podcast, and digital platform that empowers career-driven women to achieve their version of success.
We’re a private online community for businesswomen and freelancers who are ready for more from life: more growth, more impact, and more fulfillment. We’re on a mission to empower you by providing support, training, and resources you need to live an epic adventure of your own making. We’re out here doing the same thing—and we’re ready to share exactly how we do it with you.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
One of the best ways to grow an audience on social media is by using TikTok and Instagram as your main vehicle to build an online presence. With TikTok, you have to be comfortable on the camera and treat it as if you were FaceTime-ing a friend. Your videos need to have a hook that captures the audience’s attention within the first 3 seconds, if not they will scroll away. On Instagram, leveraging Reels and Stories is a great way to build an audience and further connect with them. Reels is the first touchpoint and Stories is the second touchpoint.
Another great piece of advice for growing on social media and gaining TikTok followers, along with Instagram, is having a clear bio where you describe exactly what potential followers or collaborators can expect from you (and potentially why they should follow you).
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
As a pre-medical student in college, what really made me pivot was a health scare.
I had a skin cancer scare and, while I caught it early, that alone propelled me into doing what I am truly passionate about or to at least try to do things that make me very happy. No more putting them on the backburner! I had the scare and asked myself, ‘Well… if I were to die tomorrow, would I be happy going to med school? Would I be happy knowing that I didn’t try content creation? That I didn’t try to explore the different passions that I have?!’
I realized that medicine was not the only way to help people. That alone led me into this world of wanting to help women achieve their dreams and go after their careers, even if they’re feeling stuck. I started my Instagram account solely as a way to empower women through inspirational quotes. I realized that, just by posting something as a quote, I could really change the trajectory or someone’s perspective around a certain aspect of their life.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.selfmadebabe.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/selfmadebabe.co
- Other: https://tiktok.com/@selfmadebabe
Image Credits
Image credits to Detailist Digital Agency https://www.detailist.co/