We recently connected with Xanthe Appleyard and have shared our conversation below.
Xanthe, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
The content marketing space is traditionally driven by tips on how to “hack” the algorithm, and pressure to spend more time online, and an emphasis on quantity — posting MORE to gain MORE followers — but I’ve flipped that narrative by approaching social media with a quality over quantity mindset, when it comes to the content businesses are creating AND the relationships they’re fostering, as a result. I support my clients in using social media not just as a marketplace to sell their services or amplify their message, but as a tool to call in community, recognizing that it’s not the number of online connections we have, but the depth of each one, that truly defines our success as a creative entrepreneur, personal brand, or business owner.
While I am a prolific content creator, social media expert, and passionate online leader, I’m even more obsessed with cultivating presence and purpose offline. I believe that the most engaging content (the things that fuel us and inspires us to continue showing up to our platforms in support of our communities) is happening in the real world, and that as digital creatives and online entrepreneurs, the way we interact with the world outside of our phones actually informs the quality – and longevity – with which we can lead our communities.
I don’t subscribe to the culture of “online businesses” existing solely in the digital realm. I see the URL and the IRL as a system working in tandem. Brands and business owners have the power to leverage their online connections to form GLOBAL in-person networks when they are able to embrace both the expansive power of the online world and the connective power of in-person.
My unique approach to content marketing leverages social media to call in global community, while creating opportunities (through events, experiences, and spaces) to nurture and deepen those relationships, offline.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Based in Los Angeles but supporting business owners around the world, Oh Sierra helps leaders and brands harness the potent power of community – online and IRL – through content marketing strategy, collaborative events, and creative spaces.
Oh Sierra was founded in 2017, but in January 2020, we made a decision that changed the course of our business and as a result, our lives. We had owned Oh Sierra for 2 years, thriving with mostly local clients through word of mouth and support from the community we’d grown up with, in our hometown in Canada. We had around 1000 followers on Instagram, and the most ‘global’ we’d gotten was when one of our existing clients moved to another province (it felt SO worldly, at the time). But entering that new year, something changed.
Our dreams kept leading us back to the idea of travel, expansion, exploration. Cultivating our network on a wider scale, creating that cozy *feeling* of local support amid the often-lonely worldwide stage of digital entrepreneurship. That new year, our resolution was to stop hiding behind our brand, and start leading it. Step one: showing up on video.
This was the pre-Reels and TikTok era, so the best way to get to show your face on social media was in Instagram Stories (IMHO, it still is) so we decided to show up daily, for 30 days, and talk directly to the camera. *Ew.*
We were terrified, so we asked our community to join us.
This simple ask – a challenge we ideated with zero expectation – became an exponential catalyst for global connection.
Within days we gained the confidence we were seeking. Within weeks our following doubled, stacked with quality connections. By the end of the month, stepping out as the leaders of our community gave us a global collective of accountability, support, and loyalty – genuine relationships that would continue to grow and evolve through all the seasons of our business that would follow.
And, it wasn’t just us.
We still hear stories about folks who met through the challenge, who have gone on to collaborate, travel, and create together. Even 3 years later, it serves as a reminder that effort online translates to impact, offline. Those stories remain our “reason.”
Our business – and our life – has seen so many shapes and seasons since that fateful day in January: buying a house in Tulum, Mexico (and then moving across the continent to live there). Launching it as a hospitality destination (and then selling it, after 2 successful years). Pursuing our US Visa (and following our dreams to Los Angeles). Launching in-person events, retreats, and continuing to grow our hospitality brand with locations in Nova Scotia, Mexico City, and Joshua Tree (Coming Soon!).
This story is proof that genuine relationships are the key to long-term, enduring success. Steadfast support, in any season. A sense of security and longevity that’s seldom found in the age of online entrepreneurship.
Our brand is only as strong as the network we’ve built and the community we’ve cultivated, through it – so today, we teach creative leaders how to do the same.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Our growth trajectory has always hinged on being an incredible FREE resource to our target audience, and being incredibly generous with our knowledge and vindicated in our point-of-view. If you’re looking to grow your social media following, you need to release the hope of “overnight success” and instead start thinking about how you can grow your audience from the outside, in. Things like:
COLLAB POSTS WITH ALIGNED EXPERTS
Seek out folks who share your audience, and share YOUR expertise with their people through a collaborative post. Make sure there’s a CTA that will guide your ideal community towards your account.
CROSS POLLINATE ON PINTEREST
Pinterest is the cross-polination GOAT because of direct links. Craft a strategy that leverages your Instagram content on Pinterest, and guides folks back to your account.
PODCAST GUESTING TOUR
Pods rule bc hosts just want valuable voices that will genuinely support their listeners. Send personalized pitches for shows that share your audience, and drop an incentive to follow you at the end of the interview.
HONE STORYTELLING SKILLS
For someone to hit *follow*, cop-out captions don’t cut it, anymore. Write copy that connects with they’re at, makes them feel seen, supported, and like they’ve found a space that *speaks* to them.
ADD A LIFESTYLE THEME
In order to stand out and be the reason someone sticks around in YOUR space, you need to relate to them one level deeper. Determine what your lifestyle lean will be, and incorporate it in your feed and Stories on the reg.
SHARE AS MUCH FREE VALUE AS POSSIBLE
When I say, “become a resource” I mean it. There’s no such thing as offering too much value on IG, right now. Give that sh*t away! Remember, “value” doesn’t just mean education — anything that HELPS your audience qualifies, so focus on what you can create that helps them progress in any area of their life.
While the growth itself requires a strategy, the STAMINA to sustain your growth and strategy is equally important. To continue showing up without burning out, focus on these elements:
QUALITY > QUANTITY
More is NOT MORE, this year. Get super clear on your capacity to show up and play within it. Stop diluting your value in the name of “consistency.”
GET DEEP IN THE DMS
When your relationships online are meaningful, you’ll look forward to logging on. Spend the extra time asking questions and getting to know your people 1:1.
SCROLL TO EXPAND
Your feed = your subconscious. How can you curate the content you consume to expand your mindset + show you what’s possible, rather than make you feel overwhelmed and less-than? If they don’t make you feel good, they don’t belong in your space.
FRIENDSHIPS > FOLLOWERS
Growing your account doesn’t mean sh*t if you can’t connect with the folks who find you. Think of every face in your community as a potential friend — greet them, support them, and serve them, accordingly.
SHAMELESS SOCIAL MEDIA BREAKS
The difference between a “break” and a “ghost” is A) trusting yourself to come back and B) ditching the guilt around it so that it doesn’t feel daunting to do so. When you need a few days off, take ‘em! Wanna do social media free Sundays? DO THAT. Protect your energy and watch it multiply.
CREATE WHAT YOU LOVE
Saving the most important for last: if you aren’t enjoying the process, you’re already burning out. This is the year that you create a strategy you literally cannot wait to show up for, post content you’re proud of, and finally get the feedback you desire so that you can keep feeling fuelled to make more of it.
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
Before we pivoted fully into the coaching + education space, we were running Oh Sierra as a creative agency, with an incredible creative team. We had fallen for the idea that the only way to “scale” was to take on more work, which meant having more hands on deck, and we were so excited to feel like we had a “real” business, that we lost sight of our values in the process.
At it’s largest we were a team of 8 and on the outside, it was thriving. Our social media was growing rapidly and reaching folks on a wide scale. We had inquiries coming in constantly, and we were booked months in advance….
We were keeping our team paid and our business afloat, but as the founders, we were barely making ends meet.
Because we scaled too quickly without examining our systems and profitability, unexpected pushes in deadlines and scope creep resulted in a massive loss of profit, even while the revenue looked good on paper.
After about a year of white-knuckling it, we realized our business wasn’t bringing is joy anymore. We were constantly panicked about finances, and lacking in the freedom + fulfillment that we’d begun our entrepreneurship journey to find.
On the other side – after dismantling our team and pivoting the business to focus on our true passion and zone of absolute genius – we’ve stepped into the lifestyle, profit, and freedom that we had always imagined for ourselves.
It required letting a LOT of ego go, and rewiring our version of success, but it was the bravest + most powerful decision we’ve ever made. All the lessons we learned in that process are things we carry with us, and support our clients with now, as advocates for creating a business that feels like pleasure.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ohsierra.ca
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/ohsierracreative
- Other: www.tiktok.com/@ohsierracreative
Image Credits
Anna Elizabeth