Maintain Consistency. You need to be consistent in order to grow your social media community. We post at least 3 times a week on YouTube to keep our audience connected. Find a schedule you’re comfortable with and post on those days.
We often use the term “Influencers” to describe people with significant social media followings on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Youtube, Linkedin and Facebook. Influencers have become today’s media titans, sought after for everything from product placements to timely trends. What’s the difference between influence and impact? Fans and followers? Sizzle versus staying power?
In this interview series, called, “How To Cultivate Community In A Click to Connect World” we are talking to influencers about how they define success and what we all need to discover about the true nature of influence. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Anthony and Ana Jones.
Anthony and Ana Jones are young high school sweet hearts turned social media’s favorite young married couple. They both graduated from FIU where Ana majored in Public Relations and Anthony in International Business.
They started their YouTube journey in August 2017 which first started out as a hobby back in their college days. Fast forward to the year of 2020, when they started creating content in their newly purchased home while bringing their followers along for the journey. It slowly started becoming a passion and before they knew it, the “AAFAM house” community was born.
Thank you for making time to visit with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. How did you discover your career path and what got you to where you are today?
Honestly God got us here! It was never part of our original plan but it was God’s plan. Of course, you have to worked hard and stayed consistent. Which is something we take pride in. Consistency is important and played a big part in where we are today.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned along the way that influences how you operate now?
Simply being YOURSELF.
Sometimes in society we feel like we have to act and be a certain way in order “fit in” or not get “judged” but that can lead to loosing who you really are.
We believe there’s no one like you, and you should embrace that!
We stay true to ourselves first and don’t care what others think. You can’t please everyone.
We’re all searching for some good news. How are you using your platform to make a positive social impact?
We not only bring smiles and laughs but we also aim to always inspire. We always tell all our supporters: If you have a dream, go for it, you can do whatever you put your mind to and don’t let nobody tell you otherwise! You are all special and remember the sky is the limit!
We hope people’s days can get a little brighter once they see our videos. We get excited showing people the love we have for each in hopes that we inspire others to show love back. When we see comments like, “Thanks for making my day better,” or “Gracias por alegrarme el dia,” it means the world to us!
We want to continue to spread positivity and let people know we are here for them. Life might get rough, but they are loved and they are not alone.
Many of our readers are influencers as well. Others have tried and have yet to succeed. What words of advice would you offer to aspiring influencers, knowing what you know now?
Have fun with it! We truly believe that the moment a creator isn’t having fun creating content, there’s something wrong, and we feel like viewers can tell.
Many influencers think content has to be “perfect” or “look perfect” before posting. However, in reality people want to see the real YOU. There’s always someone that will relate to you. If we could tell aspiring influencers one thing, it would be that. HAVE FUN!
Success is often a matter of perspective. I’ve always resonated with Henry David Thoreau’s quote, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” How do you see success — or define success — for yourself now?
We define success as knowing you’re walking in your own purpose. When you walk in your purpose true fulfillment will come and you’ll love what you do. In our case, we aim to help and inspire others. We find fulfillment every time we make a difference in others’ lives. We love helping our community in any way we can.
If we are able to motivate someone or inspire the AAFAM, that’s already good enough for us!
As Mahatma Gandhi says, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” A leader has the power to bring change to society and inspire people. Use it to the fullest!
What are your strategies to make room for who and what matters most?
Time management is key. Creating content can be very time consuming, that’s why it’s important to know when to record and when to put your phone down.
One thing that helps us is scheduling regular date nights together (outside of social media) and scheduling time with our families and friends.
How do you reduce or mitigate stress?
We workout, meditate/pray, and read books!
We find that staying active, meditating and learning something new every day can help with stress and mental health.
I’m going to try a few of your tips, and I’m hopeful our readers will, too. Now it’s time for the big reveal — the moment our readers have been anticipating. What are your “five strategies to cultivate a large & engaged social media community?’ Please share a story or example for each.
There are so many strategies but we will have to go with these:
- Pick a niche you love. Something you’re passionate about. You need to be genuinely passionate about what you do, and passionate about who you do this for. We are married so we chose to create couple content. We show the cute ugly and bad about relationships! It’s all part of life!
- Tell your story. Not a lot of people talk about this but it’s important to make an emotional connection with your audience. Once you can do that, you’re well on your way to putting together a loyal community. We tell our story on how we are high sweethearts, lovers, business partners and best friends. There are so many stories we share and advice we give. We open to up to our supporters how relationships are not easy, marriage is not easy but it can be beautiful and worth it! Not everything in life is perfect but how you can see the best in everything! Your story needs to be something your audience can relate to.
- Engage with your community. Make it easy for people to communicate with you Communication = community. Instagram Stories is a great place to hold conversations with your followers. Show your human face and really build your community. For example, we ask our followers a few questions like “where should we travel to next?” or “what kind of videos do you want to see from us this month?” and invite them to submit their responses.
- Provide value. You can create awesome content that educates them and helps them overcome obstacles they’re facing. We do sit down videos (mukbangs, Q&As, story times) where we open up from things like “how to have a healthy relationship with your partner” to “graduating college and what to do to get started” to addressing difficult moments in our lives and what we did to overcome them. Every time we do sit down videos someone always says “thanks that helped me or I’m going to try this out”
- Maintain Consistency. You need to be consistent in order to grow your social media community. We post at least 3 times a week on YouTube to keep our audience connected. Find a schedule you’re comfortable with and post on those days.
What do you do to create a greater sense of connection and community among your fans?
Engage with our community!
We try to go on live and respond to messages/comments as much as we can. Although it’s impossible to reply back to everyone we try our best to keep that connection. Also being open and transparent with your community is also important and creates a greater sense of connection.
As an influencer, you are, by definition, a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Mental health awareness!
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. If we could improve our mental health this world would be a better place.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you’d like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He, she or they might just see this. 🙂
We would love to have a private breakfast with Elon Musk!
He’s very knowledgeable and involved. We would love to learn how he’s able to manage everything he does and stay ahead of technology.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok as @AntxAna.
Thank you for these thought provoking insights. Here’s to your continued success!