October 20, 2024 • 38 mins
Join us for a lively start to Season 3 of Wedding Empires, where we sit down with the talented Angela Brushe, a photographer whose journey from Adelaide to the Sunshine Coast is as captivating as it is humorous. Angela shares her childhood fascination with photography, sparked by a simple camera gift, and her unexpected detour that landed her amid a thriving wedding scene. Her tales of navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, all with a touch of serendipity and resilience, add both depth and delight to our conversation.
Curious about the magic behind viral social media content? Angela spills the beans on her reluctant yet rewarding plunge into TikTok during the pandemic. Her authentic, behind-the-scenes wedding footage, peppered with humor, garnered significant attention and taught her valuable lessons about the unpredictability of viral fame. Explore with us the balancing act of maintaining personal authenticity while upholding professionalism online, and how Angela crafts connections with her audience through relatable storytelling.
For those eager to boost their social media prowess, Angela’s insights are a treasure trove. From TikTok to Instagram, her thriving online presence serves as both inspiration and guidance for budding photographers. Angela discusses her mentorship services, providing a helping hand to those keen to master digital branding. Whether you’re drawn to her stunning photography or seeking advice on elevating your own social media game, this episode offers a wealth of knowledge and inspiration for anyone in the creative industry.
To find out more about Angela visit: www.angelabrushephotography.com
🚀 THE ONLY PLACE TO WATCH OUR VIDEO INTERVIEWS BEFORE THEY DROP!
🎥 Want behind-the-scenes access to our guest interviews before they go live on the podcast? Want to actually be there for some of the live recordings? Then you NEED to be inside our Facebook group—the VIP lounge for 7,000+ wedding pros just like you.
💬 Rub shoulders with Jac & Ben
❓ Ask YOUR questions before we hit record
🎉 Network, learn, and grow alongside industry leaders
📢 Join discussions that don’t make it to air
👉 Join the community now: facebook.com/groups/weddingempirespodcast
👰♀️ This is where the real conversation happens. Don’t just listen—experience it.
📲 LET’S STAY CONNECTED
🌐 Website & Courses: www.weddingacademyglobal.com
📸 Instagram: @weddingacademylive
🎶 TikTok: @weddingacademylive
📺 YouTube: Wedding Academy TV
👍 Facebook: Wedding Academy Global
🎓 READY TO BUILD YOUR WEDDING EMPIRE?
Join thousands of ambitious creatives leveling up inside WeddingAcademyGlobal.com. Whether you'...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, it's Ben and Jack, and welcome back
to Season 3, episode 1 ofWedding Empires.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I didn't think that I'd get that much commitment out
of you Three seasons.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Wow, I know I'm just as shocked as you are to be here
All this much material actually.
Ben, I'm surprised, as you are.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
But here we are.
Here we are.
It's been a while, definitely.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
It has been a long time between drinks and you're
on water today, which is are youall right?
I don't.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You're covering your last night's wine.
What are?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
you talking about.
I did a wedding yesterday.
My lovely other half helped mewith the wedding yesterday and
it was large.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yes, Okay, big night, we both saw it today.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Ah, okay, we both look all right, considering
Quite secondhand.
Yes, she does look fantasticAnyway the joys of working in
weddings.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Now we have somebody with us who, I'm sure, also
understands the joys of workingin weddings.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Is that right, Angela ?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yes, I also shot a wedding yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Look, that was a good segue.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I love a cheesy segue that.
So we want to welcome AngelaBruch with us today.
Angela is an amazingphotographer from the Sunshine
Coast, as well as many otherthings.
So, angela, do you want toshare a bit about Angela who's
Angela?
And give us a bit about yourbackground?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, hey, I'm.
I'm a photographer from theSunshine Coast.
I actually originally grew upin Adelaide.
I had a passion for photographysince I was about 14.
It was the weirdest thing.
I remember my dad handing methis little point and shoot
camera at one of my mom'ssinging events and he was just
(01:41):
like, oh, angela, just go takesome photos.
And I was like, oh, okay, andthen I just got really excited
and I started doing all thesedifferent angles.
And then, I think, like acouple of weeks later, I said to
Dad, oh, I think I might wantto do photography.
And my parents went, oh, here'sanother hobby that's going to
cost us money.
But lo and behold, dad took meto Harvey Norman and I got a
(02:07):
Canon 1000D at the time.
And then, I think about twomonths later, I was enrolled in
a Cert IV, which I did between.
I started it at the end of year10 and then it went to the end
of high school.
So during high school I wasthen also doing a Cert for in
photography and then, after highschool, I went and did an
(02:28):
advanced diploma of photography.
Then, in between all of that, onthe weekends I was second
shooting weddings in Adelaideand then I was probably just
paddling about for about a yearbetween aftertaste and then I
found a job on the SunshineCoast which I actually
(02:50):
originally thought I wasapplying for a job at the Gold
Coast.
And then they called me fromMaroochydore and they were like,
can you come up for aninterview?
And I was like, sure, where isit?
And they were like Maroochydore?
And I was like, oh cool, Idefinitely thought this was the
Gold Coast.
Anyway, came up and thenstarted to work in that
photography studio for aboutnine months.
(03:10):
During that time I just startedto think, oh, I'm not really
happy with this full-time wage.
I kind of would like to earn abit more money.
And I kind of thought, well, Ihave a bit of experience second,
shooting weddings, why don't Ijust advertise for weddings?
And of all things I advertisedon Gumtree, which I would not
(03:33):
touch Gumtree with a 10-footpole these days, neither would I
as a groom.
Yeah, this is going back to like2017.
So, like 2017, I started withthis sale on Gumtree and had a
couple people inquire.
I remember one of my firstclients wanted photos at One
(03:53):
Tree Hill.
And it's so funny because atthe time I was like what's One
Tree Hill?
Like who cares about One TreeHill?
Like so weird.
I was like what, what is whatis this place?
Anyway, rocked up, obviouslyrealized it was one of the most
photographed places on theSunshine Coast for weddings.
So I just got a couple bangerphotos from there, pretty much
(04:17):
just pushed that photo that Igot from One Tree Hill on
socials for about a year and itjust like made people think that
I'd been on the Sunshine Coastfor years, when in fact, I had
been photographing weddings onthe Sunshine Coast for about
three months.
So, and then from there it justkind of like took off, took off
, took off, and I just also hadno idea that I had moved to the
(04:40):
number one spot in Australia forweddings.
So business just zoomed andthen I went and then I decided
to quit my job at the end of2019, a glorious four months
before COVID hit.
I was so excited.
I was like, wow, I can finally.
I can finally leave my job andbe self-employed.
(05:02):
And then, four months later,covid, yeah, um, but we all
pulled through COVID, so thatwas good, and it's brought us
here today right wow, yeah, itwas such a great industry to be
in, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I had a wedding planning business and a travel
agent license it was just likebombshell, bombshell yeah and
then no.
Just you know the stress, therefunds, the credits, the
without.
With me as a wedding planner,most of our job was done before
the day, so you know to havesome someone say you know, oh,
(05:39):
we're not, we can't go ahead, socan we get a refund?
Um, you know, so that was, thatwas challenging yeah yeah, I
think I got quite lucky.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I think I had maybe only one or two people request a
refund.
Most of my couples actuallywent, just moved the date by a
year or they just kept it inthat year, just had a much
smaller wedding or just likemoved it further than a year.
But I I somehow got very luckyduring that time.
(06:10):
Don't ask me how.
I just thank all my blessings Iwas.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I was one of those people as well.
I got, I got pretty luckyduring that time as well, so a
lot of my clients just moved andI was one of these people that
didn't make it hard, likebecause this everyone was
everyone was giving backdeposits and then charging fees
for changing dates and I'm justlike no.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Just, we've got to wear it.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah, I was the same.
I was just like I don't reallywant to make this any harder for
anyone than it has to be.
Especially, it's not likeanyone's got COVID coming, so
you couldn't just be like, ohwell, this is an inconvenient
reason.
It's like well, the entireworld has had this thing happen
to them.
Like we may as well just tryand work through it together
(06:55):
rather than trying to get moremoney out of people.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
In my opinion, it's a good run through if something
stupid ever happens again whichI'm sure it will.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, look, I ended up spending a lot of money
getting all my contracts redone.
Happens again, which I'm sure?
Yeah, look, I, I ended upspending a lot of money getting
all my contracts redone.
Uh, I had to be done by alawyer, but, yeah, I, I thought,
you know what, during this offtime there were a lot of things
that I tweaked on the websiteand whatnot, but we definitely
got.
It was expensive, it was acouple, you know, maybe six
grand or something to get themall redone, but it was just
watertight.
You know, in that, if thishappens, yes, you know, yes, we
(07:22):
can move the date and whatnot,but if there's additional work
required, it will be charged atthis hourly rate, you know, to
move things around and whatnot.
Like all that stuff was fixed.
So, you know, I've since soldthat business, but it's now
definitely sort of protected forthe future if something like
that happens again.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Speaking of the future, oh, here we go, well, no
, we're going to go to thepresent.
Oh, here we go, well, no, we'regoing to go to the present.
So, angela, because I'm the onewho's put all these questions
together, I've got to tell you Ido everything in this podcast,
for God's sake, oh, whatever.
So, because I've come up withall these questions, I'll
probably be asking most of them,and Jack's just going to nod
and smile for a bit of it, hereckons.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Nod and smile, but it's audio.
Only he reckons.
Not his smile, but his audioonly.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, yeah, that's it .
Yeah, Shut up, angela, justspitting crap.
I've noticed you over the lastsort of year or two.
You've become a bit of a socialmedia kind of queen, shall I
say, on the Sunshine Coast andthere's a lot.
(08:25):
You look on Instagram andthere's a lot of Angela around.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So, in the most positive way, I'm definitely a
bit hard to miss.
I will say yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
So for everyone.
Can you tell us, like, how, forthe greater audience, how have
you managed to grow your socialmedia and do so so effectively
and relatively quickly?
Here we go, that's a great.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
You know what, ben?
That's a great question.
We're going to start at thebeginning.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I did send you this before.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Which is almost going to lead off from where we just
finished.
Right Start of COVID.
Let's get to it.
So, start of COVID.
What did most people do?
They jumped on TikTok.
Yep of COVID what did mostpeople do?
They jumped on TikTok and Irefused to look at TikTok for, I
want to say, a good couple ofmonths.
And then I had to do two weeksisolation at my parents' house
(09:15):
in Adelaide.
And so I downloaded TikTok andfirstly, I started it as a
personal one and I was justuploading some funny videos
don't worry, those videos areall gone, you will never be able
to find them but then I decidedto then I decided to make one
for Angela Bruce photographybecause I had for the last two
(09:38):
and a half years, up to thatpoint, I was taking behind the
scenes at a whole heap ofweddings.
So I had all these behind thescenes from weddings of, like
funny moments groom reactions,champagne pops, you name it fun,
posing ideas, whatever and Ijust went, I'll just, I'll give
it a go, I'll start posting them.
I remember the first video thatI put on TikTok.
(10:01):
That went viral.
I was sitting on my parents'couch and just watching the view
numbers go up and I was justlike mum and dad, I will take my
dinner on a gold plate, thankyou, I am viral, and anyway.
And then from there I just youknow what it is.
I think, more than anything,it's posting consistently.
(10:24):
For one thing, the algorithmjust likes you more when you
post consistently.
So then, once that one video onTikTok went off, a lot of my
other videos started to go off.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So can I jump in there?
Yeah, the first video that yousaid went off for you.
What were the characteristicsof that video?
Because we quite often hearpeople say, hey, yeah, we had a
video that went viral, but theydon't actually like no one
shares what the characteristicsof that video were Like.
(11:02):
What made it go viral is kindof how graphic can I get?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Because there's one element to the video that that's
why it went viral.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Okay, Right on share.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Okay.
So it was the first one thatwent viral was from groom prep,
and I love to do this one shotwhere I get the groom in front,
I don't tell him what'shappening, I get all the boys
behind the groom, I get them farenough away that the groom
realistically shouldn't be ableto hear, and I get him into a
(11:34):
bit of a huddle and I go allright, I want you guys to like
run at him, give him like a bighug.
Don't tackle him, don't injurehim, don't injure the suit, but
I want you to give him like abig hug, give him a bit of a
jump scare.
There was about seven groomsmen.
They'd all had about a coupleof beers each.
I didn't even actually noticethis until the comments started
(11:55):
to come through, but so they allrun at him and he's super
scared and it's really funny.
And then one of the groomsmenone of the groomsman's hands,
went up and under his pants forlike half a second, but like.
So it was like a little likesack tap, but because it was in
slow-mo, it was just this littlelike quick sack tap and then
(12:16):
the hand went back out.
Never heard of this and then allthese comments just started
going.
Did you see the hand?
And I was like I didn't evensee the hand until people
started commenting that.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I was like I didn't even see the hand until people
started commenting that I wasexpecting something more
outrageous, like a groomsmanrunning up with his wang out or
something like that.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Wow, I don't know what the rating is on this.
I don't know if you've got itrated as G or PG.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Can I just ask?
My most important question iswhere does the phrase sack tap
come from?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
My most important question is where does the
phrase sack tap come from?
Is there normally a sack wherewhat, what's that name?
I've heard a sack where I know.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Sack tap.
No, is it?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
a thing For everyone listening.
Jack lives under a rock.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Well, I can assure you I don't.
But is it like a preferencething People go I'm into sack
taps.
No, no a.
Is it like a preference thing,people?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
go.
I'm into sack taps.
No, no, no, it's just, it's aboy thing like what do you mean?
Walk past and just go like withthe outside, like the back hand
of their hand, like just walkpast and go like that, and just
a little one like that, likethat, that'll fold you in half I
just broke the third wall.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
There's another person here.
Fourth, wall.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
A well-timed and well-placed sack whack will fold
you in half as a boy.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Wow, sorry to all the ladies that are listening to
this.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Anyway, I'm sorry, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
I know.
Another good one is sometimesyou see the guy's face just go
ooh, because someone's likestuck a finger.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Okay, all right let's go back to TikTok Eject, eject.
I think.
The point, though, is that youcan get all at weddings is what
we're saying.
Well, it's the stuff that maybeyou think about cutting out, is
the stuff that might make youviral.
Yeah, is that the lesson.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
It's all the.
I personally find the momentsthat people go viral for are
usually the moments that youmight not necessarily think to
have the camera out, but youjust happen to be recording at
the right time and you just postit.
But the other thing to consideris you could even post
(14:30):
something at the right time thatyou think it's the right time,
but then it's not the right timeand the algorithm doesn't boost
it.
So it's like I can't even justsit here and say, oh, if you do
this, this, this, this and this,you'll go viral.
It's like you could do this,this, this, this and this and
this, you'll go viral.
It's like you could do this,this, this, this and this, and
the algorithm could just go nuts.
Or you could just postsomething at a completely
(14:51):
indifferent time, like you know10 pm, and then, for whatever
reason, the algorithm goes, lovethat going to boost that.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
But consistency is definitely.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I would say consistency is probably the
hardest thing to do, but thething that helps you through.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
I'm going to agree with that because over the last
couple of weeks I've beenposting a bit of
behind-the-scenes stuff, yep,and I did a wedding for a couple
of gay guys a couple of weeksback and I love doing same-sex
weddings because it's just, it'sa riot the whole day long.
There's no traditions, there'sno nothing, it's just fun and
(15:35):
wild and and there was a lot ofinappropriate things that were
said and done by them and myselfat that wedding and I've been
posting them on instagram likejust short little clips with the
actual photo that I took.
Much to my horror, some ofthose or all of those clips have
gotten more attention and moreviews and more everything else
than my beautiful photographsthat I've been training myself
(15:59):
for 20 years to take.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Oh, what was that one I commented on the other day,
the one that was like she waslike spitting, or he was
spitting the champagne like outof his mouth so the groom's
drinking the champagne.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
They're back to back and she's spitting out a
mouthful of champagne.
That's, it's fantastic.
And then there's one of melying on my back shooting this
gay wedding and I'm the onegoing who's your daddy?
And they're losing it and yeah.
(16:30):
So, wow, there you go.
So I guess, in answer to thatconsistency and the things that
you may not think should beshown so much, could probably be
shown more.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Look, I would say and this is relevant to the 20th of
October 2024, because in threemonths time it could change, but
at the moment I'm finding thebest ways to potentially go
viral is use of relevanthashtags.
We're not using too manyhashtags, so I never really tag
(17:02):
more than like five to sevenhashtags.
Tag more than like five toseven hashtags, um, using a
trending sound because,realistically, unless you're a
famous person, no one reallycares about your original sound.
It needs to be something that'strending, or a song that's
trending in the background andthen the algorithm likes that,
tries to boost that more becauseit's showing that people are
(17:23):
engaged to it.
Yeah, um, and then you alsoneed to be posting with a
purpose.
So it's like you need togenuinely find that video funny,
sentimental, emotional,whatever.
If you don't actually thinkit's funny, no one else is going
to think it's funny.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
That's a really big point.
Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Or like if you don't find it sad, no one else is
going to find it sad.
If you don't find it, if itdoesn't tug at your heartstrings
, why would it tug at anyoneelse's heartstrings?
You have to believe in whatyou're posting.
Like if you just post for thesake of posting, people are
going to see that so I'd like toknow how are you turning these
interactions into actualinquiries?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
you know whether it's views or likes or whatever like
.
Have you got tips aroundtransferring them into an actual
lead?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
so the interesting thing with reels and tiktoks is
that I wouldn't necessarily saythat it's then turning into
actual bookings straight away.
Like the whole thing withweddings is that you've got to
play the long game right.
So I get a lot of people thatwill say, from a viral video
(18:37):
they'll start following me, butthen they might not actually get
engaged for like 18 months.
But all you've got to do is getthem to your profile, get them
to start following you, and thenthen from there they start to
see my stories, they start tosee my posts I pop up more often
.
They then start to feel likethey know me.
By the time they actually getengaged then they're like, oh my
(18:58):
god, ang, I've been watchingyour videos for so long, I'm
finally engaged.
Can you see if you're free onmy wedding day?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
yeah, great, okay, so it's essentially a multiple
touch point situation and do youhave anything um like, how
techie are you?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
do you have anything set up where, like you do a deal
and someone dms you and?
And do you play with any ofthose sort of tricks and
messenger like funnels andthings like that?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
um, from time from time to time I'll do discounts
off packages.
I try not to do them too oftenbecause otherwise I feel like it
devalues your business.
If you are just constantlydoing a sale, people will just
wait for the sale, you know whatI mean so?
you don't.
Ideally you want people payingthe price that the package is.
(19:47):
You don't want them coming inon a sale.
But in saying that, you know,coming up to Christmas like when
it's Christmas time, when it'sa quieter time you know I do
like to do a sale here and there.
I usually don't let them go fortoo long.
It's usually, like you know,three days.
Get your inquiry in, get yourbooking in, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
So I was talking to you a couple of weeks back now
at an event we had on theSunshine Coast here and I was
telling you how my Facebook adsaccount had been disabled
because they didn't like mypayment gateway and blah, blah
blah, and you had a bit of alaugh and you said who needs to
be calling me about Facebook adsand that sort of stuff?
(20:33):
I do great on social mediaalready.
So my question there is socialmedia ads or sort of traditional
and digital marketing.
Is that something that you useor do you just rely on the
generation of leads through yourorganic content that you post
out?
Speaker 3 (20:53):
I would say these days I don't really touch
Facebook ads.
I will do boosted posts onInstagram, but I don't really do
a lot of specific ad marketing,purely because I feel like
these days, with everyone a lotmore engaged in short form
(21:18):
videos and just funny thingsthat when you try and just
purposefully sell to people,they're just disinterested, they
don't want to be sold to.
They would prefer to, you know,have a feel like they have a
connection with you or a youknow, friendship with you and
then they're more likely to book.
(21:39):
That's why I try and justalways update my stories and
update this and update that,because then when they are
finally looking to do a familyshoot or they're looking to get
married or they're looking for aphotographer for something,
then when that story pops up,they go oh, that's right, that's
that photographer that I'vebeen following.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Yeah, so I'm going to go a bit rogue here.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I've got questions not on here and jack's like
leaning.
Well, I have a few questions ofmy own that I just thought up
with my own brain did I not doone.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Well, you kind of, yeah, you did I didn't like your
one I, so I hate it when momand dad fight whatever.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Just it's been a while so I now I forgot what I
was gonna say.
Oh yeah, the personal side ofthings.
So you spoke about authenticity.
Before and over the the lastcouple of years that I I have
noticed, ang, everywhere there'sbeen like a you're laughing now
(22:39):
.
There's been a bit of personalstuff that I've seen.
So there's there's been, youknow, reels of you sitting on
the floor cross-legged, talkingto the, talking to the phone and
that sort of stuff there's.
I've seen photos of you from,from um, like not kind of
semi-boudoir sort of shoots andstuff like that.
How, how does the, the authentic, personal stuff go alongside, I
(23:03):
guess, the, the more, what'swhat's the word?
I'm looking for, the, the, thestuff that you don't expect to
see on a wedding day, so thebehind the scenes stuff versus
the personal stuff, because II've seen you do a lot of both
and I'm curious as to you knowhow, how things have gone in
that regard and and whetheryou've seen a difference in
engagement and it goes back tothe whole authenticity thing so
(23:25):
I always find that minus theviral reels that I make, the
posts like the stagnant poststhat I make that usually get the
most engagement is when I saysomething about my life, whether
that's a story, like on mystories, or whether that's just
(23:46):
like a post of, like a.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
This is what's been going on recently.
Like I genuinely think peoplejust enjoy getting to know the
person behind the screen.
They don't just want to viewyou as again this salesy person
that's trying to get a wedding,like they want to have a
friendship with you.
(24:08):
Like I would feel confident insaying that majority of my
clients even if I don'tnecessarily meet them before the
day, they usually feel like Ican walk into that wedding and
pretty much just feel like afriend because they've been
following me on Instagram forthat long or they've been
replying to my stories, they'vebeen doing this, they've been
doing that.
Um, so I feel like but and I doI do also feel like it's a.
(24:33):
It's a fine balance.
I don't want to get too personalbecause also the amount of
people that I have my businessprofile don't need to know
everything that's super personalabout me, but I do feel like
letting people in about generalthings or things that are
affecting a lot of people at themoment, and just showing that,
like I am human, like sometimesI have weeks where I just don't
(24:57):
want to edit or I'm veryoverwhelmed with editing.
Like at the moment I'm veryoverwhelmed with editing.
It is like me behind a computerfor like 12 hours a day doing
the photo editing and the videoediting, plus doing the sneak
peeks, plus doing the admin,plus doing meetings.
Like it's a lot.
But I feel like peopleappreciate it more when you're
(25:23):
actually just honest about itrather than just trying to be
like oh guys, like it's all good, it's fine, like everyone's
just, like that's bullshit.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
I'm.
I find that, so it'scounterintuitive for me Like I'm
repressed head case.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
If they really knew, they'd run.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
But that's what I mean.
It's like it's a very finebalance of like you don't want
it, like I do see somebusinesses that I would consider
it possibly too much of anovershare, like I and I do feel
like there's a differencebetween the personal stuff that
(26:04):
you might see on Angela Brucephotography versus the personal
stuff you see on my personalInstagram.
So it's like if you're seeingthe stories on my personal
Instagram, you know that you'rethere to like see the fun, see
me on a holiday, like see me outdrinking, like all the fun
things like on Angela Brucephotography.
I would never post me likehaving a drink and like out
(26:25):
partying.
You know what I mean.
So it's like being professionalbut being relatable.
And then it's like if you wantto see like Ang justge, it's
like you can just go to mypersonal account.
But I do prefer to like keepthose two things separate.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Separate.
So, as a creative or as anartist, I really struggle to
differentiate myself from mywork, and I think there's
probably a whole lot ofcreatives out there that are
listening to this that probablyfeel the same way, and I'm just
not one of these people.
That sort of goes oh, I'm justgoing to share a whole lot of
(27:02):
not personal stuff, but sharestuff about me on social media
because I'm like, do peoplereally want to hear that?
Do people really want to know?
Like, do they really want toknow about the repressed head
case that is me?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
I don't know.
There's a lot to that question,because I think of, like I love
the Real Housewives, forexample, I think of Bethany's,
just come to mind, if any of youknow who that is.
I don't know who you're talkingabout.
You do?
No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Okay, well, she was a Real Housewife.
My guilty pleasure was the RealHousewives of Melbourne.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Yeah, there you go Loved it.
Bethany's just come to mindbecause she went on a reality
show.
Uh, she came up with the skinnygirl margarita.
She sold it to jim beam forlike 100 million dollars or
whatever.
Um, and now she's, you know,super famous, got this whole
skinny girl brand, which hasturned into shapewear and all
the rest of it and buteverything is authentically her
(27:56):
and her podcast is is like she'sshe's super smart but she's
ditzy and she tells these funnylike stories that are like stuff
that's really happening in herlife her divorce, her being a
single mom, now, um, and and Ijust lap it up like because
she's just it's like if shedidn't do that you'd be be like,
oh, that's Bethany and she's abusinesswoman or whatever.
(28:17):
But listening to these stories,I kind of buy into her brand
and her public persona much more.
Right yep, but I don't know like, that's just an example that
came to mind in that you knowthat's somebody who does it
really well and she's warts andall what she's showing.
You know the ups and the downs,the divorce, the.
You know all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
So I guess the moral of the story is creatives, don't
be afraid to share yourself andyour work.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Just maybe not your OnlyFans.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Well, I don't have one of those, so the link to
Jack's OnlyFans.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Follow my link in bio Spicy link.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yes, yes.
So I guess, angela, to sort ofwrap us up a little bit, what
advice would you give someonewho's just starting out their
business when it comes tosocials, like what platforms,
what should they do, you know,and that sort of thing?
Speaker 3 (29:18):
It's really hard because this might get outdated
very quickly because socialmedia changes so much all the
time.
So you say back in 2020 toprobably beginning of 2022, I
would have said TikTok, I wouldhave said TikTok.
Now I just I'm not going to saythat TikTok's nothing, but I do
(29:39):
feel like the algorithm haschanged quite significantly,
that they're trying to go moretowards paid ads and they're not
doing as much of just lettingvideos just go viral unless
you're paying.
So these days I've actuallyfound it better on Instagram.
Um, probably at the beginningof the year, I started actively
(30:04):
trying on YouTube.
Um, because I had an instancewhere I had this groom reaction
go just absolutely gangbusters,I think, across all my socials.
It would have got by now over30 million views, wow.
And this one company hadmessaged me and had been like oh
(30:27):
, can we use your video onYouTube?
And me, being naive, I went, oh, yeah, sure, like I don't care,
like that's cool, like I'm notmaking any money off it, like go
for it.
Like you know if I can get someexposure, just make sure you
know.
You tag Angela Brucephotography.
Um, anyway.
And then it was so funny, my, myboyfriend, who does not use
(30:49):
social media but he watchesYouTube, found that video and
was like hey, ange, your videohas like 22 million views on
this YouTube account.
And I was like what?
And then he explained to methat because they had over a
thousand subscribers, theyactually had more like almost a
million subscribers and thevideo had 22 million views.
(31:12):
The amount of money they wouldhave made off that video
disgusted me.
Like I'm talking, I think, froma quick Google.
They would have made like$5,000 off that video.
Yeah, wow, which?
Then?
Because I had said, okay, inair quotes, I'm doing air quotes
and I just realized this isaudio, but because I had said in
(31:33):
air quotes it was okay, then,oh, what was that?
I just got balloons on on.
Okay, we're going to start thatagain.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Anyway, it's because you're doing air quotes.
You're on, you're on an apple,so that's on.
Don't start that.
Put that away where's the heart?
Speaker 3 (31:49):
so, because I had said it was in air quotes, okay,
um, there's nothing I could doabout it, like I can't, I can't,
I can't go after them, I can'ttell YouTube to take it down,
like so all I had to do waspretty much cop that on the chin
and then be like well, you knowwhat, no one's using my stuff
ever again on YouTube and I amgonna try and make myself
(32:14):
something on YouTube.
So now I am also like I thinklike 800 subscribers away from
like 40,000, and that's likemost of those subscribers is
from that one reel.
So I've ended up posting thatgroom reaction and I think now
on YouTube it's got like 10million views.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Okay, so yeah okay, there's a lot.
I'm not going to ask you theother questions, like how do you
think social media is evolving,because we've kind of kind of
covered it yeah it's evolvingquicker than any of us can keep
up and I hate to say it, butit's.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
It's like social media is like a sink or swim I'd
like to know, after you do awedding, um, and you've edited
your pictures and everythinglike that, how much time do you
dedicate to sort of choppingthose up and making reels and
and getting getting that sort ofmaterial out of that wedding?
Speaker 3 (33:05):
this is so I'm actually the worst.
I do not plan anything untilabout 30 minutes before I'm
going to post it.
I will literally just scrollthrough the Reel section or I'll
go to trending audio and thenI'll just pick an audio and then
just in my head I'll be like,oh, let's do this wedding, or I
(33:27):
haven't posted this wedding in awhile.
I'll just do this and I willjust make it up in like 20
minutes and then post it.
Not about it again.
I had a job.
So after the first job I workedin in Queensland, I then worked
for an activewear company andthat job was a lot of I need it
(33:48):
done yesterday.
So I got very good at beingable to just do things in the
spare of the moment, which isprobably very toxic, but it has
made me, in turn, very good atsocial media, because I can
literally just pump things out.
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Great.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Okay, yeah, that's what I need to do.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Well, it sounds doable, I need to be a bit more
fluid.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Yeah, be the teapot.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Right, but I think also, once you get in the hang
of it, then it becomes easier.
So also like, for example, mygroom reactions I know that if I
post a really good groomreaction it's going to go viral
because I know exactly how Ineed to edit it and what text I
need to put to keep peopleinterested to then get to the
(34:38):
end.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Sure, yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Thank you, Angela, Thanks Angela.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
That's been informative.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
It has.
I'm quite scared of TikTok, soI've got to get out of it.
Yeah, I'm not a TikTok fan, soat all, but a lot of people are
in our position where you knowwe've got beautiful content
right, it's just yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Look at me Anyway on that note, honestly like I said,
I don't even know if I wouldbother with TikTok at the moment
.
I would put your time andeffort into Instagram.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah, wow, Angela.
How can people find out moreabout you?
Have you got a social handlethat's the same across your
accounts?
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Yeah, so please find me on TikTok, instagram and
YouTube at Angela BruchPhotography, which is
A-N-G-E-L-A-B-R-U-S-H-A-TPhotography Awesome.
And what's the website?
It waswwwangelabruchphotographycom.
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
And do you help people with social media at all?
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Yes, if anyone would like to send me a message, feel
free.
You can pretty much just slideon into my Instagram DMs and I
can send you some prices onsocial media mentorship if you
would so like.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Awesome.
Thank you In stereo.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
All right.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Thanks, angela, lovely speaking with you In
stereo, all right.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Thanks, angela, lovely speaking with you.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Thanks, Angela.
It's been fun and no doubt I'llrun into you again.
Hey everyone, it's Ben and Jack, and welcome back
to Season 3, episode 1 ofWedding Empires.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I didn't think that I'd get that much commitment out
of you Three seasons.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Wow, I know I'm just as shocked as you are to be here
All this much material actually.
Ben, I'm surprised, as you are.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
But here we are.
Here we are.
It's been a while, definitely.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
It has been a long time between drinks and you're
on water today, which is are youall right?
I don't.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You're covering your last night's wine.
What are?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
you talking about.
I did a wedding yesterday.
My lovely other half helped mewith the wedding yesterday and
it was large.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yes, Okay, big night, we both saw it today.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Ah, okay, we both look all right, considering
Quite secondhand.
Yes, she does look fantasticAnyway the joys of working in
weddings.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Now we have somebody with us who, I'm sure, also
understands the joys of workingin weddings.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Is that right, Angela ?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yes, I also shot a wedding yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Look, that was a good segue.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I love a cheesy segue that.
So we want to welcome AngelaBruch with us today.
Angela is an amazingphotographer from the Sunshine
Coast, as well as many otherthings.
So, angela, do you want toshare a bit about Angela who's
Angela?
And give us a bit about yourbackground?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, hey, I'm.
I'm a photographer from theSunshine Coast.
I actually originally grew upin Adelaide.
I had a passion for photographysince I was about 14.
It was the weirdest thing.
I remember my dad handing methis little point and shoot
camera at one of my mom'ssinging events and he was just
(01:41):
like, oh, angela, just go takesome photos.
And I was like, oh, okay, andthen I just got really excited
and I started doing all thesedifferent angles.
And then, I think, like acouple of weeks later, I said to
Dad, oh, I think I might wantto do photography.
And my parents went, oh, here'sanother hobby that's going to
cost us money.
But lo and behold, dad took meto Harvey Norman and I got a
(02:07):
Canon 1000D at the time.
And then, I think about twomonths later, I was enrolled in
a Cert IV, which I did between.
I started it at the end of year10 and then it went to the end
of high school.
So during high school I wasthen also doing a Cert for in
photography and then, after highschool, I went and did an
(02:28):
advanced diploma of photography.
Then, in between all of that, onthe weekends I was second
shooting weddings in Adelaideand then I was probably just
paddling about for about a yearbetween aftertaste and then I
found a job on the SunshineCoast which I actually
(02:50):
originally thought I wasapplying for a job at the Gold
Coast.
And then they called me fromMaroochydore and they were like,
can you come up for aninterview?
And I was like, sure, where isit?
And they were like Maroochydore?
And I was like, oh cool, Idefinitely thought this was the
Gold Coast.
Anyway, came up and thenstarted to work in that
photography studio for aboutnine months.
(03:10):
During that time I just startedto think, oh, I'm not really
happy with this full-time wage.
I kind of would like to earn abit more money.
And I kind of thought, well, Ihave a bit of experience second,
shooting weddings, why don't Ijust advertise for weddings?
And of all things I advertisedon Gumtree, which I would not
(03:33):
touch Gumtree with a 10-footpole these days, neither would I
as a groom.
Yeah, this is going back to like2017.
So, like 2017, I started withthis sale on Gumtree and had a
couple people inquire.
I remember one of my firstclients wanted photos at One
(03:53):
Tree Hill.
And it's so funny because atthe time I was like what's One
Tree Hill?
Like who cares about One TreeHill?
Like so weird.
I was like what, what is whatis this place?
Anyway, rocked up, obviouslyrealized it was one of the most
photographed places on theSunshine Coast for weddings.
So I just got a couple bangerphotos from there, pretty much
(04:17):
just pushed that photo that Igot from One Tree Hill on
socials for about a year and itjust like made people think that
I'd been on the Sunshine Coastfor years, when in fact, I had
been photographing weddings onthe Sunshine Coast for about
three months.
So, and then from there it justkind of like took off, took off
, took off, and I just also hadno idea that I had moved to the
(04:40):
number one spot in Australia forweddings.
So business just zoomed andthen I went and then I decided
to quit my job at the end of2019, a glorious four months
before COVID hit.
I was so excited.
I was like, wow, I can finally.
I can finally leave my job andbe self-employed.
(05:02):
And then, four months later,covid, yeah, um, but we all
pulled through COVID, so thatwas good, and it's brought us
here today right wow, yeah, itwas such a great industry to be
in, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I had a wedding planning business and a travel
agent license it was just likebombshell, bombshell yeah and
then no.
Just you know the stress, therefunds, the credits, the
without.
With me as a wedding planner,most of our job was done before
the day, so you know to havesome someone say you know, oh,
(05:39):
we're not, we can't go ahead, socan we get a refund?
Um, you know, so that was, thatwas challenging yeah yeah, I
think I got quite lucky.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I think I had maybe only one or two people request a
refund.
Most of my couples actuallywent, just moved the date by a
year or they just kept it inthat year, just had a much
smaller wedding or just likemoved it further than a year.
But I I somehow got very luckyduring that time.
(06:10):
Don't ask me how.
I just thank all my blessings Iwas.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I was one of those people as well.
I got, I got pretty luckyduring that time as well, so a
lot of my clients just moved andI was one of these people that
didn't make it hard, likebecause this everyone was
everyone was giving backdeposits and then charging fees
for changing dates and I'm justlike no.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Just, we've got to wear it.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah, I was the same.
I was just like I don't reallywant to make this any harder for
anyone than it has to be.
Especially, it's not likeanyone's got COVID coming, so
you couldn't just be like, ohwell, this is an inconvenient
reason.
It's like well, the entireworld has had this thing happen
to them.
Like we may as well just tryand work through it together
(06:55):
rather than trying to get moremoney out of people.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
In my opinion, it's a good run through if something
stupid ever happens again whichI'm sure it will.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, look, I ended up spending a lot of money
getting all my contracts redone.
Happens again, which I'm sure?
Yeah, look, I, I ended upspending a lot of money getting
all my contracts redone.
Uh, I had to be done by alawyer, but, yeah, I, I thought,
you know what, during this offtime there were a lot of things
that I tweaked on the websiteand whatnot, but we definitely
got.
It was expensive, it was acouple, you know, maybe six
grand or something to get themall redone, but it was just
watertight.
You know, in that, if thishappens, yes, you know, yes, we
(07:22):
can move the date and whatnot,but if there's additional work
required, it will be charged atthis hourly rate, you know, to
move things around and whatnot.
Like all that stuff was fixed.
So, you know, I've since soldthat business, but it's now
definitely sort of protected forthe future if something like
that happens again.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Speaking of the future, oh, here we go, well, no
, we're going to go to thepresent.
Oh, here we go, well, no, we'regoing to go to the present.
So, angela, because I'm the onewho's put all these questions
together, I've got to tell you Ido everything in this podcast,
for God's sake, oh, whatever.
So, because I've come up withall these questions, I'll
probably be asking most of them,and Jack's just going to nod
and smile for a bit of it, hereckons.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Nod and smile, but it's audio.
Only he reckons.
Not his smile, but his audioonly.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, yeah, that's it .
Yeah, Shut up, angela, justspitting crap.
I've noticed you over the lastsort of year or two.
You've become a bit of a socialmedia kind of queen, shall I
say, on the Sunshine Coast andthere's a lot.
(08:25):
You look on Instagram andthere's a lot of Angela around.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So, in the most positive way, I'm definitely a
bit hard to miss.
I will say yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
So for everyone.
Can you tell us, like, how, forthe greater audience, how have
you managed to grow your socialmedia and do so so effectively
and relatively quickly?
Here we go, that's a great.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
You know what, ben?
That's a great question.
We're going to start at thebeginning.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I did send you this before.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Which is almost going to lead off from where we just
finished.
Right Start of COVID.
Let's get to it.
So, start of COVID.
What did most people do?
They jumped on TikTok.
Yep of COVID what did mostpeople do?
They jumped on TikTok and Irefused to look at TikTok for, I
want to say, a good couple ofmonths.
And then I had to do two weeksisolation at my parents' house
(09:15):
in Adelaide.
And so I downloaded TikTok andfirstly, I started it as a
personal one and I was justuploading some funny videos
don't worry, those videos areall gone, you will never be able
to find them but then I decidedto then I decided to make one
for Angela Bruce photographybecause I had for the last two
(09:38):
and a half years, up to thatpoint, I was taking behind the
scenes at a whole heap ofweddings.
So I had all these behind thescenes from weddings of, like
funny moments groom reactions,champagne pops, you name it fun,
posing ideas, whatever and Ijust went, I'll just, I'll give
it a go, I'll start posting them.
I remember the first video thatI put on TikTok.
(10:01):
That went viral.
I was sitting on my parents'couch and just watching the view
numbers go up and I was justlike mum and dad, I will take my
dinner on a gold plate, thankyou, I am viral, and anyway.
And then from there I just youknow what it is.
I think, more than anything,it's posting consistently.
(10:24):
For one thing, the algorithmjust likes you more when you
post consistently.
So then, once that one video onTikTok went off, a lot of my
other videos started to go off.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So can I jump in there?
Yeah, the first video that yousaid went off for you.
What were the characteristicsof that video?
Because we quite often hearpeople say, hey, yeah, we had a
video that went viral, but theydon't actually like no one
shares what the characteristicsof that video were Like.
(11:02):
What made it go viral is kindof how graphic can I get?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Because there's one element to the video that that's
why it went viral.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Okay, Right on share.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Okay.
So it was the first one thatwent viral was from groom prep,
and I love to do this one shotwhere I get the groom in front,
I don't tell him what'shappening, I get all the boys
behind the groom, I get them farenough away that the groom
realistically shouldn't be ableto hear, and I get him into a
(11:34):
bit of a huddle and I go allright, I want you guys to like
run at him, give him like a bighug.
Don't tackle him, don't injurehim, don't injure the suit, but
I want you to give him like abig hug, give him a bit of a
jump scare.
There was about seven groomsmen.
They'd all had about a coupleof beers each.
I didn't even actually noticethis until the comments started
(11:55):
to come through, but so they allrun at him and he's super
scared and it's really funny.
And then one of the groomsmenone of the groomsman's hands,
went up and under his pants forlike half a second, but like.
So it was like a little likesack tap, but because it was in
slow-mo, it was just this littlelike quick sack tap and then
(12:16):
the hand went back out.
Never heard of this and then allthese comments just started
going.
Did you see the hand?
And I was like I didn't evensee the hand until people
started commenting that.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I was like I didn't even see the hand until people
started commenting that I wasexpecting something more
outrageous, like a groomsmanrunning up with his wang out or
something like that.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Wow, I don't know what the rating is on this.
I don't know if you've got itrated as G or PG.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Can I just ask?
My most important question iswhere does the phrase sack tap
come from?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
My most important question is where does the
phrase sack tap come from?
Is there normally a sack wherewhat, what's that name?
I've heard a sack where I know.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Sack tap.
No, is it?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
a thing For everyone listening.
Jack lives under a rock.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Well, I can assure you I don't.
But is it like a preferencething People go I'm into sack
taps.
No, no a.
Is it like a preference thing,people?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
go.
I'm into sack taps.
No, no, no, it's just, it's aboy thing like what do you mean?
Walk past and just go like withthe outside, like the back hand
of their hand, like just walkpast and go like that, and just
a little one like that, likethat, that'll fold you in half I
just broke the third wall.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
There's another person here.
Fourth, wall.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
A well-timed and well-placed sack whack will fold
you in half as a boy.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Wow, sorry to all the ladies that are listening to
this.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Anyway, I'm sorry, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
I know.
Another good one is sometimesyou see the guy's face just go
ooh, because someone's likestuck a finger.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Okay, all right let's go back to TikTok Eject, eject.
I think.
The point, though, is that youcan get all at weddings is what
we're saying.
Well, it's the stuff that maybeyou think about cutting out, is
the stuff that might make youviral.
Yeah, is that the lesson.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
It's all the.
I personally find the momentsthat people go viral for are
usually the moments that youmight not necessarily think to
have the camera out, but youjust happen to be recording at
the right time and you just postit.
But the other thing to consideris you could even post
(14:30):
something at the right time thatyou think it's the right time,
but then it's not the right timeand the algorithm doesn't boost
it.
So it's like I can't even justsit here and say, oh, if you do
this, this, this, this and this,you'll go viral.
It's like you could do this,this, this, this and this and
this, you'll go viral.
It's like you could do this,this, this, this and this, and
the algorithm could just go nuts.
Or you could just postsomething at a completely
(14:51):
indifferent time, like you know10 pm, and then, for whatever
reason, the algorithm goes, lovethat going to boost that.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
But consistency is definitely.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I would say consistency is probably the
hardest thing to do, but thething that helps you through.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
I'm going to agree with that because over the last
couple of weeks I've beenposting a bit of
behind-the-scenes stuff, yep,and I did a wedding for a couple
of gay guys a couple of weeksback and I love doing same-sex
weddings because it's just, it'sa riot the whole day long.
There's no traditions, there'sno nothing, it's just fun and
(15:35):
wild and and there was a lot ofinappropriate things that were
said and done by them and myselfat that wedding and I've been
posting them on instagram likejust short little clips with the
actual photo that I took.
Much to my horror, some ofthose or all of those clips have
gotten more attention and moreviews and more everything else
than my beautiful photographsthat I've been training myself
(15:59):
for 20 years to take.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Oh, what was that one I commented on the other day,
the one that was like she waslike spitting, or he was
spitting the champagne like outof his mouth so the groom's
drinking the champagne.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
They're back to back and she's spitting out a
mouthful of champagne.
That's, it's fantastic.
And then there's one of melying on my back shooting this
gay wedding and I'm the onegoing who's your daddy?
And they're losing it and yeah.
(16:30):
So, wow, there you go.
So I guess, in answer to thatconsistency and the things that
you may not think should beshown so much, could probably be
shown more.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Look, I would say and this is relevant to the 20th of
October 2024, because in threemonths time it could change, but
at the moment I'm finding thebest ways to potentially go
viral is use of relevanthashtags.
We're not using too manyhashtags, so I never really tag
(17:02):
more than like five to sevenhashtags.
Tag more than like five toseven hashtags, um, using a
trending sound because,realistically, unless you're a
famous person, no one reallycares about your original sound.
It needs to be something that'strending, or a song that's
trending in the background andthen the algorithm likes that,
tries to boost that more becauseit's showing that people are
(17:23):
engaged to it.
Yeah, um, and then you alsoneed to be posting with a
purpose.
So it's like you need togenuinely find that video funny,
sentimental, emotional,whatever.
If you don't actually thinkit's funny, no one else is going
to think it's funny.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
That's a really big point.
Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Or like if you don't find it sad, no one else is
going to find it sad.
If you don't find it, if itdoesn't tug at your heartstrings
, why would it tug at anyoneelse's heartstrings?
You have to believe in whatyou're posting.
Like if you just post for thesake of posting, people are
going to see that so I'd like toknow how are you turning these
interactions into actualinquiries?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
you know whether it's views or likes or whatever like
.
Have you got tips aroundtransferring them into an actual
lead?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
so the interesting thing with reels and tiktoks is
that I wouldn't necessarily saythat it's then turning into
actual bookings straight away.
Like the whole thing withweddings is that you've got to
play the long game right.
So I get a lot of people thatwill say, from a viral video
(18:37):
they'll start following me, butthen they might not actually get
engaged for like 18 months.
But all you've got to do is getthem to your profile, get them
to start following you, and thenthen from there they start to
see my stories, they start tosee my posts I pop up more often
.
They then start to feel likethey know me.
By the time they actually getengaged then they're like, oh my
(18:58):
god, ang, I've been watchingyour videos for so long, I'm
finally engaged.
Can you see if you're free onmy wedding day?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
yeah, great, okay, so it's essentially a multiple
touch point situation and do youhave anything um like, how
techie are you?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
do you have anything set up where, like you do a deal
and someone dms you and?
And do you play with any ofthose sort of tricks and
messenger like funnels andthings like that?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
um, from time from time to time I'll do discounts
off packages.
I try not to do them too oftenbecause otherwise I feel like it
devalues your business.
If you are just constantlydoing a sale, people will just
wait for the sale, you know whatI mean so?
you don't.
Ideally you want people payingthe price that the package is.
(19:47):
You don't want them coming inon a sale.
But in saying that, you know,coming up to Christmas like when
it's Christmas time, when it'sa quieter time you know I do
like to do a sale here and there.
I usually don't let them go fortoo long.
It's usually, like you know,three days.
Get your inquiry in, get yourbooking in, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
So I was talking to you a couple of weeks back now
at an event we had on theSunshine Coast here and I was
telling you how my Facebook adsaccount had been disabled
because they didn't like mypayment gateway and blah, blah
blah, and you had a bit of alaugh and you said who needs to
be calling me about Facebook adsand that sort of stuff?
(20:33):
I do great on social mediaalready.
So my question there is socialmedia ads or sort of traditional
and digital marketing.
Is that something that you useor do you just rely on the
generation of leads through yourorganic content that you post
out?
Speaker 3 (20:53):
I would say these days I don't really touch
Facebook ads.
I will do boosted posts onInstagram, but I don't really do
a lot of specific ad marketing,purely because I feel like
these days, with everyone a lotmore engaged in short form
(21:18):
videos and just funny thingsthat when you try and just
purposefully sell to people,they're just disinterested, they
don't want to be sold to.
They would prefer to, you know,have a feel like they have a
connection with you or a youknow, friendship with you and
then they're more likely to book.
(21:39):
That's why I try and justalways update my stories and
update this and update that,because then when they are
finally looking to do a familyshoot or they're looking to get
married or they're looking for aphotographer for something,
then when that story pops up,they go oh, that's right, that's
that photographer that I'vebeen following.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Yeah, so I'm going to go a bit rogue here.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I've got questions not on here and jack's like
leaning.
Well, I have a few questions ofmy own that I just thought up
with my own brain did I not doone.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Well, you kind of, yeah, you did I didn't like your
one I, so I hate it when momand dad fight whatever.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Just it's been a while so I now I forgot what I
was gonna say.
Oh yeah, the personal side ofthings.
So you spoke about authenticity.
Before and over the the lastcouple of years that I I have
noticed, ang, everywhere there'sbeen like a you're laughing now
(22:39):
.
There's been a bit of personalstuff that I've seen.
So there's there's been, youknow, reels of you sitting on
the floor cross-legged, talkingto the, talking to the phone and
that sort of stuff there's.
I've seen photos of you from,from um, like not kind of
semi-boudoir sort of shoots andstuff like that.
How, how does the, the authentic, personal stuff go alongside, I
(23:03):
guess, the, the more, what'swhat's the word?
I'm looking for, the, the, thestuff that you don't expect to
see on a wedding day, so thebehind the scenes stuff versus
the personal stuff, because II've seen you do a lot of both
and I'm curious as to you knowhow, how things have gone in
that regard and and whetheryou've seen a difference in
engagement and it goes back tothe whole authenticity thing so
(23:25):
I always find that minus theviral reels that I make, the
posts like the stagnant poststhat I make that usually get the
most engagement is when I saysomething about my life, whether
that's a story, like on mystories, or whether that's just
(23:46):
like a post of, like a.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
This is what's been going on recently.
Like I genuinely think peoplejust enjoy getting to know the
person behind the screen.
They don't just want to viewyou as again this salesy person
that's trying to get a wedding,like they want to have a
friendship with you.
(24:08):
Like I would feel confident insaying that majority of my
clients even if I don'tnecessarily meet them before the
day, they usually feel like Ican walk into that wedding and
pretty much just feel like afriend because they've been
following me on Instagram forthat long or they've been
replying to my stories, they'vebeen doing this, they've been
doing that.
Um, so I feel like but and I doI do also feel like it's a.
(24:33):
It's a fine balance.
I don't want to get too personalbecause also the amount of
people that I have my businessprofile don't need to know
everything that's super personalabout me, but I do feel like
letting people in about generalthings or things that are
affecting a lot of people at themoment, and just showing that,
like I am human, like sometimesI have weeks where I just don't
(24:57):
want to edit or I'm veryoverwhelmed with editing.
Like at the moment I'm veryoverwhelmed with editing.
It is like me behind a computerfor like 12 hours a day doing
the photo editing and the videoediting, plus doing the sneak
peeks, plus doing the admin,plus doing meetings.
Like it's a lot.
But I feel like peopleappreciate it more when you're
(25:23):
actually just honest about itrather than just trying to be
like oh guys, like it's all good, it's fine, like everyone's
just, like that's bullshit.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
I'm.
I find that, so it'scounterintuitive for me Like I'm
repressed head case.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
If they really knew, they'd run.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
But that's what I mean.
It's like it's a very finebalance of like you don't want
it, like I do see somebusinesses that I would consider
it possibly too much of anovershare, like I and I do feel
like there's a differencebetween the personal stuff that
(26:04):
you might see on Angela Brucephotography versus the personal
stuff you see on my personalInstagram.
So it's like if you're seeingthe stories on my personal
Instagram, you know that you'rethere to like see the fun, see
me on a holiday, like see me outdrinking, like all the fun
things like on Angela Brucephotography.
I would never post me likehaving a drink and like out
(26:25):
partying.
You know what I mean.
So it's like being professionalbut being relatable.
And then it's like if you wantto see like Ang justge, it's
like you can just go to mypersonal account.
But I do prefer to like keepthose two things separate.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Separate.
So, as a creative or as anartist, I really struggle to
differentiate myself from mywork, and I think there's
probably a whole lot ofcreatives out there that are
listening to this that probablyfeel the same way, and I'm just
not one of these people.
That sort of goes oh, I'm justgoing to share a whole lot of
(27:02):
not personal stuff, but sharestuff about me on social media
because I'm like, do peoplereally want to hear that?
Do people really want to know?
Like, do they really want toknow about the repressed head
case that is me?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
I don't know.
There's a lot to that question,because I think of, like I love
the Real Housewives, forexample, I think of Bethany's,
just come to mind, if any of youknow who that is.
I don't know who you're talkingabout.
You do?
No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Okay, well, she was a Real Housewife.
My guilty pleasure was the RealHousewives of Melbourne.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Yeah, there you go Loved it.
Bethany's just come to mindbecause she went on a reality
show.
Uh, she came up with the skinnygirl margarita.
She sold it to jim beam forlike 100 million dollars or
whatever.
Um, and now she's, you know,super famous, got this whole
skinny girl brand, which hasturned into shapewear and all
the rest of it and buteverything is authentically her
(27:56):
and her podcast is is like she'sshe's super smart but she's
ditzy and she tells these funnylike stories that are like stuff
that's really happening in herlife her divorce, her being a
single mom, now, um, and and Ijust lap it up like because
she's just it's like if shedidn't do that you'd be be like,
oh, that's Bethany and she's abusinesswoman or whatever.
(28:17):
But listening to these stories,I kind of buy into her brand
and her public persona much more.
Right yep, but I don't know like, that's just an example that
came to mind in that you knowthat's somebody who does it
really well and she's warts andall what she's showing.
You know the ups and the downs,the divorce, the.
You know all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
So I guess the moral of the story is creatives, don't
be afraid to share yourself andyour work.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Just maybe not your OnlyFans.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Well, I don't have one of those, so the link to
Jack's OnlyFans.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Follow my link in bio Spicy link.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yes, yes.
So I guess, angela, to sort ofwrap us up a little bit, what
advice would you give someonewho's just starting out their
business when it comes tosocials, like what platforms,
what should they do, you know,and that sort of thing?
Speaker 3 (29:18):
It's really hard because this might get outdated
very quickly because socialmedia changes so much all the
time.
So you say back in 2020 toprobably beginning of 2022, I
would have said TikTok, I wouldhave said TikTok.
Now I just I'm not going to saythat TikTok's nothing, but I do
(29:39):
feel like the algorithm haschanged quite significantly,
that they're trying to go moretowards paid ads and they're not
doing as much of just lettingvideos just go viral unless
you're paying.
So these days I've actuallyfound it better on Instagram.
Um, probably at the beginningof the year, I started actively
(30:04):
trying on YouTube.
Um, because I had an instancewhere I had this groom reaction
go just absolutely gangbusters,I think, across all my socials.
It would have got by now over30 million views, wow.
And this one company hadmessaged me and had been like oh
(30:27):
, can we use your video onYouTube?
And me, being naive, I went, oh, yeah, sure, like I don't care,
like that's cool, like I'm notmaking any money off it, like go
for it.
Like you know if I can get someexposure, just make sure you
know.
You tag Angela Brucephotography.
Um, anyway.
And then it was so funny, my, myboyfriend, who does not use
(30:49):
social media but he watchesYouTube, found that video and
was like hey, ange, your videohas like 22 million views on
this YouTube account.
And I was like what?
And then he explained to methat because they had over a
thousand subscribers, theyactually had more like almost a
million subscribers and thevideo had 22 million views.
(31:12):
The amount of money they wouldhave made off that video
disgusted me.
Like I'm talking, I think, froma quick Google.
They would have made like$5,000 off that video.
Yeah, wow, which?
Then?
Because I had said, okay, inair quotes, I'm doing air quotes
and I just realized this isaudio, but because I had said in
(31:33):
air quotes it was okay, then,oh, what was that?
I just got balloons on on.
Okay, we're going to start thatagain.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Anyway, it's because you're doing air quotes.
You're on, you're on an apple,so that's on.
Don't start that.
Put that away where's the heart?
Speaker 3 (31:49):
so, because I had said it was in air quotes, okay,
um, there's nothing I could doabout it, like I can't, I can't,
I can't go after them, I can'ttell YouTube to take it down,
like so all I had to do waspretty much cop that on the chin
and then be like well, you knowwhat, no one's using my stuff
ever again on YouTube and I amgonna try and make myself
(32:14):
something on YouTube.
So now I am also like I thinklike 800 subscribers away from
like 40,000, and that's likemost of those subscribers is
from that one reel.
So I've ended up posting thatgroom reaction and I think now
on YouTube it's got like 10million views.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Okay, so yeah okay, there's a lot.
I'm not going to ask you theother questions, like how do you
think social media is evolving,because we've kind of kind of
covered it yeah it's evolvingquicker than any of us can keep
up and I hate to say it, butit's.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
It's like social media is like a sink or swim I'd
like to know, after you do awedding, um, and you've edited
your pictures and everythinglike that, how much time do you
dedicate to sort of choppingthose up and making reels and
and getting getting that sort ofmaterial out of that wedding?
Speaker 3 (33:05):
this is so I'm actually the worst.
I do not plan anything untilabout 30 minutes before I'm
going to post it.
I will literally just scrollthrough the Reel section or I'll
go to trending audio and thenI'll just pick an audio and then
just in my head I'll be like,oh, let's do this wedding, or I
(33:27):
haven't posted this wedding in awhile.
I'll just do this and I willjust make it up in like 20
minutes and then post it.
Not about it again.
I had a job.
So after the first job I workedin in Queensland, I then worked
for an activewear company andthat job was a lot of I need it
(33:48):
done yesterday.
So I got very good at beingable to just do things in the
spare of the moment, which isprobably very toxic, but it has
made me, in turn, very good atsocial media, because I can
literally just pump things out.
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Great.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Okay, yeah, that's what I need to do.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Well, it sounds doable, I need to be a bit more
fluid.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Yeah, be the teapot.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Right, but I think also, once you get in the hang
of it, then it becomes easier.
So also like, for example, mygroom reactions I know that if I
post a really good groomreaction it's going to go viral
because I know exactly how Ineed to edit it and what text I
need to put to keep peopleinterested to then get to the
(34:38):
end.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Sure, yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Thank you, Angela, Thanks Angela.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
That's been informative.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
It has.
I'm quite scared of TikTok, soI've got to get out of it.
Yeah, I'm not a TikTok fan, soat all, but a lot of people are
in our position where you knowwe've got beautiful content
right, it's just yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Look at me Anyway on that note, honestly like I said,
I don't even know if I wouldbother with TikTok at the moment
.
I would put your time andeffort into Instagram.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah, wow, Angela.
How can people find out moreabout you?
Have you got a social handlethat's the same across your
accounts?
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Yeah, so please find me on TikTok, instagram and
YouTube at Angela BruchPhotography, which is
A-N-G-E-L-A-B-R-U-S-H-A-TPhotography Awesome.
And what's the website?
It waswwwangelabruchphotographycom.
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
And do you help people with social media at all?
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Yes, if anyone would like to send me a message, feel
free.
You can pretty much just slideon into my Instagram DMs and I
can send you some prices onsocial media mentorship if you
would so like.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Awesome.
Thank you In stereo.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
All right.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Thanks, angela, lovely speaking with you In
stereo, all right.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Thanks, angela, lovely speaking with you.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Thanks, Angela.
It's been fun and no doubt I'llrun into you again.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!