What I think about the Faceless Digital Marketing trend

I came across the faceless digital marketing Instagram trend in early 2024. I’m probably really late to the party, but I clicked on a Facebook ad, and something piqued my interest. So I bought a couple of the books on offer, with Master Resell Rights, (another major trend right now) figuring that at the very least, I would learn something new and then I’d be able to share it with you people.

Of course, as soon as I showed interest in this trend, my Instagram account was chock full of people who have suddenly decided that Faceless Digital Marketing is the new Black – the only place to be in in 2024.

The vast majority appear to be young women – of course there isn’t a lot more to go on than that in their bios, and they have all set up their (very similar) accounts in order to sell a set of books all about faceless marketing. Most of their posts seem to be about how much money they have made in a very short time and what a fabulous thing faceless marketing is and the key to it all is all in these books (funny that).

Some of them are clearly established Instagram influencers, with five, or six figures of followers, whereas others reckon they have already made a couple of thousand pounds or dollars after starting a new account in 2024 alone, with only around 400 followers. I’m sure some of those are true, but I’m almost certain it will become less and less true as more people jump on this copycat bandwagon and try to sell exactly the same stuff. But one thing is for sure, they are definitely getting lots of views to their reels, even if to me, they all look the same, and a bit boring if I’m honest.

Why are people choosing Faceless Marketing?

Faceless Marketing is perfect if you are uncomfortable in front of a camera for whatever reason. Maybe English is not your first language, or you get anxious with public speaking. Maybe you don’t like the idea of dancing on TikTok in front of people, or you don’t like how you look or sound on camera. In practical terms, if you are a mum, maybe you don’t want your children or your home to be shown on camera – for some mums there could be some genuine safeguarding issues.

Then last but not least – it’s hard work setting up a camera, recording and editing video every single day – far easier to use other people’s video clips , with music and captions – also not everyone has a photogenic space in their home for filming, especially not if you have young children!

I must admit I have my own reasons for being intrigued and initially attracted by the faceless method. For a while I have realised that I am not really a good example of my target market any more. I have been marketing to mums who run businesses whilst raising children since 2010, but my own children are grown and at university now. I have reached the finish line on the full-time mum part of my life, and while I still have plenty of experience to be a coach and a mentor to others who are running a business while raising a family, I can’t do videos showing lots of small children climbing all over me while I work, because I’m not willing to kidnap them!

Realistically, I’m also no longer a member of my target market age demographic – and I’m not prepared to dye my hair and fill my wrinkles just for a silly camera. I am who I am, I’m proud of it and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. So there is a small part of me that has been wondering, would things be better for my business if I retired my face from social media, and instead joined these young ladies on the faceless bandwagon and used videos and images of other, younger mums to promote Mum’s the Boss, and beautiful calming images of sunsets and healthy food, and similar?

Testing the Faceless Marketing Method

So I decided to run a quick test. I read the Instagram book and put what I learned to work, starting off by reinvigorating my ailing Instagram account. I spent a couple of weeks trying out some techniques and engaging with folks who are using my favourite hashtags on Instagram. I did some posts, some stories and some reels. And then I went for it: One day I published 2 reels…

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A post shared by Debbie| Virtual Assistant | Small Business Tips (@mumsthebossblog)

They had the same caption and the same hashtags, but the first one I published had trending, calming music and a video of a young woman running along a beach at sunset. Beautiful, I thought, just what I would like to look at. Then ten minutes later, I published the second reel, with the same captions etc. but this time I just held my phone up to my face and shot myself talking, exactly as I am. I talked for about a minute explaining about the test and asking people to comment which video had popped up for them first.

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A post shared by Debbie| Virtual Assistant | Small Business Tips (@mumsthebossblog)

And guess what – the one with my “just as I am” face scored the most highly in all categories in the Analytics. It was viewed by more people, viewed for longer, and had the most comments. Nearly everyone said they had seen that one first, even though I posted it second, and a couple of people said that they much preferred my little rant and it was much more engaging than the video, however pretty the scenery and the music was. Most of the comments on the second video were from people that had specifically gone to look for it on my profile after seeing the first one – only one person had seen that one first.

What should I make of the results?

Clearly the trend of people selling thousands of these Faceless Marketing books and courses, has nothing to do with the sellers actually being faceless. They might even sell faster if they did show their faces – and I have to admit that makes me laugh a bit.

I think that the trend of Faceless Digital Marketing is just that – a trend just like the ice bucket challenge of a few years ago. It will have its day, sell a lot of books, and then it may well disappear and we will move on to the next thing, whatever that is.

Nonetheless, I have to say that the book that I bought (and have edited for resale as I am allowed to), did have a lot of good, straightforward and no-nonsense Instagram tips in it, some of which I already knew and a few which were new to me.

Instagram is a complicated platform – it has lots of different moving parts; bio, posts, carousels, stories, reels, DMs, and it’s very interesting to find out how they all fit together into a clever marketing strategy.

So I still think the “faceless” book will be very good for me (and for you, see below), even though i will not be completely faceless on my own account, and it has helped me to relaunch my Instagram account and start selling my own digital products. I’ve never really tried to sell from Instagram before, but now I have a much better idea how to do it.

Would I recommend Faceless Digital marketing to others?

I think there are some types of stay at home mums who would really benefit from using faceless methods to market their businesses and offerings. I know many mums whose family members need to remain anonymous for various reasons, and many of my friends will not ever show their small children on camera, which I applaud for the most part (whilst feeling sad that it is necessary).

So really the choice whether to show your face or not depends on the mum and also on the business being promoted:

The Allure of Anonymity:

Imagine this: No more awkward outfit changes, meticulously staged backdrops, or hours spent editing photos to achieve that elusive “effortlessly perfect” look. The faceless approach liberates you from the pressure of personal branding, allowing you to focus solely on your business. This translates to saved time, less stress, and potentially, a wider audience, as your content isn’t filtered through the lens of your personality.

Guess what – that is what AI wrote for me as the benefits of Faceless Digital Marketing – but as I showed above, I have found that I can get a decent connection with my viewers just by pointing the camera at my face in my room, just as I am, no makeup nor staging. So personal branding doesn’t have to be as hard as some influencers seem to think it is, and there clearly is a middle way.

Is Faceless Digital Marketing definitely better?

While the faceless route offers undeniable benefits, it’s not without its drawbacks. Building an authentic connection with your audience is crucial for fostering trust and loyalty.

Without your face and personality in the picture, achieving that connection can be challenging. Additionally, faceless content can run the risk of feeling impersonal and repetitive, especially if you rely solely on product photos and generic AI-driven captions. Remember, you’re the heart and soul of your business, and people connect with people!

There are a huge number of faceless marketers out there and from my perspective all their accounts look very much the same – endless reels all with the same music repeating every seven seconds (because it is trending, not because it’s good!) and repetitive “Stop the Scroll!” captions.

I haven’t made a huge success yet, because I haven’t really started selling yet, but my account is growing steadily and I’m prepared to believe that I can still create and nurture an audience with my “as I am” dotty old lady persona, as long as I am passing on some relevant and useful tips, of which I now know a fair few. One of my best tips is to “be different!” I’m certainly that – who knew it would be an asset?

I don’t believe for a minute that all the faceless accounts out there have made a huge success, even though the most popular faceless marketing method encourages them to talk endlessly about how much money they have made and how quickly (yawn!). I’m sure some of them have made a sizeable return, and I guess whoever first came up with this ebook set that everyone is buying has probably made a fortune, but the market is already getting to that stage where the late joiners will find it hard to gain traction.

Should You Join the Faceless Crowd?

The answer is “It depends!” Consider your situation, your business type and also your target audience. Are you aiming for a community feel, where personal connections are essential, or is your product more function-focused, where facelessness might work?

Here are some questions to ponder:

• Who are your ideal customers? What resonates with them? Would they be ok with an anonymous account or would they feel more connection with a real human ?
• Are you more comfortable being faceless online? Are you comfortable in front of a camera?
• Does your content strategy lend itself well to a faceless approach?
• What are your business goals?

If Faceless Instagram Marketing appeals to you, or if you just want to look and see what all the fuss is about – check out my free ebook – Mum’s the Boss Guide to Faceless Reels on Instagram It contains a lot of the information that I learned while regenerating my own Instagram account.

Alternative Avenues to Explore:

If the idea of being completely faceless feels inauthentic, but you want to step back a bit from the TikTok dances, don’t worry! There are ways to embrace your unique mumpreneur magic while maintaining a level of privacy you’re comfortable with.

• Share glimpses of your life without making it the main focus. Capture heartwarming moments with your children (with their permission, of course, or filming them from behind), showcase your creative process, or offer peeks into your daily life as part of your marketing strategy. Let your personality shine through authentically, without feeling forced or staged.
  
• Embrace the power of visuals. Use high-quality product photos, eye-catching infographics, or even creative animations to grab attention. Remember, visuals are a powerful storytelling tool, and you don’t necessarily need your face to tell a captivating tale.
  
• Focus on valuable content. Whether you’re sharing industry insights, offering helpful tips, or hosting interactive sessions, provide content that resonates with your audience and positions you as an expert. Valuable content builds trust and attracts followers, whether you’re faceless or not.
  

Remember, you are the magic behind your brand. Don’t be afraid to experiment, find your voice, and most importantly, have fun! The Instagram landscape is vast, and there’s a space for you to shine, with or without your beautiful face front and centre. Don’t assume you know what your viewers would like to see – you may be pleasantly surprised, like I was.

So, embrace your own brand of mum business magic, let your personality shine out, sprinkle it generously all over your content, and watch your Instagram blossom into a thriving community that celebrates both your business and you, the amazing mum behind it all.

As to what I’m going to do with Mum’s the Boss on Instagram? I’m going to do some more short reels of me just giving a short rant straight to camera, as they seem to work best. I’ve learned a green screen technique where I can talk to the camera and also put a beautiful beach behind me – that gives the best of both worlds in my view. I’m encouraged by the results of my test to realise that maybe I’m not too old and too ugly for this lark after all.

But on top of that, I will experiment with some of the faceless graphic design techniques that are in the book, until I find which ones really resonate with my followers. And yes, I will also use AI to help me, which was a very useful chapter of the book. My friendly AI helped me with some of this article, but I hope you can feel that there is quite a lot of the real me in here too.

Mum’s the Boss Guide to Instagram (not necessarily Faceless!)

I am offering some of the advice I received about Faceless Marketing on Instagram as a free book on my new Pensight page. If this method of marketing appeals to you, then please click the image and grab a copy. It may not be the way I am continuing, but the techniques taught in this book are still useful for some mums and some types of business.

If you enjoy that, then I have recently finished my rewrite of a bigger Instagram book. This book starts with the bones of the Faceless book that I bought, and keeps all the interesting bits that are making the faceless method work – the really clever marketing tips.

However, I have added to that a healthy dose of cynicism that faceless is the only way, and brought along some different hints and tips which I have learned from people who are very much front and centre in their Instagram business. And finally, I have added in a bit of my own dottiness and sass, and made sure that the instructions in the book are easy enough to follow, even for someone who has never used Instagram before, or has used it withut really having a clue what they are doing, like I did for so long.

That book is also now also available on Pensight, and once you have it and have used it, you will also get the opportunity to edit and resell it if you want to. It has a lot in common with a few of the other books that are out there, but it is very much its own thing and has some original bits. Click the image below to see more.

Conclusion

What I hope you will take from this article is that I don’t take anything at face value. I loved the idea of Faceless Digital Marketing, but I needed to tinker with it quite a lot, and fit it into my overall Instagram strategy as one tool, rather than the guiding philospohy of my page.

There are quite a few Master Resell Rights books out there right now, covering so many digital marketing topics, and I plan to give all of them the Mum’s the Boss treatment over the next few months – test, question, and show you what I learned.

If you want to keep in touch with this process please follow me on @mumsthebossblog on Instagram

Free Offers from Mum’s the Boss

Click the relevant image to access these free ebooks and templates from Mum’s the Boss:

• What to post on Social media ebook: Ideas for captions hooks and topics for your socials
• Sample of 5 Instagram Carousel Post templates: Brand them and use as your own and see your instagram engagement soar
• Home Financial Planner: take care of your home finances, in association with Frugal Jools

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