122: A Fresh Approach to Social Media Engagement with Tara McMullin

Have you heard the term “call and response”?

When I hear the phrase, I think of preachers, especially in black churches, who use it to engage their parishioners and uplevel the energy in the room.

As speakers, we can use call and response to heighten energy and emotion with our audiences and get them to participate more in the experience. (See episode 113 on E.P.I.C. content for some examples.)

But, have you thought about using this idea of “call and response” on social media?

I certainly hadn’t until I saw a post by my guest, Tara McMullin, in her What Works online community that I’m a member of.

Here’s what’s interesting about Tara’s idea:

We assume we’re creating the “call” with our social media posts and content.

However, what if our posts are the response to the question that’s already in the minds of our audience.

Our goal is to seek out the call from our audience and respond to it, not the other way around.

Mind-shifting, isn’t it?

In this episode, Tara and I talk about:

• The business model of her What Works community and how it evolved from what she had before
• How this idea of call and response is influencing what Tara is doing on social media
• The impact, engagement, and results Tara has seen with this fresh approach, especially on Instagram
• As a marketer, we need to think of what the questions (calls) our audiences/prospective clients have
• What I’m currently doing on social media
• How Tara approaches the content she creates for speaking engagements

I was curious about where the phrase "call and response" originated, so I did some searching:

“Call and response is deeply embedded into African-American musical traditions including blues, jazz, gospel, R&B, soul, and hip-hop. The phrasing is a musical conversation—a statement made by a musician or group musicians is answered by a response. Call and response comes from Sub-Saharan African cultures and developed in America through slave work songs and field hollers, spirituals, and blues.” (Source: https://stevetres.com/2016/01/5-types-of-call-and-response-phrases/)

This episode is sponsored by Modern Traction, a web development and content marketing company.

We used Modern Traction to design our new website for https://www.speakingyourbrand.com and we are beyond thrilled with the impact and ROI we’ve already received less than a month in.

Melanie Richards, the founder of Modern Traction, was on the podcast last week in episode 121 sharing what a powerful marketing and sales tool your website can be, especially to position yourself as a premium and paid speaker.

Learn more about how they can help you with a website refresh, a complete overhaul, or done-for-you content marketing at https://www.moderntraction.com and schedule a consult call. I can’t recommend Mel and her team enough.

About My Guest: Tara McMullin is a podcaster, writer, and small business community leader. With over a decade of experience helping thousands of small business owners grow their businesses, she’s on a mission to change the dialogue about what’s really working from hype to candid conversation.

She’s the host of the What Works podcast, a top small business podcast that’s been recommended by Forbes and Entrepreneur, as well as the founder of The What Works Network, a community hub for small business owners. She’s also a bestselling Money & Life instructor on CreativeLive. Her work has been featured on Fast Company, Inc, Daily Worth, and The Huffington Post.

About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals create their signature talks and gain more visibility to achieve their goals. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power: on stages, in businesses, on boards, in the media, in politics, and in our communities. Check out our coaching programs and workshops at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com.

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/122

Explore the What Works network and podcast: https://explorewhatworks.com/

Follow Tara on Instagram: @Tara_McMullin

Carol on the What Works podcast episode 185 on networking: https://cocommercial.co/networking/

Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/ or text the word SPEAKING to 444-999.

Ready to create your signature talk and framework? Email hello@speakingyourbrand.com or click here to schedule a call.

Say hi to me on Instagram and Twitter: @CarolMorganCox.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts and leave a review!

Related Podcast Episodes:

• Episode 89: Building a Community from Your Podcast with Debbie Gonzales [Coaching]
• Episode 101: Public Speaking Trends for 2019
• Episode 106: Get More Speaking Opportunities with a Powerful Personal Brand with Diane Diaz
• Episode 113: Storytelling Isn’t Enough – Your Content Needs to be E.P.I.C.
• Episode 121: Designing Your Website So It Speaks Your Brand with Melanie (Mel) Richards

Become Bookable Live Online Workshop - April 15, 2026
If you want to speak more but you’re not sure where to start or your efforts haven’t produced the results you want, I’m hosting a live online workshop called “Become Bookable: How to Get Speaking Invitations” on Wednesday, April 15th.

A lot of brilliant women assume they just need to pitch themselves more. But the real reason speakers get invited isn’t because they pitch harder — it’s because they’re positioned as bookable.

In this 3-hour interactive workshop live on Zoom, I’ll show you how speakers actually get invited — and help you clarify the positioning that makes event organizers say yes.

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