You want to learn how to spoil your followers, increase your engagement, and spend less time online? Of COURSE you do, because it’s going to help you level up your social media presence and get massive RESULTS for your brand!!
WHY AM I YELLING? Because if I would have followed this advice last year, I cannot imagine what opportunities would have come my way sooner.
That’s right, Past Me actively avoided showing up for her brand. A year ago, I was getting some pretty good momentum from word of mouth and client referrals. I had a nice client load, but kept failing to close the deal with folks who discovered me online. Why?
Oh boii. I was committing some SERIOUS social media sins, baby. That’s a topic for a different blog post, so let’s focus on what I learned and how I turned it around:
Step One: Realize nobody cares about you.
Ouch, harsh right? No. It’s freeing. The number one reason I hear from people (myself included) as to why they don’t show up for their brand is: “What will people think of me?!”
Uh...nothing. They will think nothing. Because they are too busy thinking about themselves. They want to know what your content is going to do for them. Is it going to make them laugh? Make them think? Teach them something? What value is it going to provide is literally the only thing in their head.
Step Two: Start providing value on your feed
I SAY THIS A LOT BECAUSE IT’S TRUE. Provide value to your audience. Give givegiveigiiivveee them something to keep coming back for. Entertain them, challenge them, teach them, but make it about THEM.
Curate your feed to be value packed, so that when Your Ideal Client lands on your page, they are wowed with what you are showing up to share
Step Three: VIDEO (don’t whine about it)
When I tell clients “You need to show up on video” and I hear “BUT WHYYYY” in reply I feel like I need to get out a chart:
Viewers retain 95% of what they see in video vs. the 10% of info they retain reading a text. Okay do you want me to do more math? I can make my mama proud with stats all day, but I think you get it.
Besides the retention factor, there’s the promotion factor. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are putting a ton of R&D money into video features. Do you think they want those features to fail? NOPE. Case and point: Reels on Instagram.
TL/DR: Video. You need to do it.
I’ve got a whole post about showing up on video when you are scared AF which is a great place to start if you need tips and ideas for being awesome in front of the camera or phone.
Step Four: Talk to the People
Now that you are spoiling your audience with amazing value-packed content, you need to start slithering into their DMs (not creepy). DMs (direct messages) are the portal to higher engagement. Start with a welcome strategy: draft a message you can customize to send to your new followers and save it as a quick text in Instagram DMs (see below)
Another awesome thing about DMs is sending voice messages. These are like gold! You can talk faster than you can type, it’s WAY more personal, and it gives your message even more importance and meaning to the person you are messaging. Extra bonus re: voice messages? So far, bots can’t fake them, so voice messages are viewed as incredibly authentic, which factors into how Instagram ranks your content with the algorithm.
Thoughtful comments are still great, but a direct message to one person shows deeper connections and helps put your content in their feed more frequently, since it looks like you are interacting on a more intimate, private, person-to-person level. Be genuine in your DMs, ask questions, get to know your people, and watch the magic unfold.
Step Five: Develop a Purpose
When you leisurely wander the aisle of a store, you end up spending more money than when you quickly get in and get out. The same is true with social media. The less intention you have when you open the app, the more likely you are to waste time. When I open a social media app, I will often say out loud my reason for opening the app. If I can’t say anything, I don’t open it.
Social media is a great tool for business marketing, but only when it is used correctly. If you are going for an aimless scroll, you are taking away time that would be better served by you relaxing, recharging, or addressing other areas of business.
“But,” you are probably saying, “I need to engage with my audience! You said I should be active on Stories daily, and sending DMs, and all the things!”
Yes! Doing those things will boost your engagement. And if you are focused and intentional, you will be ASTOUNDED how little time it takes. Going on 3-5 short social media “sprints” (less than 10 min each) throughout the day helps you appear more active in the eyes of the internal ranking systems (aka the algorithm). You can easily engage with your new feed post, post to Stories, and reach out to ideal clients in this amount of time.
And if you schedule your feed posts/stories in advance, it gets even faster! (Pro tip: plan ahead with the 2021 Content Planner)
So, will you start today? Imagine where you could be when you start consistently showing up for your brand!
Stay Bad Axe,
Carolyn
New Bad Axe Blog posts get published on Mondays weekly. I explore all things digital marketing: from websites to social media, graphic design to branding and so much more. Become a site member and never miss a post!