Looking for a foolproof social media marketing plan?

Hello out there again internetland...

You'll have to forgive me as I am feeling a little hopped up on Caffeine. As promised I am back with another social media marketing blog post... not as soon as I would have liked, but I am here. I came back! I am writing.

Last week, I wrote about social media marketing strategies and what you SHOULDN'T be doing if you want your audience to grow. Today, I want to lead a bit of discussion about social media marketing strategies in general - and the difference between methods of growing an audience that work "in theory" and methods of growing an audience that ACTUALLY work 100% of the time. Yep, if you stick around long enough I am going to tell you exactly how to grow your audience, a foolproof social media marketing plan!

The difference between what works "in theory" and what actually WORKS

There is A LOT of content out there that will lure you in with false promises like "How to get 10,000 Instagram followers overnight" or a " How to get more LIKES on your Facebook biz page, like now!" - you'll find this type of nearly, click-bate material scattered all over the web - and it exists, because THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR.

Strategists, like myself, compose and create content to rank on terms that people are searching. So, you can't blame them for creating content to show up for these inquiries. Even in real life, I get asked all of the time, "how do I grow my Instagram?" or "How can I get more likes?" - people want to know the procedure, they want an easy to follow tutorial.

Step one, do this, then do this, then do this - voila!

And frankly, there are certain concrete steps that anyone can take to improve the overall visibility of their content. For instance, start using hashtags on Instagram. Start sharing your Facebook content into relevant groups. These steps will help your content be discovered by new people. And, being discovered by more people should "in theory" allow your following to grow. 

But that's what I mean by "in theory" - because there isn't any guarantee. Simply having visible content isn't going to assure that you have a large following. AND furthermore, having a large following doesn't mean that you will necessarily be able to make any sales.

Don't get me wrong as much as I enjoy the strategy behind content networking - even I can't promise that someone's content will "take off" - and not to be a downer, but in some cases, even when you are doing everything RIGHT, people are unpredictable - you have to take into account the human factor here.

So, what can you do? That will work 100% and make sure that your social media marketing efforts are not in vain.

Let's jump into list form:

1. Be creative -

This should be more or less common sense, but social media is a creative platform! 

You can talk strategy all day but the most "creative" approach usually gets the most attention. Having good writing, great visuals and an recgonizable style all make a difference. Call it "personal branding" if you like, but what we are really talking about is your content's creative and how it stand's out amongst the crowd.

2. Use targeting

Once you have a defined style, you want to use a targeting strategy to attract the right type of audience. You do this by finding people with a notable following who have a similar "brand" style as you and targeting their audience. This will put you on the radar of people who are "most likely" to relate to your content. This will increase the likelihood of them converting into followers for you as well.

As part of your targeting strategy you should also look for indicators of conversion. For instance, if you are selling a $120 dollar product with a specific brand style, you'll want to look at people who have purchased a similar $120 dollar item from someone else. ( but not an identical item ) - basically you want to go after individuals who are "most likely to convert"...

Just thinking about this when you are networking on social media will dramatically improve your outreach strategy.

3. Provide value 

When you are marketing a service or product online using social media, it is easy to get stuck in the mode of SELL SELL SELL MUST SELL. This can be the achilles heal of anyone who is being motivated by a desperate drive to make sales. 

Don't get me wrong, obviously in order for your marketing to make sense, it needs to be generating profits. However, in the initial phase of building an audience, it is wise to put selling on the back burner and make "awareness" and "loyalty" a priority. 

You do this by providing as much value as possible without giving everything away for free! This approach takes a lot of "trust" in the fact that what you have something of value to share.

Let me say this another way. Your service or product has to be AWESOME. It has to be something that people want.

This is a personal opinion, but I am a big believer in the "if you have to market it unethically, then people don't need it" viewpoint.

Sell something people actually want... then the "marketing" itself won't be so hard.

THEN you can focus your energy on providing people with content that enriches their lives by educating, engaging or informing them.

( Additionally, if your targeting game is on point, you'll also be providing information to the RIGHT people... )

4.  Consistency, Patience and Hard Work

Okay, I am going to throw this one down as a fourth point to consider, because I do feel that other guides on social media marketing often leave this one out.

Growing your audience on social media takes time. You probably won't be making tons of sales overnight. You need to lay down the groundwork first and nurture your audience. It isn't for the weak-willed and it certainly isn't for those who are desperate to make money fast.

But I don't want to discourage you, because the potential for marketing a great brand using social media is there!

For you skim readers, here is what you do.

• Create a product or service that has value
• Develop a distinct and creative brand that stands out
• Use a targeting strategy to attract the right people to you
• Provide tons of FREE value to keep your audience interested long term
• Be patient, work hard - stay consistent.

That's how it is done.

You've got this!
⭐✊😝⭐

We will talk again soon.

- Brandie

Have you joined the Visibility Rockstar Group yet???  Free coaching.

Like this post? Have some thoughts? Drop a comment below.
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Social Media Marketing, What NOT to do to attract new clients

Are you over complicating your social media marketing?

Hello again,

Well, I said that I would write my content marketing and social media marketing tips here as often as possible THEN, i took an entire week off.

The good news is, that I have been really busy launching some new strategies for some pretty amazing clients - so i really cannot complain.

Truthfully, if you are a new online entrepreneur be prepared to live this way! You’ll spend A LOT of time marketing your own services and products - and then get hired, and not have ANY time to work on your own content. This is just how it goes. What do they say? “The shoe-maker wears the worst shoes”…

In fact this is something I occasionally get embarrassed by. Here I am preaching blogging and social media marketing - living and breathing it day to day - but if I manage to get my daily Rockstar Visibility Tip up and share a new Instagram post, I am having a good one.

No matter how busy I am, i still try to keep up with my personal social media and maintain a strong and active presence. Which, to be honest, is how I do most of my client recruiting these days; through my personal content. Not my “marketing” content.

What is the difference? Well, and this just my opinion, but marketing content is content created with the intention of “selling” directly. It usually is accompanied by a call to action: do this, receive this. Marketing itself can come in various shapes and forms, from direct IN YOUR FACE marketing. ( Like a door to door sales-person ) - to subtle indirect marketing, like product placement or influencer mentions.

Personal content on the other hand is different but it can still be your BEST method of self promotion. What producing “personal content” does is demonstrates a competency or proves a point. For instance, i always preach Facebook engagement as the most important thing and I demonstrate it by being HIGHLY ENGAGED on Facebook, directly from my personal account. 

When I am engaging on Facebook, sometimes I talk about content marketing and social media, BECAUSE this is a topic that I am genuinely enthusiastic about. However, sometimes I just talk about the other things that interest me like, like punk music, things happening in my community and mindfulness practices. Just like everyone else on Facebook I use the platform to catch up with my friends, share interesting posts and just HAVE FUN. For me, my genuine and frequent use of the platform is how I prove that I understand it and love it. AND yes, the marketing strategies that I develop for Facebook are “marketing strategies” - not personal accounts, BUT when people see me using Facebook the way that Facebook is meant to be used it shows them that I know what is up with the platform.

In my opinion, this is THE NUMBER THING wrong with social media marketing industry these days. Tons of opportunist see dollar signs in producing media for social platforms, and attempt to bank on them. However, a large majority of these “social media marketing experts” aren’t even using the platforms themselves. Grr… this peeves me off. 😡

Alright, I got a bit side-tracked there, but I do want to LAND ON A POINT and provide some value for those of you who are kind enough to read this. Here we go - 

For people who are new to ( Marketing ) -I use parentheses because we are talking about the GOOD type of content marketing here - not direct in your face marketing - there are few things that YOU DO NOT want to do. These include:

Only showing up on the social media platform that you are marketing yourself on to market yourself.

You’ll see this all of the time. Business operators who show up on social media once a week, write a standard marketing message and take off. 

They’ll do this on any given platform, and then wonder why “social media marketing” is not working for them. Instead, try choosing a few platforms that you like and would genuinely use. Make a point to engage on content and with other users who are part of your target demographic. Only market yourself when the opportunity is directly presented.

Copying what “you think” a good social media profile looks like

Okay, so ALL social media platforms require users to create and curate content in order to participate. 

Remember, content can be anything, from your “status posts” to the captions on the links that you share. Some platforms, like twitter are pretty minimal as far as the creative goes. Where other platforms, such as Instagram, require the user to be highly creative when coming up with visual content to share. 

If you don’t fancy yourself a “natural creative”, then it can be fairly tempting just to copy what you see other successful account operators are doing - believing that if it works for them it will work for you.

I want to stomp this out right away. This isn’t true. A successful social media profile - can’t be imitated on first glance. And because content marketing is a two part undertaking: create content, then network content. You can’t see from just looking what that individual ( or account manager ) is doing behind the scenes to engage their audiences.

Plus originality, trumps everything - and you cannot expect lightening to hit the same spot twice. Creating a copy-cat social media profile / or campaign, is just an all around “bad plan.” Don’t do it. It is annoying. Disrespectful to the original content creator - and BLATANTLY amateurish. 😲

Aimlessly Producing Content With No Clear Intention

Alright, last but certainly not least - when you are tackling a social media marketing strategy there does need to be some rhyme and reason behind your approach. Why? Well, quite honestly because YOUR TIME IS VALUABLE.

You could spend hours upon hours randomly producing content and talking to “who-ever” hoping that they may bite. Meanwhile, the world is passing by and you are just simulating “being busy” working on your business rather than actually working on your business.

So, how do you differentiate?

1. Set time frames for different behaviours - for example, 1 hour a day on follower recruitment. 1 hour a day on engagement. Create and produce one or two good pieces of content, rather than just posting whatever comes to mind... 

2. Know your audience. This is also EXTREMELY important. You need to know who your target audience is on EVERY platform that you participate on. Have a person and mind and create content that will be attractive to them. As your following grows, PAY ATTENTION to who your people are. Write to them. And for fruck’s sake be REAL about it. Don’t grow a following of middle-age conservative housewives and then start selling neon yellow beer bongs. 

3. Have a goal in mind. As you get to know me, you’ll learn that I am a huge advocate of setting goals for everything. Why? Because goals give you a metre of success. The only way that you can know that you have achieved something is to have a target in mind. For example: each week I set a goal for how many new members i want to recruit into my Rockstar Visibility Group through my Facebook and Instagram strategy. By the end of the week, if i haven’t met my goal I get more aggressive about my recruitment tactics and find more time to dedicate to the strategy, so that the goal is met.

Alright, another long rambler - but I hope you all gained some value from this post. I guess (for you skim readers) my big take-away is this: 

Social media marketing is easy to understate and over-complicate. If you really want to be successful at it, you need to invest your time, be original and have a clear goal to accomplish.

Thanks again for tolerating my meandering writing style

I look forward to sharing again, could be tomorrow, could be a week from now, only time will tell.
⭐✊😝⭐ 

Stay Cool
- Brandie

Like this? Drop me a comment!
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