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The Real Reason For Authenticity

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Authenticity and Social Media
 
The first time I posted a video on Facebook-
 
Let me get to the few months before I posted a video where I stalled and siked myself up because I was so afraid of what people might think of me.
 
A little background, I am a part of an online community. I started over a year ago. The community is welcoming and really feels like family. Despite all this I am afraid of posting a video.
 
I finally got up enough nerve to post. My first video was about authenticity. This was the start of my journey with social media. Following the first post, completely vulnerable, as I had broken my arm a few weeks before. I started participating in a 90-day video challenge. These were short videos 1-2 minutes in length. I posted them everyday in this group.
 
Each time I posted a video, it became easier for me to open up about me. I found that this community didn’t know my history or have any judgments. They didn’t know me. They know me now, not then.
 
It was easier for me to talk about life experiences, depression, illnesses, and loss with this group than my own family. Part of this was because my family was suffering too.
 
This opened my eyes to one reason why we fear social media the most. Or at least why I did. I was afraid that if I let the real me come out that my friends would leave, my family would scatter. They would think I am conceited or looking for pity. They would disapprove. They, they, they…It didn’t sink in that I could help them and in the process myself.
 
I still don’t think I am completely comfortable with my social media presence. I often wonder if the ones that appear to have it all together really do.
 
If I wouldn’t have taken the risk or moved past the fear of the first post, I wouldn’t have had the support of this network that became family to me. Social media provided a platform for the interaction and relationships.
 
So, there may be some people that I don’t talk to today and it may be because of my posts. But, if it is, then they were never my friends. And it’s not about how they—think and feel. It’s about family and friends. It’s about the lives that are changing because of overcoming this fear of being vulnerable and open.
 
It’s about the ability to reach people in a way I couldn’t on my own.
 
This is why I hear so many people say, be yourself, be vulnerable, open and authentic. It’s true. 

Three Common Mistakes in Social Media Marketing

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Common Mistakes in Social Media Marketing

 

  1. Following someone else’s identity instead of establishing your own

It’s easy to get caught up looking at everyone else’s social profiles and trying to be what they are. The result is feeling forced, a sense of pressure, and a lack of authenticity. There are unique qualities about you that your audience likes. God made each of us different and there is no one like you. If we were all the same, the world would be very boring.

 

Remember that your community is valuable and focus on providing value to them. If the community is smaller this shouldn’t be a discouragement. You are able to engage with the smaller community followers that trust you. Our community is a small group of friends. You sit down with your friends and give them honest advice, do the same with your community in your platforms.

 

  1. Not Streamlining your workflow –

 

Posting content and responding without using a centralized scheduling tool. When you’re jumping from platform to another without a plan in place, you’re actually spending more time on your marketing. Plan it out on a content scheduler and have a centralized area for responding to your customers. Planning out your content also helps you maintain credibility, by giving you adequate time to research your topics. You’re not speaking off the top of your head, your content is relevant because you took the time to research.

 

  1. Running out of content –

Have a list of content available beforehand. This sets you up for success in providing value to your audience. Focus on what your customers are asking you. Use this information to drive more content in the form of a response. When you focus on the same content your audience will lose interest. Mix up your content by making a list of different questions that you received from your clients or customers. Answer those questions for your topics.

 

Your responses will also help prepare you for sales conversations and gain confidence. When you write down your list of responses you are more likely to remember them. ” A study of university students and recent graduates has revealed that writing on physical paper can lead to more brain activity when remembering the information an hour later.” (Ref: footer) Researchers say writing by hand on physical paper is likely what leads to improved memory.

 

Challenges are necessary for any type of growth. Identifying some common mistakes and coming up with a game plan before will save you time and help you provide more value to your customers. Establish your own identity. Streamline your workflow with scheduling. Keep yourself aware of what your customers are asking by writing a list and you won’t run out of content. Social media marketing is supposed to be fun. Be you and engage with your community.

 

*Ref: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210319080820.htm

Creating Content For Social Media

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Creating content is about creating the habit so that you can be consistent. Consistency is key with social media because it is not the same as face-to-face interaction. Face to face interaction takes less time than social media does. One way that you can save time with your content is to repurpose it. Post it first and then move it around to different social media platforms. It is the intention behind the content that matters. Thinking of it as “we get to do it” instead of “we have to do it”.

Grab attention and then hold the attention. Your audience wants to interact with someone that they know like and trust 1. focus on the foundation of your content by storytelling, giving value, and brand awareness 2. provide resources and value in your post, do what feels natural to you, what aligns with your mission, what you’re passionate about and be authentic. If it feels forced, it’s not going to convert. You must be OK with who you are. Attraction marketing is about expression and an opportunity to build a relationship with your client.

The more content you create the more clarity you will gain. Do some research and find out how people feel with your content. Here are a few questions to keep in mind when you’re creating content. Does your audience like video or photos better? Go in with the mindset of service and leadership, truly wanting to help your audience. It’s not just about sales. What are your values? Is your Content in direct alignment with your values, your story, your mission and your purpose? Remember that we are backed by purpose not a paycheck.

There are three types of content video, audio, and print. Scale the one type of content that you like and that your customers engage with the most. Previously content was mostly created on commercials, TV, and radio. Today content is created more on YouTube, podcasts and in social media. 80% of people are visual learners so video is a great way to engage with your audience. Print content is normally in the form of quotes for short form and storytelling for long form content. Live videos are an opportunity to build instant engagement with your audience and provide a useful way to interact with them in real time. You can mix all of these content types too your audience to find out which one resonates with them the most but also to give your audience a different views on your content based on what they like.

How does your brand make your audience feel? Your brand is the soul of your business, your name, values, personality, energy. It’s the storytelling of your business and the relationship connection. Your brand brings awareness to your business. Lead by example and stay in alignment with what you believe.

PPC – Pay Per Click

It’s Not About Beating The Algorithm

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It’s not about beating the algorithm but here’s how posts work:
 
You are more likely to see content from 1. Your friends and businesses you frequent 2. Type of content you interact with- If you interact with more video, you’ll see more video. If you engage with photos, you’ll see more photos. 3. Interactions– content that you interact with on a regular basis.
 
Each post ranks based on these signals. There are also options for you that help you customize favorites. You can select up to 30 people to add as your favorites. There is a preference in your feed for posts that you don’t want to see. You can click on the post and see the option of I don’t want to see this and then hide it. Facebook will show less of these posts, customizing your experience. You can also hide certain ads.
 
Here are some ways to use social media to advertise your business:
 
Most advertising platforms offer users with different options like image ads. These ads involve the use of single or multiple images that are attractive and have the optimal amount of text. They also have a call to action that encourages user interaction.
 
You can use video ads to create a brand for yourself and drive audience interest. Short videos are great for engaging your audience. Social media platforms also allow you to target audiences based on demographics like age, location, gender, and more.
 
Use a social media calendar to schedule your video and image posts so that you are consistent. This allows you to provide more content for your audience because you can save time posting so often. Use this time to research and provide meaningful content to your audience.

Target Your Audience Using Customer Analytics

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Your target audience is who is going to buy your product. It’s easy to have a broad look on a target audience.
If you’re a real estate agent, a broad look at your target audience is going to be a person who wants to buy or sell a home. By working with more homebuyers and sellers you can determine who it is you like to work with most. You may like to work with struggling home buyers that need guidance and resources to get them to a close. You may like to organize all the resources for them so you can tailor their experience and needs.
 
Defining your target audience is a “win win” for you and your customer. You are happy fulfilled working with the type of customer that you enjoy helping. Your happiness is going to draw in more clients. No one wants to work with someone who hates their job.
 
Likewise, your customer is happy and they thrive on the relationship that you have with them. They thrive on the trust that you establish with them.
 
Your marketing strategies play a huge role in making your work more meaningful. Marketing makes it easier to work with the customers that you desire to work with.
 
Finding your target audience helps you narrow your tone of voice down to your niche. You have a natural way of doing business. There are customers that gravitate to you because of who you are and your brand.
 
It may take some time to find out who your target audience is. To gauge that you need to produce content. This takes research on your business subjects. What are similar markets putting out there in content/and how can you put your own spin on it to match your brand?
 
You want this to feel as natural as possible because it’s coming from you in alignment with your brand. You have your own way of presenting your business that’s different from everyone else. Your customers are following you and engaging with you because they like your brand – You are your brand.
 
A lot of times it’s easy to overthink your content and instead of doing what comes natural to you. The work does not get done and it becomes more difficult to produce content. Read about what you love in your business and put it to use. The more you write and talk about it, the better.
 
The rest of the analytics comes from systems. There are so many resources now that will take all this information for you and compile it into graphs.
 
There are 5 ways you can I know who your target audience is and market to them
 
1. Set up a mock campaign with a look alike group.
 
2. Target people based on their interests rather than their page likes.
 
3. See which posts are getting the most likes and shares as it relates to your business. Review it so that you can adjust your content to reach your target audience.
 
4. Use a test group or software designed to analyze your customer behavior.
 
5. A great way to find out how your target audience is using a combination of both paid and organic posts. This will test the effectiveness of your outreach marketing campaigns.
 
You can always outsource this so you can do what you want in your business, work with your ideal customers.