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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. 

Marketing | The Machinery

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Marketing- The Machinery
 
Joe owns a chemical company. He spends 10 hours a day in his warehouse. At the end of his day, he has 10 gallons of cleaner that he has mixed. Tina comes along and offers a piece of machinery that will mix 1000 gallons of chemicals a day. Yet, the equipment costs more than Joe thought. Joe is torn between making the decision to hold onto his money or spend it and take the risk.
 
Joe has not been able to interact with his customers the way that he wants to. He enjoys sales and likes to talk to his customers. That’s why he started business in the first place, to help his customers have a cleaner home using his chemicals.
 
He goes home after a hard day’s work and he thinks about it. He doesn’t want to spend this money. But, the equipment would save him time and give him the freedom to do more of what he wants.
 
Joe calls Tina the next day and decides that he’s going to buy this piece of machinery. The equipment arrives and is set up. Soon, Joe is able to spend his workday in a stocked warehouse with customers he enjoys spending time with.
 
The benefits –
 
Taking this risk has proven to be a solid return of investment for Joe’s business. Joe is now making ten times more profit than he was before. He has grown his customer base from fifteen to one hundred customers in three months. In fact, Joe has made enough money to pay off the machinery completely. Joe calls Tina and thanks her for helping him save time, money, and resources. He now has the freedom to do what he enjoys most in his business.
 
This is the same concept with marketing. As a business owner, you can only juggle so many things at one time. You can only produce so much content, visibility, and reach for your business alone. Make use of your machine.
 
It’s easy to overthink an investment and later regret that you didn’t do anything about it. Your machine delivers customers that you want to work with and a business that you can scale. Marketing is that efficient machine to make your life easier as
an entrepreneur.

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.

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.