Are You an Influencer With Your Brand?

When you think of an influencer you may be imagining an individual that spends their time and online presence promoting the products of other companies – in exchange for free merchandise or paid sponsorships/endorsements. This is the way influencers are depicted because it’s proven to be a successful strategy for social media folks who’ve been able to build an audience around their chosen interests or niche.

However, as influencers have grown in popularity, many marketers have discovered that any brand can present themselves as an influencer in their industry. Many of these businesses are considered micro-influencers and while they are promoting their own products or services, they are also growing their audience and influencing their followers. 

The question we are asking you today is… are you simply posting about your business or are you positioning yourself as an influencer with your social media marketing?

Creating the Content

When you sit down to create content for your business to post on social media, what’s your mindset? Are you focused on creating content that converts to sales OR are you creating content to intentionally connect with and nurture your audience? 

This is really the first step when it comes to positioning yourself as a credible source, expert, authority, or influencer. Businesses who approach content creation from the mindset of generously showing up and helping their audience are more likely to become influencers than brands who spend the bulk of their time attempting to convert cold leads into warm ones. 

The real trick to this is: when influencers show up for their audience in a generous way they discover more success when selling their products and services than those who do not.

You Define the Culture

As an influencer in your industry, you are setting the culture – the expectation – for what people can expect when they follow your brand. Newer companies often forget about the culture they are creating when they show up but there’s power and impact in being intentional about the type of environment you are creating for your audience. Also, truly successful brand influencers are creating a culture that is authentic to them and doesn’t mirror or copy any of their competitors. People are drawn to something original, unique, and real. Create a culture that is appealing to your ideal client so when they do find you, they are excited about sticking around.

Setting the Stage for Social Engagement

If you are going to build your brand on social media, please don’t make the mistake of posting content and then disappearing. This is more common, even today, than ever before. Either a brand doesn’t understand the commitment necessary when building out a social media platform or they’ve given up and abandoned their online channels leading to an influx of businesses with zero presence online. If you want your audience to show up and engage with your content, your presence is essential! People are savvy and they can tell if you are absent when it comes to your online marketing.

A consistent, welcoming, engaging presence that commits to responding to the audience and being available speaks volumes. If you want an audience to commit to being there for you, you must first show up for them. Your followers need to be able to quickly uncover when you will show up, how often you show up, and where they can find you so they can make it a priority to be there for the brand.

Much of transitioning from a business who uses social media marketing to becoming an influencer has to do with the mindset, approach, and strategy for the content you create and share on your social media channels. Be there for your people and they’ll show up for you.


If you are using social media, you are probably only engaging with pages that share relatable content. Are you wanting to define your story and build a long term relationship with a loyal audience that finds YOUR content enjoyable and relatable? Let’s do a Discovery Session to see which Social Media Advisor programs best fit your needs.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

Are You Telling Your Brand Story Using Social Media?

Are you currently using social media as part of your business marketing strategy? If yes, have you been successful this year in growing your audience and connecting with them on social? If not, are you ready to give social media marketing a try to grow your business in the new year? 

Our team has over a decade of experience supporting service-based businesses with building their social media presence and engaging with their audience online. We’ve found that the most effective tool for social media marketing is incorporating brand storytelling into your content.  

Let’s break this down for you:

Know, Like, & Trust

Yes, social media marketers are still talking about know, like, and trust. Why? Because it’s the proven method for capturing attention and converting people into followers and paying clients.  

It’s rare for someone to see your content once and then pull out their wallet. Trust is what convinces buyers to make a purchase. To earn trust, you must first grab your target audience’s attention (so they know who you are), then provide content that allows that audience to get to know you better (so they begin to like you). Once they like you, they will start paying attention to what you put out in the world. This process builds the trust needed to convert someone into a paying customer or client. 

Building Your Influence

Our team works with a lot of new and small businesses. We regularly consult with business owners that have little to no online presence on how to build their social proof and influence online. In a world that is so saturated with competition, with businesses working daily to earn the attention of their audience, not having a presence at all is a liability. If a lead can find nothing about your or business during a five minute Google search, it’s almost a guarantee that they’ll move onto a competitor with a better online presence.

Social media is a great marketing tool when it comes to building your online presence and presenting yourself as a legitimate business. Trust us, you want to be a business that takes advantage of these platforms with millions of people using them daily to reach a larger audience. However, it only works with business owners who are committed to consistency.  

Brand Storytelling 

To engage with a social media audience, you need to share content that is inspiring, motivating, educational, or entertaining. Did you notice that I didn’t say your content should be promotional?  

To sell in the 21st century, your sale needs to be subtly packaged around content that your audience actually wants to consume and engage with. Storytelling is a proven method for capturing attention and building an audience. We all have stories to tell and your business has a meaningful story behind it. The key is to take that story and package it into content your ideal client wants to see. The use of brand storytelling can really showcase your products, services, and your culture – when done with your audience in mind.

Simply posting content isn’t enough to get the traction you need to be successful with social media marketing and success doesn’t happen for anyone overnight. If you are ready to make a commitment to marketing your business on social, and earning social proof and building trust with your audience, we highly recommend a brand storytelling strategy. Your audience is incapable of connecting with you if all you post is sales and promotional material. 

If you are using social media, you are probably only engaging with pages that share relatable content. Are you wanting to define your story and build a long term relationship with a loyal audience that finds YOUR content enjoyable and relatable? Let’s do a Discovery Session to see which Social Media Advisor programs best fit your needs.


Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#ShareYourMessage – Creating Authenticity in Your Messaging

It doesn’t matter how unique and creative your social media messaging is if the people reading it don’t believe you. And if they don’t believe you, they certainly won’t engage with you.

Face it, today’s audience is pretty sophisticated. People can spot a fake a mile away. Mark it down in big red letters, your social media audience needs to trust you, or they will leave your space, and they probably won’t come back. That sounds pretty harsh, but it’s true. To be successful on social media you need to be authentic, and to be authentic, you need to be honest and true. But how can you create authenticity? Actually, there are a number of ways. Recognize, however, that these strategies work together. One does you no good without the others.

When your community talks, you need to listen. Whether the feedback you get is positive or negative, you need to respond in a way that is open and honest. Where improvements should be made, you must be accountable. When you get kudos, you should pass them along to the people on your team who deserve them. Your social media platforms should be a place where your customers will be safe from judgment.

Share a consistent message. When you talk to your community, your message should be consistent across platforms. That doesn’t mean that you should be a parrot, just that when someone sees your brand they know what to expect regardless of where they see it.

Be yourself, a human being. When people reach out to you for wisdom, advice, help, or whatever they come to your social media for, they want a response that is personal and human. They do now want a robot who cites chapter and verse. Think about the last interaction you had with a support person who lacked experience. Chances are he or she merely read from a manual rather than listening to what you were saying and jumping ahead to help you get to a solution. How did that make you feel? That is not the image you want for your social media.

Creating authenticity in your messaging is a process that consists of a variety of moving parts. The first step is really listening to what your audience is saying and giving them a personal, human response. You need to be real, open, and honest. When you do that you’ll create a community that trusts you and keeps coming back.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#CelebrateSuccess – Share Your Success with Your Tribe

When was the last you gave yourself a pat on the back? Like most people, it was probably some time ago. For many of us, celebrating success feels like bragging, and it makes us feel uncomfortable. The truth is, there is nothing wrong with tooting your own horn once in a while. In fact, experts tell us that celebrating when things go well does a lot more than just give us a warm fuzzy feeling. It helps us build confidence, reinforces a positive attitude, and helps keep us motivated.

Aside from what celebrating our success does for us, it can do a lot for those around us. If you’re honest about it, you would probably admit that without others you never would have had the success anyway. So why not share the success with your tribe—those who got you there.

There are lots of ways you can celebrate with your audience, and social media is one of the most accessible and useful ways to do that. Here are five ideas for how you can make sure that the people who help you know how they’ve contributed to your success.

A Simple Thank You

The most straightforward way to share your success is to thank the people who got you there. That thank you can be in the form of a shout-out, a gift, promotional pricing or some other thoughtful gift.

Customer Success Stories

You can tell the story of a successful customer and how they got there. After all, their success is your success.

An Employee Profile

Your employees do a lot to help you succeed. Why not let your audience get to know them a little better by talking about how they made you successful?

Share Your Secrets

Is there something special you do that contributes to your success? If so, why not share it with others who might benefit? It may be a tool or a technique that you have mastered or a philosophy that works particularly well in your industry.

Pay It Forward

When you re-post information by a customer or another essential member of your tribe, you are helping to contribute to their success; whether you comment on something they write, retweet something they pass along, or respond to a comment, you are helping them become more influential.

No one achieves success on their own. Letting those who helped you know that you appreciate their contribution to your success will make both you and your tribe feel good, provide motivation, and bring a more sustained positive attitude. So start celebrating!

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

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