Hollie Clere, Author at The Social Media Advisor

December 6, 2020
Brand Storytelling

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.

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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.

November 29, 2020
Brand Storytelling

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.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

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

November 22, 2020
Social Media Marketing

Do You Find Learning Social Media Frustrating?

We talk with businesses every day that are frustrated with social media when it comes to marketing their businesses. The time they spend on social media doesn’t feel productive or rewarding in any meaningful way. They hear all the bad press about social media as well and they often ask us whether or not the time spent posting on social media is worth it.

Is social media marketing worth it? Absolutely! However, it’s not as simple as posting and forgetting it. Social media marketing requires a solid strategy and a basic understanding of how it all works.

Sharing Content

Anything you share on social media is content. Unfortunately, too many small businesses waste their time online sharing content that someone else created. This type of content will earn you almost no attention, reach, or leads. AND when you share someone else’s content you are encouraging what audience you do to leave your page and go to someone else’s social media profile or website. That doesn’t sound effective, does it?

In order to be successful on social media, you have to create original content that is relevant to you, your brand, and your products or services. The whole goal is to get attention from strangers by share what you are doing in a compelling way so that you can convert these people into customers, right? Sharing someone else’s content will not accomplish that objective. Original content is the way to go!

Selling on Social Media

One of the tricks to being successful on social media is understanding that your audience doesn’t use social as a shopping channel. They aren’t logging in to be sold to 24/7. Yes, you can purchase things in a variety of ways on social media but since the audience isn’t there simply to be sold to – you must first work to get their attention and earn their trust. The way you show up on social matters. If all you are doing is posting about your sales, discounts, and promotions – then you don’t have an audience. That’s not why they are there!

The same goes for click-bait type of content. Clickbait is content utilizing creative ways to get people to click on a website. Click-bait is often misleading or dishonest in an attempt to get people to a webpage. It’s also a fast track to destroying trust in your business and will damage your brand. Savvy social media users know how to avoid click-bait and will scroll past promotional content if they don’t already have a connection with your brand.

If you approach your social media channel as a way of earning attention from your target audience, as a way of spreading awareness about your vision of your work, and as a way to build trust through establishing your own online community – who will turn into brand advocates – you’ll find that social media marketing works well. It’s a tool for connecting with people – not a sales tool. That connection will lead to sales but too many businesses skip it.

Annoying Spam

Since billions of people sign into their social media accounts every day, you can be certain plenty of them are trying to find ways to game the system and make money off strangers. Not everyone understands what does (and doesn’t work) on social and many don’t care. In the same way that your phone blows up with recorded voices talking about your car’s extended warranty, social media is a free tool making it quite appealing to scammers and spammers. This makes understanding how to use this tool relevant for people and businesses alike. You certainly don’t want to come off as a business that uses spam to get attention any more than you want to draw the attention of the scammers on the platform.

The bottom line is that social media can be frustrating if you don’t understand how it works, best practices, and what to avoid – but that doesn’t mean that social media marketing doesn’t work.

Are you looking for social media training you can participate in from the comfort of your home? Join other small businesses, at your own pace, currently benefiting from the 40+ video training series included in the Social Power Program. We have a Private Facebook Support Group, Monthly Ask the Expert Mastermind Sessions, a FREE Ebook, and regularly uploaded new videos to support your marketing efforts. Become a social media expert by learning everything involved in social media marketing from creating the editorial calendar, to creating custom branded images, to use of hashtags, to paid ads and reporting and so much more. Find out more about the Social Power Program here.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

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

November 15, 2020
Social Media Marketing

Can Your Business Benefit from Social Media?

As a business, there are several marketing assets you’ll need to be successful. Your business cards, for one, are important for in-person networking and connection. Your website is essential for people to do research about your business so they can make decisions about whether or not to contact you. And, a robust social media presence with complete profiles, loaded with keywords, is also a valuable asset for your company.

Improving Search

Many business owners aren’t aware of how important social media is when it comes to online search. If you do a search for any brand or company, in the first ten searches their main social media channels will show up. Also, since each social media channel is its own search engine – using the right keywords and phrases will help your target audience find you when searching on social.

Growing Your Audience

While a website is great for search and getting questions answered, it’s not ideal for connection and audience growth. This is where social media excels! A social media channel will not only attract the right people, it gives them an opportunity to connect with you and with other members of your audience. This community-building aspect encourages your audience to come back and invite their friends!

Hashtags

As more and more people jump onto social media, getting the reach you need and getting in front of new people becomes harder. That’s why so many businesses are currently investing in social advertising to show up in the feeds of their ideal clients. However, hashtags are a free and less commonly known tool for finding new people. Hashtags are especially effective on platforms like Instagram and Twitter. Understanding and properly using hashtags is a great way to gain organic growth on social media.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

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

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Are you telling your brand story in social media?

Author: Hollie Clere

Are You an Influencer With Your Brand?

Learn how to use social media to grow your business online with our video series!

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