Author: Hollie Clere

#SocialIsntScary – Spooky Branding

While branding is essential, often it can also be overwhelming. Partially this is because many people don’t really understand what branding is. A brand is basically an idea, image or feeling that the general public gets when they think about you or your company. In fact, it’s the public who truly controls what your brand is by the way they perceive you and what you do. This makes it complicated for small businesses and people to wrap their heads around branding.
While we can’t control how others perceive us, we can certainly influence it. That is how we brand successfully. This means your images, your posts, your style, your voice are all fundamental aspects of your brand. In branding, it’s called touchpoints. Every aspect of your business that interacts with another person is a touchpoint. This could be your office space, your website, your invoices, your trade show booths. One way to tackle your touchpoints is to approach your business the way a potential customer, client, vendor or influencer would. What would you want their experience to be like? What would you want them to see? To hear? To read?
So, when developing your social media, thinking about your brand should be intentional. You have a brand whether you’ve invested time in developing it or not. The smart method would be to decide what you want your brand to say about you and then incorporate it into everything you do – including your social media strategy. Here are some ways to keep branding in mind while managing your social media.
Discriminators
First, what are your discriminators? A discriminator is basically what makes you stand out from your competition. What do you offer that you want to highlight or feature? What makes your company stand out? Why should people follow you? It’s ideal to have one to three specific discriminators to work with. Think about your level of expertise or your skill set. Consider the aspects of your business that you are super passionate about. What type of information draws you in while you are online? These will give you a good indication of what your strengths are.
You may have a lot of different interests. It’s important to narrow it down to just a few that tie into what you do. Focus is important in branding. An individual needs to be able to receive a clear idea of what you are about and not get lost in too much clutter.
Now find ways to incorporate these discriminators into your branding. Find a handful of popular keywords that closely relates to what you are doing and incorporate them into your content regularly. Do some research on hashtags for the same purpose. Sometimes being specific can be more successful than going with trends. Niche businesses have a market too and those specific keywords may not draw the most attention but are more likely to pull in just the right audience.
Consistency
Make sure that you develop some images that coincide with your brand’s look and feel. Then use them over and over again across various social platforms. Someone should be able to look at your website, your LinkedIn page, and your Twitter account and instantly recognize you and your company.
These graphics will help people find and connect with you. It will solidify the branding images in their minds that they retrieve whenever they think about you. Make your photos, colors, fonts and descriptions match across all sites. While it can be tempting to change things up and be creative occasionally, this can be confusing for your target audience. After all, they are the ones who determine what your brand is. Make certain what they are seeing is what you want them to be experiencing when they interact with you.
Post on a regular basis. The online world is fast paced. If you don’t regularly attempt to keep their attention, they will move on to the next big thing. If it looks like you have abandoned one of your channels, even for a short period of time, your viewers will stop checking in. It’s important to have downtime, and vacations, and people do get sick – use scheduling tools to make certain there are no gaps in your posting.
Interaction
Social media is all about engagement. Therefore, it’s important to at least keep your brand in mind when interacting with others online.  Follow up on your comments, likes and mentions in a manner that is consistent with your personal style and voice. Join online groups that fit well with your brand and what you do. Surround yourself with influencers and experts in your field. Each time you respond to something that is a touchpoint for that person.

#SocialIsntScary and neither is branding. It just involves making deliberate choices that mesh well with your brand and keeping it in mind as you go. This will help you #BeAwesome and stand out!
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.

#BuildYourTribe – How to Engage Your Tribe

Jeff Goins once said “Something I’ve learned about building a tribe is that it’s not who you know, it’s who you help.” When you’re ready to engage your tribe, you need to keep in mind that you must connect on an emotional level with them. That connection has to be authentic and sincere.
Here are some fantastic ways to engage with your tribe:
  • Share a struggle. Highlight the pain point and be vulnerable in a way that makes you uncomfortable. People connect with humanity. Keep your audience in mind during this process and try not to get too personal in areas that will make your tribe members uncomfortable continuing to follow you.
  • Talk to them in one-on-one conversations. It’s okay to be the tribe leader and send your message down the pipeline, but if you don’t engage with them on a personal level, their loyalties may shift elsewhere.
  • Help your tribe by offering valuable insights. Appeal to your community, and teach what you know.
  • Ask them what they’re currently struggling with by asking the question (either through social media or through an anonymous survey): “What is your biggest struggle regarding _____?” You fill in the blank with a general topic that you’re familiar with. Leave the answer open. Don’t give a multiple choice. You may be surprised what your tribe struggles with. When you get the results, start looking for ways to help them overcome those obstacles.
  • Be yourself. Do the things you love to do. Share the joys of your life with your tribe.
  • Supportive and positive is the key. If you are constantly negative or passive aggressive in your conversations, your tribe will pull away from you. Every time you find yourself ready to say something negative, try to spin it into something positive. Remember, the only failure in life is the person who doesn’t get back up when they fall. They give in when they should persevere.
  •  Encourage them to share their stories, their successes, their stumbles, and their joys with your community.
  • Don’t let your tribe get stagnant. Focus on the less vocal members as well and encourage new blood. You don’t want an unofficial hierarchy to form. That can lead to isolation and frustration within your tribe. 

Take the time to cultivate your tribe and you’ll find them ready to move on anything you share. Their willingness to go the distance for you depends on your willingness to provide content they enjoy. They need that emotional connection in order for this to work. So make sure you do your part.
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.

#BuildYourTribe – Who Are Your Influencers?


Identifying the influencers that impact your tribe is not a complicated task. It requires interaction, paying attention, focusing on what makes them tick, and what piques their interest. These influencers will automatically be gathering the types of clients and customers you want. The largest benefit to this is that they will have their own large tribe of people that might also be interested in what you have to offer. Building a relationship with both your influencers and the individuals that influence your target audience will open up opportunities for growth that you would find both difficult and time consuming to do on your own.
Here are three steps to help you find and engage with your influencers.
  • You need to understand your community.
    This includes your customer base, clients, power partners, followers and brand advocates. Research your target audience. Educate yourself on their demographic, psychographic, and social media preferences. Be prepared to engage based on their wants and needs in the market they’re interested in (make sure you are completely mobile-friendly, for instance). Get to know your customers. This is part of building your tribe. Once you find them, pay attention to what they are following. Who influences them? Where are they finding support and inspiration? What information are they sharing with their own audiences?
  • Now that you know your tribe and you’ve targeted your audience, you need to where to promote your business, product or service. Your observations should show you where your tribe congregates, so make sure you’re there. Which hashtags are the most popular, what social media shares do they engage in with your posts, etc. are very important. Start building both an online presence and awareness for your signature programs. Before you go courting your influencers, it is vital that you have a handle on your brand and what you bring to the table.
  •  Find your influencers and the people that influence your audience. Follow them. Pay attention to what content they are posting and actively engage with it and make your existence known. This can be a slippery slope since you don’t want to come off as spammy or appear to be poaching from their client base. This works best when you locate an influencer that has a similar audience to you but offers a non-competing product or service. This would be an excellent potential power partner for you and allow you both to refer to one another. Share their content, engage with them, and make your brand stand out. Ask to do a guest post or interview them for your blog/podcast/YouTube channel. This is a nice reciprocal move as you will both gain more online presence and expand your reach.

 

Keep in mind that any influencer you cold contact will need to benefit from having a business relationship with you. Any influencer is an essential member of your tribe. If you abuse the connection, their influence could swing in the other direction, so keep that in mind.
Follow these three steps and you’ll find your influencers are just waiting for you to connect with them. Be patient, listen, and most of all learn what makes your tribe tick so you can utilize that information to #BeAwesome at what you do and continue to grow your own list and funnel.

 

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.

 

#BuildYourTribe – Who is in Your Tribe?

Finding your tribe, your group of true fans, committed followers, and influencers, is a challenging prospect for many. What if I told you that you already have a community waiting for you? They’re out there. You just have to help them find you.
The best part is…you may have already found your core group.
Start with ten people. Name ten people who have supported you and your dream in some way. Who is supporting you? Who makes a great team captain when you need it? Who do you rely on when your back is against the wall and you’re not sure where to turn? Write them down.
Those ten people are part of your tribe. If you can’t find those people, perhaps your work has been unfocused, scattered, or you haven’t invited others to join you. But if you have found them, let them know that they are on your team and that you appreciate them.
Remember, a tribe is a group of people who are passionate about you and what you’re passionate about. The key to engaging that audienceis by making them feel as though they are part of a bigger purpose. You can do that by helping them improve their lives: making them laugh, providing self-helps or how-tos, brightening their days with art and photography, and helping them feel respected or understood through your personal storytelling. It should always be about “us” rather than “me”.
Start with the group you have, whether it’s on Facebook (or some other social media site) or a current mailing list. Ask them “What is your biggest frustration with _____?” and fill in the blank with something you feel passionate about. When you get responses back, create engaging content that speaks to their frustrations and helps them solve that problem. You are on your way to building that rapport you need.
Here are a few tips to help you communicate with your tribe:
  • You don’t have to be a perfect individual (This isn’t the same as grammatically perfect, by the way. Make sure your content is high-quality). As a matter of fact, your failures and struggles will connect you with your tribe in a way you never imagined. With every story you tell, however, make sure there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Show them the challenges you have overcome and they’ll love you for it.
  • You need to empower your tribe and make them feel as though they are part of a larger picture. You can do this by asking them questions, creating a survey, letting them know how much they mean to you, etc.
  • Know what you’re passionate about and commit to a path. If you knew that you already had a group of people who were passionate about you, how would you change the way you work? Would you stop campaigning? Stop chasing rainbows and “opportunities” at every corner? If you already had a core group of people clamoring for your content, what would you produce? That, more than anything, is what you should be doing.
  • No two tribes are the same. There is no “right way” to go about this. You have to find your own way. And you know, what? You can do it.

Members of your community, or tribe, will eventually become brand advocates if you work on developing, connecting and nurturing them. That will mean the work of promoting your business can be shared with a tribe that respects you and is excited about what you are doing. This is exactly what it means to #BeAwesome with your work and truly make an impact.
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.


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