Throughout the last several years, I’ve observed a major common denominator among all brands and businesses that are winning in the realm of Social Media. They apply the following statement to a marked degree:
QUANTITY OVER QUALITY
In order to successfully build a following on Social Media, QUANTITY is a must. Daily videos, articles, tutorials, pictures, Facebook Live broadcasts, Live Instagram videos, and so on, are common among all these brands who are making the biggest impact today.
Building a Social Media following today still carries its weight and importance, and the quickest path to accomplishing this is by creating GOODWILL.
What do I mean by “Goodwill”? Well, the following definition from the dictionary sums it up and conveys it well:
Good·will: (noun) friendly, helpful, or cooperative feelings or attitude.
The marketing landscape has changed dramatically. Today, direct response marketing DOES NOT work.
The social media game now requires You to provide VALUE FIRST. If You don’t, there are millions of other competitors who will, and you will lose.
How can you provide value?
It’s actually simple…ENTERTAIN, EDUCATE or INSPIRE.
Your social media following should get used to receiving value from you and should never get accustomed to being SOLD. The old 80/20 MAXIM should also be applied to these platforms. For example, for every 10 posts you publish, a MAXIMUM of only 2 of them should talk about your products, services or what you have to offer — no matter how “good” and “incredible” your offer is, and no matter how “lucky” your followers should feel after being exposed to your product offers. I know it’s hard to get used to that, but if you focus on providing value at a ratio of 80%, you will be rewarded with a loyal following that protects your brand.
This particular action of building a true following takes time, dedication and consistency — and a true desire to help others improve an area of their lives. If these things are in place, you will earn the trust of the people out there interested in what you have to offer, and we already know that PEOPLE BUY FROM THOSE WHOM THEY TRUST. Providing value on a consistent basis helps to establish that trust, because you are establishing yourself as being “real”, by giving helpful, practical information, action steps, tricks and tips which help your audience and followers in THEIR real world, in their real lives. If people KNOW you are real, they will buy anything from you.
What a great opportunity social media has given us. An opportunity to show the world that we are real, that we are human and that we are passionate about our subjects, whatever they are.
So there you have it…
Like the saying goes from the movie “Field of Dreams”: ‘If You BUILD it, They WILL come.’ But simply building it is not enough on its own. Build your following, CONNECT with your audience by providing them with valuable, practical data (something that they can USE immediately), share with them DAILY (ideally), remember to follow the 80/20 rule as described above, always bearing in mind the important fact that people use Social Media to be SOCIAL; they don’t want to be subjected to a series of online sales pitches.
And MOST importantly, remember QUANTITY COUNTS. You’ve got to be consistent in posting daily. Keep creating and sharing. (For ideas of value you could provide to your audience go to answerthepublic.com and find out what your audience is searching for.)
Remember that consistency is KEY if you want to continuously engage with your audience. If you build it, they WILL come, but it’s up to You to make them STAY and to keep them coming back. Your consistent adherence to these successful actions WILL pay off, so stick with it…and the rewards are LIMITLESS.
I mentioned earlier that your audience should not ever get accustomed to feeling as if they are being “sold”. There is a popular saying in the sales world that “People hate being ‘sold’, but they love to BUY”. And this is TRUE. They DO love to BUY. Case in point: Users bought $234 MILLION worth of virtual goods and gifts on Facebook over a QUARTER! So when you learn how to PROPERLY brand yourself and your business on platforms such as Facebook, and implement what you’ve learned, next time it’ll be YOUR goods and services being bought.
And remember…(and you will hear me repeat this until eternity)…Provide VALUE FIRST.
By providing value, you are helping to make the world, and the people in it, better through Your area of expertise. You get to talk about the things you are passionate about and make a business out of it at the same time.
Now that’s FUN.
If you’d like additional guidance in the way of ideas and practical instructions that you can begin to implement immediately, click the link below to access my FREE online Mini-Courses:
www.manuelsuarez.com/minicourses
These courses were created to help anyone, any brand — big or small — to learn the basics of the Facebook Marketing platform, and take control of their future.
And Yes, it is completely FREE. No catch.
If you’re not following my podcast already, you can access it here on Apple.
Here on Android.
