Ep 54: 3 Failproof Ways to Use Social Media Successfully

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You’re probably not harnessing the power of social media

Dawn McGruer:

Welcome to episode 54 of Dawn of a New Era, the podcast with a difference, where we talk about all things marketing, motivation, and mindset. With a view to doing just one thing, having a profitable, sustainable business, because guess what? Every single business owner and entrepreneur has the same goal. It’s not necessarily money, but it’s to be successful in achieving the passion that they set out to do with their business.

Now, in this episode, we’re going to have a little bit of a social media shakeup because we’re going to look at three fail-proof ways to generate leads through social media. And this is really important because 75% of businesses are not actually harnessing the fast power of social media, even years on. If we think back, social media started in the early 2000s. Just as the internet began, we had the emergence of networking online and yes, it wasn’t as sophisticated as it is now, but maybe the fact that it was a little bit simpler, made it easier to see what the wins were.

Because, our social media has grown, we started off with things like Facebook, that came out even after LinkedIn. Now, LinkedIn came out in 2002, Facebook didn’t even emerge till 2004, but we’re still seeing people struggling with harnessing how to actually use social media to grow and scale their business because yes, you can always go onto social media and you can go to sell something. But the thing is, is that social media doesn’t really work this way. We have to really bring it back down to human connection, the way that we behave in person, and try and reimagine social media and give it a good old shakeup, because I am honestly sick of seeing some of the posts on social media that is just sell, sell, sell, or people who are posting on social media, thinking that they’re actually getting great engagement, so it must be working. Well yes, to a degree, but these are vanity metrics.

Why are we actually on social media?

We need to be thinking about, why are we actually on social media? What is the purpose? What do you want people to do? And what would it be if social media was successful to you and your business and brand? And what does that mean? So, let’s bring it right back to basics. Yes, we want to build an audience. Yeah. We want to get people engaging in content, but if people are just showing up and liking a quote or a picture, does it actually mean that much? Well, it does bring us a step forward in terms of building relationships, because it’s forming this common interest. This tribe of people where they see what your mission and vision and belief is, and they’re coming to join the party, but that’s great, but it doesn’t pay the bills.

If you have a massive audience who is engaging in every single post, but those connections are not turning into paying customers or clients, then really, is it the best use of your time and is it actually driving your business forward? So, there has to be a balance and how I, suppose, see social media is that I see it as part of what you do. I don’t see it as everything. And I see that it can be such a powerful driving force. And for me, it has been central to the success of most of my businesses. And weirdly enough, as much as I teach on my marketing and digital marketing and we offer courses and qualifications, people think it’s crazy when I say that I don’t use social media all of the time. I use it in a way that’s smart for my business. I want to show up where I’m not completely fatigued and overwhelmed with social media.

Connection is key, but we could all go onto social media and we could probably fluff around for a good hour and achieve nothing. So, I want to bring it back to basics, as I say, and I want to bring the simplicity back. Thinking about what are the specific actions that you need to do to achieve success through social media. So, whatever you’re using, whether it’s Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, whatever, just have a social media declutter. Right. And think about what is the most powerful network? What’s going to be your number one? Okay. For me, it’s LinkedIn. I make sure that I show up consistently and frequently on LinkedIn, each and every day, in some capacity. I’m not posting every day. I’m posting like three times a week. Okay. That’s it. I’m spending 10 minutes, that’s all, of my life on LinkedIn. And it is driving leads for my business and it has achieved millions of pounds of sales.

I want to master one channel than dilute myself across many

Now, this network is central, but what happens if LinkedIn was taken away? What happens if I lost all of my network overnight? Well, I’ve made provision for this because I want to build connections with people from LinkedIn, through other channels as well. Now, I personally feel that I want to master one social media channel and I would rather be showing up in a really powerful way in one than in a really diluted trickle across many. So, I always think, if you choose one and you focus on that, it becomes clearer already. You lose a lot of the fatigue. And limit yourself to 10 minutes a day, right? And start thinking about, what are these three failproof ways are I can use social media for my business, for the common good, to really accelerate my brand?

Well, number one would be carving out an audience and I don’t mean just sitting there waiting for someone to connect with you. I mean, proactively using those minutes to find people you want to connect with. You don’t need a massive audience. You just need a quality audience. So, if you are feeling a little bit jaded with social media, completely overwhelmed with the amount of content out there, perhaps you’re getting a bit of FOMO because you’re looking at what other people are doing. Stop and cancel out the white noise, put your blinkers on and focus on your purpose, your journey, and your use of social media. What do you want to use it for? If you want to show up in social media to get brand awareness, grow amazing audience, and a powerful community, where you have the opportunity to get clients and collaborations, then great.

Think about what you’re going to do and what your strategy is going to be for that. Because, building an audience has got to be at number one. And the thing is, is that if you add new people to your network each and every day, how can you not be growing this valuable audience? Instead of being the chosen one, it is a game changer when you actually seek out people that you want to connect with. And it’s not just like, connecting with someone on LinkedIn and just adding them to your network. You need to engage at the point of connection.

Seek out people you want to connect with

And this brings me on to number two, engaging at the point of connection means that you’re fact-finding and understanding who this person is in your network, and it is not, it is absolutely not sending one of these dreadful emails that I get on LinkedIn all the time, or Facebook, saying, “Hi, I just noticed we connected and I do this.” Sell, sell, sell, sell, sell. It is boring and it is absolutely bad marketing. We see these people all the time, where they’re using robot software, where they’re just pinging messages out to people. I mean, who on earth responds to these? I don’t know anyone who does. So, what is the point? It’s not about scale. It’s about sensibility, right? And it’s about doing things in a meaningful way.

I would far rather send one message in a day, that actually got momentum and results than sending 1,000 messages that were just absolute sales tripe. People don’t buy into that. I actually think it really is damaging to a brand. So, when people are touting these opportunities, refuse them, because honestly people will respect affect you and your brand and your business, if you just show up in a personal way. And let’s, as I say, focus on the basics. If someone connects with you or you connect with someone else, chat with them and chat with them in a way that you would in a networking event, right?

You wouldn’t, if you were at a networking event, or let’s hope not, if you met somebody, just go into an auto sales pitch, you would chat, you would do social niceties. And that is what social networking is about. It’s about building relationships. So, when you build an audience, show up each and every day and think, “Who do I want in my audience?” Cancel the white noise out. Think about when you connect with that person, number two, engage at the point of connection. Talk to them, ask them a question. Make it about them. It’s not about you. When you meet someone new, you know you, you want to get to know them. Fact find, make them feel special, make them feel central to your network. Don’t make them just another number. People are not interested.

You don’t sell first

And you know what? I am getting more and more sick of the fact that people are sending me these horrendous emails, just selling. I’m just removing them from my network, and I feel that more and more people will be doing this. So, don’t fall into that trap, where you think that let’s just hit the volume. Let’s just get out there. Let’s just start pitching. I mean, people don’t wake up every day thinking, “Oh my goodness, today on my to-do list, I’m going to reply to all the sales messages that I get through social media.” People just ignore them. And the thing is, is that if people tune out, they’re not just tuning out to you, they’re tuning out to everything to do with you. And it is very damaging, as I say, to a brand or business to go into social media with this view. You don’t sell first. It is person first. Think about the person, the connection, the relationship. That is what’s powerful.

I’ve had people in my network since literally the internet began, and the reason that they’re still in my network is I’m not selling to them. I’m looking at, what can I do for that person? Is there a common ground? Is there something mutually beneficial. Right? That should be the first thing in your mind, not about selling to people. People will buy from you if they like you, if they see that you’re showing up in a way that is authentic, it is true, and it has got ethics. And that people can see that you have this passion, this mission, this vision. People will just send me a message because maybe I’ve posted an accolade on LinkedIn or something, about winning something or signing my book contract, celebrating some form of success or win that I’ve had for me, or for my clients. And people who I don’t even know will celebrate that, and they will remember it.

Let people know what you stand for

It’s about being on people’s radar and continually causing this little mini ripple effect and this momentum where people see you growing and scaling, they know what you do, they know what you stand for, and you’re storytelling the whole time. And this is what the whole essence is because I get people referring to see me through social media, and they’ll say, “Dawn, I’ve got this person, they’re really interested in getting qualification or doing a course, or getting training, or just mastering the world of online marketing and social media, can you help?” And the majority of people, do you know, I’ve maybe not even worked with, right?

And this is why it’s so important, because if those people are referring, then it’s true that I’m doing my job right on social media. People are seeing what I stand for and what I do. So, people will start to associate Dawn, Dawn McGruer, digital business consort, and they will start to think about, “Oh, right. Okay. Yeah, Dawn does online marketing. Yeah. Anything to do with business strategy, online, that is the lady.” And that’s what you want.

So, number three, what is my third fail-proof way of succeeding in the world of social media? Well, adding value. Okay. So, you’re now getting the sense that social media is actually not about selling. I sell more when I don’t sell, right? And this is about if people know what you do and you’ve got good brand awareness, and you’ve got good visibility, and people understand where your journey is heading, then it just starts to flow and the momentum builds. Because, consistency and frequency, yes, is key, but adding value is the pinnacle, the bit that it makes people’s heads turn. Because, if you can show up in a way that you’re adding value, this means that you can really, really help them.

Now, this is again, bringing it back to making social media about them. And what does that mean? Well, it means that you want to make sure that everything you are promoting out there, and I don’t mean selling, I mean, whatever message you’re putting out there, you’re showing people that you have the bridge. So, that if they have a pain point or a challenge, or they want to do something, that you know how to do it. Now, you might share that knowledge through storytelling about your own journey, about your own story, about how your brand or business started. You might share it through giving people advice or tips or supports. But the key here is, is instead of just doing numerous lives and exhausting yourself and giving away everything all of the time, you’re only going to be talking about what, not the detailed how.

Add value by providing lead magnets

So, people will always come and spend money with you, even if you are giving really valuable advice for free, but you don’t want to exhaust yourself. The greatest thing thing about online marketing is that you can add value by providing lead magnets. Now, what are lead magnets? Lead magnets are golden nuggets of information where people will give you an email, like an ethical bribe. You are saying, “I will give you this amazing checklist. You’re going to give me an email address.” And that’s mutually beneficial. Okay? So again, we’re still thinking about the audience. We’re still making it about them. We’re thinking about what the purpose is. And if someone wants that guide, they sign up, that is half of the job done because they’ve already taken a step forward and they’re engaging in your content. You now know that you’re attracting the ideal client because you’re positioning your content through whatever pain or challenge it is they have, and they’re coming into your world.

And again, you’re protecting yourself, because remember I said, if LinkedIn wasn’t there tomorrow, I have lots of my audience from LinkedIn who have come to other channels. Who’ve signed up through lead magnets, through email, who are on my list, et cetera, who’ve subscribed to my podcast, all these different medias. And that’s the magic about social media. And the way that we can market is that once we’ve hooked somebody in, you need to take them on their own customer journey, a journey that absolutely creates desire and helps them understand what you do and how you can help them. And they will naturally make that choice.

Now, when you have things like an email marketing series, that as soon as they sign up for the guide, the first one, they get the free guide in their inbox. Maybe on day two, they get the next help or resource. You’re sending them emails that again, adding value, helping them understand what the options and opportunities are for them. And yes, there’ll always be information in there about how they can work with you, but the decision’s on them. And it means that you’re not constantly following people up, but people are going on this natural journey. You’re creating this amazing amount of desire for them whilst handling any sales objections, maybe addressing any FAQs about your products and services, but they’re still getting value on the way. And they’re not just feeling like you’ve brought them into the world and you’re just selling at them. Okay?

Build a relationship before selling

So, I’ve heard people who will come on courses, who will say, “Oh yeah, Dawn, I’ve been getting your digital digest for the past three years.” But I’m not there having to follow that person up. That person is still on my radar, still on all my channels, my social media, in my email marketing. So, they’re seeing what we’re doing as a business and a brand. And this is really important because they’re getting to know more and more about us. It’s storytelling. They feel like they’ve got more of a relationship with us. And the crazy thing is, is if you think about it, customers we know, always spend more, probably about 33% more with you. Yeah.

So, how does it work when you have warmed your leads up? Well, on average, if somebody has engaged with multiple pieces of content before buying from you, they’ll spend 75% more on that first purchase. Why? Because they’ve got trust, they’ve got social proof. They feel confident in the purchase decision. Whereas, if you were to use social media, just to do the upfront sell, you might sell a percentage of things, yeah. But people will spend less because the trust isn’t there. So, build the relationship.

So, hopefully that makes sense in terms of just shaking up your social media, using it in a different way, using it in a meaningful way. But most importantly, using it in a way that’s authentic to you, in a way that you don’t feel tired and jaded from it. Showing up in 10 powerful minutes a day, that makes all the difference, be it from converting a client or building an epic collaboration or partnership. These are the things that I think are so important. And if you just do one thing today and you just switch up your social media, and even take one of my fail-proof tips, let me know how you get on. I would love to hear from you. And don’t forget, you can find me at dawnmcgruer.com. Follow me on all the social channels. And most importantly, don’t miss out on future episodes, and sign up for my podcast. You can do all of these things at dawnmcgruer.com, as well as getting some amazing tips all about the world of online marketing and how to show up powerfully online, on the website. So, take care and have an amazing week.

Thank you for listening to Dawn of a New Era podcast. And for your free checklist, to find out how to boost your business for growth, profit, and success, and join our community, go to dawnmcgruer.com.