5 Things You Need To Do Before You Even Think About Posting On Social Media
Do you have a small business you want to grow online but are struggling to get found by your ideal audience?
Are you confused by social media? Do you post and post on social media but find that only a small group of the same people, mostly family and friends, are engaging with your content?
Before you jump into all things social media, we need to start with the foundation of all marketing, no matter what the platform.
Step 1 Understand Your Brand
Before you start marketing your business online, get out a pen and paper and write down some business branding basics. This might seem trivial but, trust me, when it comes to messaging, it is so much easier to create content and so much clearer to communicate your message when you are coming from the right place.
What is the mission of your business? What are the business values? If your audience could summarize how they feel about your company, what would they say currently? What do you want them to say about your company?
Write down some adjectives that you want your company to be seen as “relatable, professional, trust-worthy, bold, fun, out-of-the-box, creative, innovative, stable, etc.”
Keeping these values, keywords, and mission front of mind will help you stay clear and focused on what content you create for your brand.
Step 2 Understand Your Audience
Before marketing your business it is vital to understand your unique audience. This can be referred to as your ideal client or ideal audience. Businesses that try to reach everyone fail to reach the individual. You want to communicate to the heart of the individual person to make that emotional connection.
Get really specific with the small group of people you help.
Step 3 Give People A Reason To Follow You
When creating content, remember to keep your ideal audience in mind. Create content that brings them value. This is where knowing your audience's pain points and what they are looking for help in your marketing.
You can be entertaining, informative, inspiring, educational, funny, smart, artistic, and inspirational.
Step 4 Start A Blog
Think of social media as your advertising strategy but you need a home for your leads to come to where they can find more information and actually purchase from you. A blog on your own website will allow you to create content that can get found in Google Search. You’ll build authority with your audience with a blog and be seen as an expert as well as gain authority with Google.
Your blog is also where you can grow your audience by capturing them onto an email list. You don’t want your leads to visit once and never come back again. An email list allows you to stay in contact with your leads. Studies show that conversion rates on emails are around 3% whereas social media has about a .5% conversion rate. So, your blog and email system is a priority to set up before you start bringing in leads via social media.
Step 5 Know How Each Social Media Platform works
Social media is not a one-size fits all solution. Each platform has a different culture and different algorithm. Find out where your ideal audience hangs out and focus on that one platform. You don’t need to be on all of them.
Facebook is ideal for building relationships, ideally within groups. You can generate leads by building relationships in these groups or creating your own group.
Instagram is great for inspiration, education, and entertainment. It’s a little harder to build relationships on Instagram but great to get found by new leads.
LinkedIn is perfect for B2B (Business to Business) relationships and making business connections.
TikTok is no longer the dancing app from 2020. TikTok is quickly becoming a great way for businesses to find new leads and build relationships at the same time.
Do you need consistency in your branding on social media?
Get a fully customized branding toolkit designed around your brand
How To Get Your Business Found Online By Your Ideal Audience
Do you have a side hustle, a small business or network marketing business you want to grow online but are struggling to get found by your ideal audience?
Do you post and post on social media but find that only a small group of the same people, mostly family and friends, are engaging with your content?
Are you growing followers on social media, but none of them are buying?
Are you wanting to open your circle of influence to a specific niche audience?
Let me tell you, I’ve been there myself.
Do you have a side hustle, a small business or network marketing business you want to grow online but are struggling to get found by your ideal audience?
Do you post and post on social media but find that only a small group of the same people, mostly family and friends, are engaging with your content?
Are you growing followers on social media, but none of them are buying?
Are you wanting to open your circle of influence to a specific niche audience?
Let me tell you, I’ve been there myself.
I tried to grow my side hustle for 3 years on social media. I did everything my team told me to do to grow my business online. I read all the books, listened to all the podcasts, I was active on Facebook groups and on Instagram hoping to grow my business.
However, my content was not getting shared and was not reaching new eyes. I had to make a change.
When I switched to keyword-rich blog posts instead of just social media, I was shocked to see my audience grow. My email list grew from 0-500 within the first year, and was getting around 4,000 monthly visitors.
To this day, I am still generating visitors and leads from blog posts I wrote 3 years ago!
The difference between using a website vs. social media to get your business found online:
When creating content on a blog or YouTube, your content will continue to circulate forever. A continual marketing lead generation machine. With blog posts, you are able to get really specific with your keywords so that you are attracting your ideal audience and getting found in search engines.
What are the major search engines you can get found in?
Google, Pinterest & YouTube
In contrast, when you create content on social media, your posts usually lose their ability to show up in feeds within days. This is why you constantly need to create new content on social media. The search function on social media is much harder to get found in.
Step 1: To Get Your Business Found Online: Know Your Ideal Audience
You need to be careful about who you are really trying to attract. Get really specific. If you’re in network marketing, I especially want you to think more about the kind of person you are looking for, and don’t fall for the “everyone” mentality. That will lead you nowhere.
Think about who will relate to your content the best? What stage of life are they in? Do they have babies, teens, pets? Do they exercise, cloth diapers, read books? Are they crunchy homesteaders? Or are they busy, fast-food-loving soccer moms? Get really specific in these details.
Once you have nailed down your ideal audience, create a brand statement that tells your audience who you serve and how you help them. Download my free brand statement formula here:
Step 2: To Get Your Business Found Online: Research Topics
Once you know who your ideal audience is, start to research topics that your ideal audience is ACTUALLY searching for. DON’T GUESS!
So, how do you find out what your ideal audience is searching for? ASK THEM! If you already have access to this group of people, ask them what they are struggling with, what they search for on the internet. Then think about how your offerings and services can help solve their problem.
Go to the top search engines and use the search function to research topics. Notice the top articles that show up. Use the “suggested phrases” that google and Pinterest suggest people often search for. Look at the “People also ask” section of google and Pinterest.
Step 3: To Get Your Business Found Online: Create Content Using Key Phrases
Once you found a topic that your audience is actually searching for, use the EXACT PHRASE to create a blog post or YouTube video in your 1. headline, 2. your subtitles, 3. your image alt tags, and the 4. URL slug. This repetition of the keyword phrase will help your blog post rank higher.
A long-tail keyword is better than just a keyword. A long-tail keyword is a phrase not just one word. This is good because you’ll more likely show up in a search result for a narrowed phrase like “health benefits of walking” rather than a common keyword like “health.”
You can also use an extension like Keywords Everywhere to see metrics on how often a keyword is searched. You want to stay in the area of 100-1,000 searches per month as a newbie.
Step 4: To Get Your Business Found Online: Share Content on Social Media & Pinterest
Now that you have a keyword phrase-rich blog post that you know your audience is searching for, share it everywhere. Make a Pinterest graphic for it on Canva.com and share it to a board on your Pinterest account.
Make a social media graphic for Instagram and Facebook and share your blog post on social media.
You can even make a reel or video about your blog post and let them know at the end to click the link in your bio to read the entire post. This will bring people off of social media and to your website.
If you’d like more info on Keyword phrases and how SEO can help your business grow, make sure to check out my SEO masterclass here
How I Grew My Audience to 4,000 monthly viewers with 1 Blog Post
I thought I would do amazing growing my business with just social media. I’m a graphic designer of 20 years and a super techy chic. I am not afraid to try new things or put myself out there. I’ll do video, create flyers and try to master any program I need to get the results.
However, when it came to growing my Young Living business online, I was struggling majorly to reach new people. I had no one coming to my classes. My social media posts were only being seen by my inner circle of friends and family and that’s it.
I remember trying ALL the methods biz groups were telling me to do.
I tried reaching out to old friends, I joined Facebook groups to make new friends, I posted every 5th post about my product, I started my own Facebook group, I did giveaways, collabed with others, sent happy mail, I purchased brochures, booklets, courses and the list goes on.
All of this for almost 4 years and I was getting 0 leads and 0 interaction. Literally!!
Something HAD to change.
I Stopped Listening To What Wasn’t Working
It takes a good amount of self-awareness to really examine yourself and ultimately admit to yourself when something you’ve been doing for years, actually ISN’T working. It may even hurt a little to admit it to yourself. Just remember, everyone’s situation is different and it’s ok to pivot. It doesn’t mean you failed, it just means you’ve learned a way that didn’t work for you.
A Well-Designed Website
As a graphic and web designer, I knew I could start the process of drawing attention to my business through a well-designed website. I used best strategies when setting it up, intentionally placing email capture systems throughout my website. Having been a web designer for years, my go-to platform is Squarespace. It’s beautiful and easy to learn. But, that was only part of the equation.
SEO - Long-Tail Keywords
SEO, or search engine optimization, is something I had to research and learn. It’s more than just keywords. There are specific phrases (the technical term is “long-tail keywords”) that are most common in search results. You want to find what those commonly searched phrases are and get found for those.
I use a plugin called, KeywordsEverwhere, for google that shows me how often a long-tail keyword is searched. Don’t use phrases that have a 0 times searched next to them. Also, don’t use search terms in the millions (you’ll never be found). Somewhere around 1,000 times searched or less is good for start up businesses. Put that long-tail keyword everywhere in your blog post and in the image descriptions.
This will help you get found on Google! But, these keyword methods work for Pinterest and YouTube as well.
Pinterest is a search engine and you definitely want to be found in Pinterest if you are blogging or selling products or services. It takes a little extra help from a pinning community like Tailwind App to get your pins circulating on Pinterest. Join a few pinning tribes in your industry and you’ll start to see your pins circulating.
A well-designed Pin graphic is also important. Make sure your graphic pops among the sea of graphics on Pinterest.
4,000 Visitors Per Month To My Website
All these elements working together setup my blog post for success. My best blog post combined all these elements, a well-designed Pinterest graphic, long-tail keyword title, circulated on Tailwind App that directed visitors to my website where I captured their email address. That 1 blog post brought in over 6,000 visitors the first couple of months and then steadliy around 4,000 visitors per month.
My Email List and Instagram Grew At The Same Time
I grew my email list from 0 to 500 in less than a year and my Instagram followers went up as a result as well. See my Lead magnet templates here.
I’m still gaining new visitors from that blog post
2 years later and that 1 blog post is still bringing me new visitors each month. I have blogged more and not all of them have brought in the same amount of visitors.
Things You Can Do To Grow Your Audience Right Away
Discover who your ideal audience is
Research what your audience is searching for on Pinterest, Google, & YouTube
Create content that is helping a PAIN that your audience has been needing help with
Capture their email address to stay in contact with them.
Watch My FREE SEO masterclass and Learn How to increase your reach
Why You Need A Lead Magnet/Email Opt-in
Why Just posting on Social Media Doesn’t Grow Your Business
After years of posting on social media, I realized I needed a different strategy to growing my business. My business posts were getting zero engagement on Facebook and Instagram. What I didn’t realize about the algorithm on social media, was that Facebook and Instagram were only showing my posts to my inner circle of family and friends. It was impossible to reach outside that inner circle without paying for ads.
I realized this wasn’t a way to grow a business. I wasn’t attracting my “ideal client” in any way, shape or form.
I needed a way to reach a wider audience to find my ideal client.
Why You Need A Lead Magnet:
Find Your Ideal Client, The Carrot Cake Analogy
I realized that I needed to create specific and valuable content so I could attract my ideal audience. I began to think of it like baking a carrot cake. I wanted to narrow my audience down to just the group of people who I knew would like my content. Just like carrot cake attracts a pretty narrow group of people, I only wanted to attract the people who are going to like my content.
So, who did I want to attract? Who was my ideal audience? I needed to really sit and think. I wanted to attract women/mom’s like me in their 20’s to 40’s. Mom’s who didn’t start out healthy but were starting to learn a healthier way of helping out their family live. Mom’s who wanted to learn about swapping out toxins for healthy options but were still buying some unhealthy options. I didn’t want to alienate them or condem them but wanted to make them feel normal and comfortable.
TIP: Write down all the things you believe your ideal client is and tape it to your wall where you can see it daily. All the things that resonate with them, how they feel about themselves, where they are at in their journey, what kind of person they want to be and how you can be a friend to them to help them get there.
Why You Need A Lead Magnet:
Creating a Lead Magnet that attracts your ideal audience
So, my first lead magnet was an ebook called “A Beginner’s Guide to Essential Oils” designed for the mom who wanted to help her family with all natural remedies. I used a clean, feminine design, with high quality photos. I incorporated images of women and children into the design. I Created a Pinterest graphic of it and posted it on Pinterest, where I knew my audience was “looking” for solutions. I offered it to new members and posted it on my Instagram as a freebie. I created a few blog posts that I knew my audience would be looking for and I pinned those to Pinterest as well.
Within 1 year of starting this method and leading people to my website, I grew my email list from 0 to 500. It was FINALLY WORKING! I was attracting my ideal audience and they wanted to hear from me.
Why You Need A Lead Magnet:
Lead Magnet Email Management
Now, even though I have a website, that doesn’t mean you absolutely need to have a website to have a lead magnet and grow your tribe. But, you do need an email capture system.
I have used several email capture systems over the years, from MadMiMi, MailChimp, MailerLite, to ConvertKit.
Right now, I am loving Flodesk. The designer in me loves the beautiful layouts and ease of use. If you use my link you can get 50% off the monthly plan.
Depending on your email client will depend how you setup your “workflow” or welcome campaign. With Flodesk you can upload your file directly to your welcome email for your audience to download immediately.
Let me know if you’d like a video on how to set up your first welcome email with Flodesk.
8 Lead Magnet Ideas for Essential Oil Boss Babes:
There really is an unlimited amount of ideas for lead magnets. In fact, any class you’ve given can be turned into a lead magnet. Here are just a few recommendations along with my ready-made Canva templates.
An All Natural Cleaning Guide to Using Essential Oils
How to Use Essential Oils with Kids
Pregnancy and Essential Oils
Winter Wellness with Essential Oils
All natural beauty with Essential Oils
Holiday Make & Takes with Essential Oils
How to create a lead magnet
There are many ways to create a lead magnet
Use a Google Doc. You can keep things super easy and type up your info in a google doc, copy the link to share in your welcome email. I know many six figure earners who still use google docs in their deliverables. Make sure to include Your Story, Your Content and A Call to Action at the end (which could be as simple as to follow you on Instagram or join your Facebook group.)
Use a template. I have found that using Canva templates has been the easiest for my boss babes. It’s a free program and allows for total freedom to edit and change things up. Plus, it comes with hundreds of professional photos, fonts and graphics to add into it. Get CanvaPro to get access to their pro fonts and photos.
Create from scratch. If you’re tech savvy and design savvy, and have access to design programs like InDesign, PhotoShop or Illustrator, you can create your own. Download the final as a pdf and upload the pdf to your email client.
Hire a designer. A designer can create a unique branded lead magnet for your business. If you’re ready to set yourself apart and create a branded look that delivers the level of professionalism you want to portray with your business, then I highly recommend hiring a branding designer. A branding designer will not only create a branded look for your biz, but will carry that look across all your marketing material to create that cohesive and consistent message. See my branding page that talks more about branding.
Are you going to setup your lead magnet today?