No matter how loud, I am or how much I wave my arms around, why can’t anyone see me online? I post, all the time and I’m getting no engagement. I have a fantastic story, I am an incredible expert in my field, but I can’t get anyone to HEAR OR SEE ME? WHY?
If this sounds familiar to you, trust in knowing you are not alone. You are in the excellent company of thousands of others trying to be seen and heard in this crazy new online world. What are you doing wrong? Everything, and probably nothing. If you are selling online, you are possibly leading with that, and if you are, you are doing EVERYTHING wrong. People are looking for experts online, and products but they are not looking to be sold to. I know it can be confusing, but for those who have cracked that code success and pure joy is just around the corner.
When did we start thinking of our business as entities that are selling to other entities? We are real experts, selling to real people with real needs. It does not matter if you are selling a product or in some cases, you and your services are the product. People like myself who come online to find answers are very wary of false hope, and rightfully so. For every real expert, I have come across I have to weed through hundreds of not so real experts that are just pushing a product. I love product don’t get me wrong, but I love an expert who takes the time to connect with me, build some trust and rapport, and access my unique needs before making product suggestions.
If you are not being seen or heard online, take a minute, and look at what you are sharing with the world? Are you your brand? If you aren’t, you should be. Even if your business is a product, you are the magic that attracts your clients. Always lead with you! Let the world know there is a real person behind your brand. Everything you do online should lead back to you! You are the one consistent in everything and the one thing, as much as someone tries can’t be duplicated.
I would love to give you some tips to be seen and heard but, I promise you, it is going to take you out of your comfort zone.
Collaborate
Join FB groups that directly relate to you, your brand, and your message! One of my favorites is @amazingwomen entrepreneurs. Once you join, introduce yourself, ask for advice. Some of the best free information I have gotten is in this group!
Start blogging
One of the things holding you back as a significant influencer is not being heard, so be heard! If you’ve been blogging and posting on your personal site, that is amazing, but you are always hitting the same audience. Join a blogging site that is collaborating with other experts, so you are extending your reach to thousands. My favorite blogging site is www.bestholiticlife.com, which is why you are finding this blog here! When I started collaborating, I extended my range of 70k to 400k, because of all the experts I share the venue with.
Podcasts are so crucial
If you don’t know anyone with a Podcast; go into one of the FB Groups and post, I am an expert looking for Podcast opportunities, would love some support. It will not only give you tons of exposure but its excellent practice for sharing your story with the world. Every time you are featured on anything, make sure you are adding it to your social media and press kit or about me page. This is how your followers start seeing you as a significant influencer.
Magazines
Magazines are a great way to be featured as an expert. Again don’t be shy and speak out in the group. I am always looking for experts to feature in my quarterly magazine. Remember, once you are featured, you want to add it to your social media and press kit.
Summits
Summits are a great way to start being seen as an expert in your field, and I promise you in these facebook groups, they are always looking for new experts to speak. You get so much exposure with this, I recently was a featured speaker at Amazing Women of Influences 2019 summit, and I was flooded with new followers and opportunities.
Books
Books are probably one of the most crucial tools for you to use, and not everyone is ready to take this project on. I have been approached for the last two years to write a book and share my story. So exciting but I was one of those people as big as I have gotten that wasn’t prepared to take on the responsibility of completing an entire book and then promoting it. Promoting a book is a full-time job all of its own. Not to mention the expense. The days of publishing companies paying thousands to write a book are gone! With the capability to self publish digital books, things have changed. When you collaborate with other experts, the cost ends up being minimal. If you are an expert, you have a story in you! It will give you credibility and exposure.
Invest in yourself
There isn’t a business in the world that grew without the investment of time and money. This doesn’t mean that you should immediately start throwing away money on someone who says they can take you to seven figures in under a year. Buyer beware, and your business may not be ready for that. There are tons of free resources online. Start small and leave the experts to do the things that aren’t in your field of expertise. If you are not a social media guru, find someone who is. If building a website isn’t your cup of tea, again start looking for someone who can. The reason I have been so successful is I invested in my business and as I grew begun handing over the things I didn’t want to learn and new it wasn’t in my field of genius to those who are.
Once you start gaining notoriety to your business and drawing attention to you as an expert and influencer, the work begins. Things move so fast online that if you take a month off to travel the world, the minute you blink someone has already moved into your spot, and you will be forgotten. I see this happen all the time; people work so hard, they show up for everything they start getting tons of momentum, and they take a breath, and it all disappears. This doesn’t have to be the case if you set yourself up correctly.
One of the last things you should be asking yourself; are you the kind of expert that shows up for your clients? That is a vast difference between major influencers and most everyone else. They continue to show up and make you feel like you’re unique. I am going to use a mentor of mine, for example. I am choosing him because I not only think of him as a significant influencer, but I think 99% of the world knows his name. Tony Robbins! He is a massive influencer, right? Let’s check off what he does, books, blogs, summits, Networking, podcast, personal investment. And he does disappear for months, and yet he stays at the top!
Most importantly he shows up for his followers, he is real, transparent and when you attend one of his seminars and share the stadium with thousands, he has a unique way of making you feel like he is speaking directly to you that you are the one person that was supposed to be there that day. The whole reason he even showed up was to talk directly to you. How does he do that? I haven’t correctly figured that trick out yet, but I understand the importance of being present and showing up for your clients. I know this area is a place where constant improvement is strived for, but I also know I am doing something right, my retention rate is 78%. I would love it if I could improve it to 100%. I want everyone I come in contact with, to know I heard them, and they’re extraordinary.
I once had a client that just kept saying to me, “No, you are not hearing me.” She had repeated her situation to me at least five times rephrasing it in five different ways hoping I heard her each time. All I kept thinking to myself is wholly batman and robin… I heard you all five times. Then I thought WWTRD (what would Tony Robbins do)? Instead of arguing with her saying, of course, I heard you and almost repeating what she had said verbatim. I reset, apologized, and acknowledged that I didn’t hear her and please, lets me try again. It didn’t matter what I thought of the situation, what mattered is how she saw it. She repeated the same story, while I leaned into her every word. When she was done, I thanked for going over it again and said: “You are right; I didn’t hear you.” Truth be told, she was right, and I needed to listen better.
I have spent the last several years, helping experts become that major influencer. It’s fun to collaborate with them, feature their stories on podcasts, magazines, books, summits, and interviews. It’s rewarding to know that I am taking a “real” expert and giving them a platform to reach out on a global level and make a change and serve their clients.
If you are struggling to be heard, and you are an incredible expert that can serve your community and clients. You should be understood; you need to invest in yourself and your business. Just scale to your company, and as it grows, you readjust your business needs. I started small, and as I grew I just kept throwing everything back into my online business, sometimes it was like throwing it in the trash, but mostly it has driven me to the next level.
I know that might seem like a lot of things to do, and really out of a lot of people’s comfort zone. I have a lot of say I can’t do all that, it’s too much which one should I choose to work on. If you are looking to be a significant influencer, you can’t pick and choose you to need to be doing all of them. What I do say is you should be doing all of them, but you can master them one at a time. So if you love writing, start with blogging, it will be the most comfortable task for you, throw your time in perfecting that, but don’t ignore the rest. Start dabbling in speaking engagements, and preparing to collaborate on a book.
The difference between you and an influencer is simple. The world just hasn’t met you yet. I would love to share a free gift with you today to get you started on your journey. Join me on Facebook @bestholisticlife, and I can give you a shout out and some support. Collaboration is the new Networking!
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