Should I get started on social media now even though I’m a couple months away from selling?
My answer:
YES. OH MY GOD YES.
Social media is about the long game, guys. It’s not about the short bursts and definitely not about the selling.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned as an online entrepreneur is: SELL IN PRIVATE.
In this day and age, nothing is more frustrating than scrolling past a bunch of ‘call me now’ or ‘buy this now’ buttons or call to actions on Facebook. It makes everything you did previously feel… salesy.
So if you want to build authority on social media the best way to do it is by not selling.
And in order to do so, you need to create interesting topics with interesting posts so that people actually engage with them.
ENGAGEMENT
Engagement is King when it comes to social media. And therefore, even if you are a few months away from fully setting up your business, the best way to create interest and ready to buy clients is to create a fun, engaging social media presence.
Now you may wonder what does it mean to have an engaging social media? Basically, it’s about creating posts where people comment on it often and regularly. I’m sure you’ve experienced it yourself. Posts that have dozens of comments or hundreds of likes. You’re more drawn to them! And then sometimes, when you’re on Facebook you might go, “Hmm… I wonder what Bob has posted today?” Hopefully you say that about me, LOL.
You want to be able to engage people so much that they really want to speak to you or hear what you have to say. And of course, depending on your niche, you have a specific set of topics you can talk about.
LET’S DIVE DEEPER
Let’s say you sell eyelashes. I don’t only want to hear about eyelashes. I want to hear about the care routine the before and after. I want to hear about how celebrities are using them as well. I want to hear how other people are enjoying their lashes and hilarious stories to come from them too. I want to feel the FULL range of emotions.
And if you’re in real estate, I don’t only want to hear about houses that are for sale. I want to know what to do when the boiler breaks. I want to hear about conveyancers and what they have to say about the property market right now. I want to hear from other experts that are able to actually give insight that I wouldn’t otherwise have, even though it’s not directly related to buying or selling houses. I want to be sucked into this universe, I want to feel like one of the boys.
Let’s run with this example a little bit more. If I am somebody looking to buy a house, what other things would I be worried about? What am I needing to save for a deposit? Does that mean that I can also use some money saving tips? Or maybe even cheap holidays away with my family. If I’m already saving for a house I’m likely to be a forward thinker, which means that I will be really interested in what the market is doing as a whole, or even up-and-coming neighborhoods that might I might find interesting. And then comes the after-care right? I’m already starting to dream about what my house is going to look like, so are there any paint or decorators that have amazing tips? Maybe ones I can even use now while I’m waiting to move into my dream home?
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE MONEY
Because buying a house is not only about the money, the conveyancer and the real estate agent… it’s about the entire process and what it means to me. Because saving for a house can be stressful for some- it can also be extremely overwhelming for others. Maybe I’m looking for a partner before I want to buy a house so what does that mean when you’re speaking to your ideal client about what their priority is right now?
Remember- in today’s world we have to see something 67 times before we are ready to buy. And that is assuming that they know, like and trust you to be able to do a good job. So if I have seen you 67 times, assuming it’s once a day that is over two months. And in those two months I have to grown to like you.
How can you make me like you in those two months? I don’t need to see you in a flashy suit necessarily, I wouldn’t even need to know how much your service costs. I want to know that you are well-liked, that you are well-informed and you understand where I am in my journey. And this is why it’s so important to niche down. Because you knowing who you are speaking to you can target your messaging so much better. I am a prime example of that. When I first started my coaching business, I wanted to target women in their 1-3 years of business. My first client? A 50-year old man going into his 5th year of business. Did I turn him away? No! But he resonated with my messaging anyway.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that when you speak to somebody in their 40s ready to buy their second home, versus somebody in their 20s buying their first home, that the messaging is completely different. And I know for many people especially those in the real estate industry — I’ve seen this so come up so much– I know that it can feel like you’re cutting out a part of the market. But that’s not the case at all.
When people see that you know exactly what it is that they are going through they’re going to respect you more for it and the rest will come. I know for myself, I am basically an 80-year-old trapped in a 30-year-old body. So if you are messaging to the older folk I am still going to be able to respond and like what you were saying because I will resonate with the messaging!
BUILD A PRESENCE
Building a social media presence means that you are talking to people engaging with people and giving them an experience in which they feel heard. By doing so you’re going to create a following that are really interested in what you have to say because you’re giving all this interesting information away for free. By the time that you are ready to sell all you have to do is drop a message and say, “hey guys, I actually have this new product! Who would be interested in trying it out?” And you can watch the people lineup at your door because for months they’ve been consuming your content, looking forward to hearing from you and now they have an opportunity to work with you and get access to you in a way that they weren’t able to before.
And again… this is not an opportunity for you to say “call me now we’re totally going to be best friends forever.” This is the time for you to start selling in private. It is so important that you are not the sleazy salesman in this particular type of marketing.
Some really great examples of people going above and beyond and giving value…
1. Offering to jump on the phone with people for half an hour just to discuss their needs
2. Interviewing interesting people with insights
3. Making serious topics a bit of fun/poking fun at some topics
4. Sharing personal stories
WHY ATTRACTION MARKETING WORKS
As a coach I work with a lot of people quite intensively and it’s very important to me that I like them as a person. If our values don’t align it’s going to be really difficult to actually have a working relationship because we don’t see eye to eye on very fundamental things.
I have made that mistake before, where I took on a client that I didn’t really like and then it kind of fell apart because we weren’t aligned and we weren’t agreeing on some of the most basic things. It is therefore important that you learn to speak to people and hear where they’re coming from so that you can actually qualify them as potential clients.
I know that for me when people have turned me down saying listen, I don’t think that you are right for this, I have actually respected them so much more because they were coming from a place of integrity. And this type of attraction marketing requires integrity not just from the buyer but also from the seller (i.e. you). If you are not able to stand in your values and stand your integrity, then what’s the point of working for yourself at all?
FINAL WORDS
In conclusion, the best thing to do is to come up with a social media strategy in which you can share your story, you can share your values, and you can start to attract people that are going to want to buy from you in the very near future. Creating relationships that make people realize that they actually want to buy from you. And then this way you can actually create a group of red hot and ready to go to clients by the time that you are ready to sell.
Get a plan, stick to it, and stay consistent!! I’ll talk about consistency soon but in the meantime… Are you going to get on social media now?
Arna, this is such a great blog! WOW! Thank you! I hope you share more of your expertise with all of us… Thank you!
Great Information!
Thank you so much for sharing