In our last blog, Building Relationships Through Stories, we discussed how stories can help you grow your audience and engage your customers. This week, we want to talk about HOW to build trust and loyalty with your online audience.
In order to build up your audience there are 4 important keys to remember!
- Be you! Open up to your audience and take the time to get personal with them.
- Be consistent. Consistency over time is the only way to win the long-game. If you want to build a brand that people feel connected to, you MUST be consistent, don’t leave your followers hanging!
- Be vulnerable. Life isn’t always rainbows and unicorns. Vulnerability is a POWERFUL tool, connect with your audience, and talk to them on a “human” level.
- BE SOCIAL ON SOCIAL MEDIA. We will keep screaming this one from the rooftops. If someone takes an interest in you or your brand on social media and actually takes the time to reach out, ANSWER them! They want to engage and be more involved with your business.
Now we can jump into HOW to implement these keys into your social media strategy!
Be You!
There’s so much content out there nowadays. There’s always going to be another makeup artist, another insurance broker and another doctor. People are choosing you and your brand because of how good you are but also because of WHO you are. You are awesome, your company is awesome and people are not only hiring you for your expertise- they’re hiring you for who you are! This is where being yourself, showing personality, and strong branding comes into play.
In our last blog, we talked about why people buy from people rather than buying from “businesses.” In the information age, there is no hiding behind a company or a brand. Instead, consumers want to know what your business is about and what YOU stand for.
Tips:
- Dare to be different and emphasize what sets you apart
- Introduce yourself and your business. Over. And over.
- Give for the sake of giving. Share your knowledge to educate. Not to sell…
- Provide valuable content
- Develop a distinct brand
Be Consistent
Imagine you’ve found your business guru. They speak your language, you love their content, and then one day, they totally disappear for weeks at a time. You would feel like you left hanging and Besides this hurting their content algorithems, the lack of consistency can come across as a lack of COMMITMENT. If you are going to build your audience, you need to be committed and that means showing up every day.
Tips:
- Set aside 1 day a month to plan and create content
- Create a content calendar. It’s a lifesaver!
- Schedule posts to go out in advance
- Set a reminder to post on your story daily. (Or click here if you want us to remind you 😉 )
Be Vulnerable
It’s time to get real with your audience. After a year like we’ve had, people are CRAVING authentic connections. Everyone understands that times are tough and as humans, we naturally want to connect and feel a sense of community. Are you having trouble staying motivated? Are you still at home with your kids trying to balance home school, work, and maintaining a home? Has your business seen a lose and you’re making a major shift? Most likely, many of your followers will not only RELATE but will feel a deeper sense of connection to you and your company.
Tips:
- Be passionate
- Talk about the difficult things
- Ask your followers if anyone agrees or feels the same pressures as you
- Talk about your hopes and dreams for the future
Be Social
Over time, many people have STOPPED being social on social media and honestly, this is a huge problem. You can market your product all day long, but if you aren’t around or engage with your audience in an informal way, you won’t make sales! It’s not a free marketing platform, it’s a place to make real connections with real people.
Remember 10 years ago when you would go into Facebook and people would post a status update like “Had the blast at the park today!” and underneath you see a long trail of comments: “where did you go?” “Sounds like a great time.” These simple conversations were eventually phased out with people choosing to post only the “big moments” on their timeline but this means we have lost that basic way of “being social” and taking an interest in someone’s daily life. To make up for the shift, we saw Stories completely overtake social media platforms. Starting with Snapchat and flowing over to Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and now Linkedin!
Tips:
- Answer private messages
- Add polls, questions, or quizzes to your stories
- Be friendly and reach out to your client’s posts and stories. Engage with them, and they’ll engage with you!
- Cross-post content you find valuable and give a shoutout to whoever created it
- Tag and recommend people on their social media pages
If you want to help in creating meaningful content, building consistently, showing vulnerability, and learning how to be more social with your followers, Everyday Story Ideas is a must! Each day we will send you a prompt with tips and examples to help you start talking to your audience on a daily basis. If you are ready to sign up, click here!