Lesson 6 - Your Content and Social Media Isn't Just For Fun
There are two important lessons I want to get across here.
- Just because you can put out content, doesn't mean you should.
- Just because you have the ability to be on social media that doesn't mean you should.
I know this goes against what everyone tells you in that you should jump on all social media channels and try to be all things everywhere. And Content is King, right? We hear that over and over again.
Content shouldn't be created just for the sake of creating content. When you're building a business, you're getting pulled in a ton of directions. And yes, content is crucial. It's a great way not only to get your business found, but for people to get to know you better. However, strategy is everything for connecting with the right clients and for keeping your sanity.
It's tempting, between blog posts, videos, and podcasting, you could create content until you're blue in the face. However, it's crucial you figure out your point of diminishing returns. When will it get to a point where you're creating too much? Where you're giving people almost too much information, and you're spending far too much time actually creating that content?
The same goes with social media. I can say this with 100% certainty. Your ideal client does not hang out on every single social media channel that exists. There's a place they spend most of the their time, and instead of trying to be everywhere, especially when you're starting, pick one or two and be there.
It was overwhelming when I started this because with The Starters Club, I built my strategy where I have been able to get on quite a few social channels. However, starting from scratch, takes away that luxury. I thought about building an entirely new Periscope channel, plus live video on Facebook, plus Twitter, plus Instagram. My head started to spin just a bit when I starting putting this all together.
Your time best spent is the time where your customer is, so start there. I had to take a step back and instead of trying to build myself up in 3 months to be in the same place I was in The Starters Club, I had to realize it took me two years to get there.
The same goes for content. It's fun to be able to do all kinds of things, but there's one simple question that so many people never ask themselves, which is...
What's going to give me the biggest bang for my buck?'
The second question should be what's the strategy for your content? What are you trying to do with it? Attract new customers? Are you trying to showcase your talents? Get the clients who are interested to know, like, and trust you?
Yes, the answer can be all of the above, but I really want you to think through what you're putting out there.
I didn't have a ton of time to create a ton of content, and I needed to make the most of what I had. Here's how I figured out my strategy:
I was able to get a lot of traffic to the site, and a ton of exposure for the event. Could there have been more? Absolutely, but I had to make sure I was converting what I was getting. I realized there were a lot of people on the fence about whether or not is was worth going to.
I had to give them more exposure to the speakers, and to let them get to know them on a deeper level. Instead of providing more content about why events are great, or more business info, I had to concentrate on this specific event.
So I went with a podcast for my speakers, and created mini blog posts from those.
It was still a time-consuming task, but one that kept the momentum going, people buying tickets, and allowed me to work on other things.
So before you post just for fun or put together a podcast just because you can, you need to ask yourself:
- What are my goals with this?
- What do potential clients need to know?
- Where do these clients hang out?
Would love to hear what your content strategy is! Where are you spending the most time right now?