Marketing

The Future Of Marketing Automation

Marketing automation has become a fundamental building block necessary for productivity and efficiency. But what is the future of marketing automation? Marketing automation has been talked about a lot lately, but many people are still in the dark when it comes to the details of how automation will benefit marketers now and in the future. 

Embracing technology is an absolute must in today’s digital landscape. It can be the key that enables small startups to compete alongside larger corporations.  As we’ve ushered into the new decade, marketers and entrepreneurs should understand the fundamentals of marketing automation – as strategies update towards the current reality. But to do this well and receive the full benefits of this strategy, you must know your social media inside-out. Stay with me, and I will show you just how you do that. 

What Exactly Is Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation refers to the automation of otherwise time-consuming, repetitive tasks that marketers must do. It refers to the software and technologies designed for automating these processes for marketing departments and marketing agencies.

This could be automated data collection, automated email newsletters, automated customer support chat, and more.

Marketing Automation Has Been a Hot Topic Lately

As more tech-savvy tools come about, companies find themselves overwhelmed with dozens of tools with API integrations. It’s cumbersome and not as easy-moving as the market matures.  And because of that, more companies will shift to a solution that has complete core functionalities that are available under one roof. 

Since our inboxes are now filled with dozens of newsletters, offers, and pitches that come from marketing automation –  they will very soon lose effectiveness.  For example, the bulk generic newsletters that are still common amongst larger corporations will soon cease to exist. 

With that said, companies are realizing that. So, to walk into the future of marketing automation, an increased focus on segmentation is one of the paths to victory. 

Larger Corporations are Already Implementing Advanced Behavioral Analytics and Algorithms

The future of marketing automation is clearly in online communication. Interaction data in your emails, heat mapping on your website and web search behavioral activities to create specific consumer profiles. 

Marketing Automation By Focusing On Segmentation 

Why should you focus on segmentation?

Although it takes additional effort, time, and money to shape your marketing strategy into implementing marketing automation, it is the main element for your return on investment. Automatization will create a much more satisfying journey for your customers or visitors to your website. It’s like a digital touch-point, with tailored emails and pre-filled forms.

So what is segmentation? It basically means that you’re creating to understand and address different segments within your contact and visitor lists. By doing that, you’re creating a conversation that adapts personalized speeches with your customers in an automated way. 

Marketers say that the biggest benefit of automation is saving time. Click To Tweet

Focusing on your segmentation means, you’re segmenting a group of people or profiles with common characteristics. So, when you create different customer profiles – you find out what they are interested in within your products and what are their expectations from you. 

With that said, of course, it’s mainly for your potential customers. But, once you’ve defined your customer’s profile (or sometimes it’s called “buyer’s persona”) you must also adapt it over time, as your strategy evolves. But as your strategy evolves – your customer personas evolve with it too. 

Personalizing Information According to Offers

Have you ever wondered how does a corporation or a brand knows so much about what you want? You magically receive an email with the exact information you had in mind… Well – that’s good marketing automation segmentation. It means personalization of the information and offers according to your customer’s characteristics and expectations. 

Keep in mind, in 2020, you should find a way to make the most of the artificial intelligence-powered tools. Have two-way communication by listening to customers’ needs and engaging with your customers – this is a natural language processing to improve customers’ experience. It is one of the most popular methods for creating personalized customer experiences. 

Achieving Greater Consistency

As marketers, you’re always looking out for ways to automate, optimize and make things simpler. It enables you to produce more content to achieve a higher return on investment. 

To survive and thrive in the future of marketing automation in 2020 – the corporations must evolve in their marketing strategies. Click To Tweet

One of the biggest challenges companies are facing with marketing is generating traffic and leads. According to HubSpot’s report, 46% of marketers with well-planned lead management strategies have sales teams who follow up on more than 75% of the leads. 

With greater consistency,  you might be able to bump up revenue in 6 to 9 months’ time. This is good news for you because businesses that nurture leads make 50% more sales at a cost of 33% lesser than those that do not.  And nearly 90% of agencies say their marketing automation strategy is successful. 

86% of buyers are willing to pay more for greater customer experience Click To Tweet

The thing with marketing automation today is that everywhere you turn, people are talking about customer experience(CX). In fact, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a greater customer experience, according to research from PWC. The research also shows that with greater consistency, 49% of consumers make impulse buys, after receiving a personalized recommendation. 

Increased Expectations of the Shopping Experience 

The thing is, consumers expect highly personalized shopping experiences from online retailers or corporations. They are willing to spend more money if the brands deliver targeted recommendations that match their buying preferences.

Retail sales are projected to hit over $5.68 trillion by the year 2021But, what if you’re not in the retail business? What other industries could look into generating money with marketing automation? 

Maximizing Your Return On Investment 

When you’ve fully utilized a robust tool that combines a customer relationship management (CRM) system with marketing automation – your sales and marketing-related activities will be available in one centralized place. But many marketing professionals lack the advanced skills they could use to boost their return on investment (ROI) – despite realizing that marketing automation is the way forward.

So, if you’re reading this article right now and you’re a business owner, you should know that customer relationship is the key to retention. Therefore, by automating your activities, you’re able to develop and foster those relationships to achieve a higher return on investment. 

Understanding your return on investment campaigns is the key to success as it gets harder and harder to stand out in today’s crowd. Click To Tweet

But, to increase response rates and sales – you must implement a single customer view (SCV).

Single Customer View (SCV)  

In order to send the most effective marketing campaigns, single customer views enable powerful use of optimal sending time, fully automated personalized customer journeys,  and granular segmentation of your audience. 

Since buyers are demanding more personalized interactions – implementing reward incentives into your clients’ marketing automation will increase conversion rates and drive new business referrals. On top of that, it also shows customer appreciation and increases retention and brand loyalty. 

Gifting is one of the hottest and most effective strategies that help your clients with their challenges. Watch this video about how to harness the power of a marketing funnel – Nathan is an entrepreneur who does animation for the environmental industries and this is where he leverages information and creates a lead magnet offer – achieving 200 visits to his website in just a day.

Customer Journey

When it comes to customer journey automation, from a marketing perspective, let’s talk about the most important stages – front-end and back-end. As you already know by now, creating a more satisfying journey for your customers and visitors is the key element when it comes to marketing automation.  This automation tool could help scale your return on investment by generating new lead and turning them into your well loyal customers.  

Lead Generation – Front-End 

Set your mood for demand generation – converting anonymous visitors from your website into your contacts with just their email addresses.

Sometimes, you don’t need to create a landing page to capture lead information – short and simple user experience is equally important. HubSpot’s free marketing tools will be able to do the job with this. The moment a lead shares their email address, you’ll know where they work, who they are, and what pages they visit. 

For example, you will know what they view and what sort of activities are going on between that particular customer on your website. With that, you’ll be ready to follow up right away.  So if you wondered – How a corporation or a brand knows so much about what you want? – now you know. 

You might find this video helpful as you go – How to attract more business by using lead generation advertising.

Lead Nurturing – Back-End 

When it comes to lead nurturing, it’s about constantly involving new tools and techniques. Despite the fact that some aspects remain the same, like using emails to nurture contacts down your funnel. 

However, the content and positioning are ever-changing and you have to constantly keep a lookout for effective lead nurturing tacticsAlthough a standard set of workflow automation tools exists, if you’re looking for something that’s more innovative in creating nurturing content – there’s a new tool you can try. 

Vidyard is great for creating and hosting video content for lead nurturing. What makes Vidyard great? Its variety of video tools enables you to create astonishing content. So, if you’re a marketer looking to jump on the video bandwagon – Vidyard’s a brilliant tool. From live features to its studio content creation products and its free tool – viewedIt.

Marketing Automation Saves Time

As I mentioned earlier, although it takes additional effort, you will feel some burden only in the beginning, during the setup period. However, in the long run, marketing automatization is time-saving because it eliminates all manual efforts. With just “one click” – all your messages are sent according to your entire database or selected cohorts.

This means, you no longer need individual communication with different segments of your customers.  You can leverage marketing automation and implement a solid customer journey strategy. And If you implement this correctly, you can build a large profile of leads.

Walk them through an engaging journey you’ve designed according to your strategy and convert them into customers. The growth hacking strategy has never been about short-term spikes. It’s about consistent, long-run growth.  But if you’re automating marketing campaigns using customers that have not gone through your customer journey – you may not achieve a consistent growth rate in that way. 

Achieving greater consistency is crucial when it comes to maximizing your return on investment. Click To Tweet

So, how do you know when you should invest in marketing automation? When you begin to see a steady flow of new visitors from organic search results and when you’ve put together a customer journey strategy, you can automatize. That’s when you start to invest in marketing automation. 

Criteria To Consider When To Invest In Marketing Automation

  • You’ve converted your visitors into leads
  • You have a steady traffic flow of new visitors
  • Producing engaging content to offer to your leads  
  • Manual sales process vs the huge number of leads
  • Sales team unable to generate more revenue
  • Spending too much time on social media management
  • You want to leverage influencer marketing and content
  • You want to increase revenue by scaling
  • Develop better relationships with customers at any stage of the sales funnel
  • Incentivize your customers and implement solid gamification strategy

If your business meets any of the criteria above, it’s time to plan your marketing automatization. 

Marketing Automation Tools And Techniques That Give You An Edge In 2020

With more and more options emerging, as a business owner, you might want to know what tools and techniques are available to find the best one.  It’s obvious that we have to embrace technology and the future of marketing automation. 

Marketing itself is key to success of your business and, as I said in the beginning, marketing automation has become a fundamental building block of productivity and efficiency.  Therefore, more companies will shift to a solution that’s available under one roof. But, as your customers evolve, so does your marketing strategy. 

Defining your customer’s profile makes them adapt to your strategy – They Evolve As You Evolve Click To Tweet

As I mentioned earlier, once you’ve defined your customer’s profile – they must adapt as your strategy evolves. But, if your customers evolve, this means, you’re more likely to spend more time trying to keep up with the best tips and trends. You must always be ahead of the curve. Does that make sense? 

On top of that, as a business owner – you only have 24 hours in a day – cramming business development, marketing, production, customer service, financials and everything else could be a disaster. (Not to mention lack of sleep…)

And if you don’t know the tips and techniques to implement a good marketing automation process, you’re most likely to be left behind in today’s digital landscape. This is why I put together a list of things you should keep an eye on if you want to stay on top of it all. 

Best Marketing Tools For Every Business And Budget

If you’ve been looking for new easy ways to streamline your marketing process, here is a list of some marketing automation tools I’ve curated for you. 

  • All-in-One Marketing
  • Email Marketing
  • Social Media
  • Customer Journey
  • Advertising Automation
  • Pricing Automation
  • Loyalty and Referral Marketing Automation

But, I have to tell you this…Even though it sounds good to have a solution that’s “All-in-One Marketing Automation Tool” – sometimes, you may not need everything. 

So, before you decide which tool to go for – return to your criteria listYou don’t want to waste your time and money on something you don’t need.  

All-in-One Marketing Automation Tools

Generally, all-in-one automation is when you’ve already hit on a handful of marketing channels. Regardless of which channels – you’ve seen success across more than two or three channels or you’re already investing financially in scaling your business. 

Is it time to scale your business with a marketing automation tool? Click To Tweet

If that sounds like what you need – email automation, ad-buying, and lead nurturing – all-in-one can help scale every aspect of your marketing process.

Marketo

They claim to offer marketing automation that covers any channel. Their full-featured software can handle everything from digital advertising to social media to account-based marketing.

With that said, Marketo is a good option for the larger marketing process.

Eloqua

This is a part of the Oracle suite of tools – works with nearly every other tool under your marketing belt. 

Eloqua has more than 700 integrations making your every step of the process more personalized and streamlined. 

The beauty of this tool is that it’s one of the few all-in-one tools that explicitly emphasized serving B2B companies. 

HubSpot

Ideally, it’s for growing companies who want to use Inbound Marketing to increase traffic flow, convert leads and improve return on investment.

HubSpot is an all-in-one integrated platform that comes with its own marketing automation toolkit.  Its premium workflow tool allows you to centralize and automate key marketing actions within your business.

Pardot

Here’s another marketing automation tool that’s tailored to the needs of B2B companies – with the support of analytics and account-based marketing solutions. 

The partnership between Pardot and Salesforce – creates a more robust suite of products that help sales and marketing teams to be more effective. 

ActiveCampaign

If you’re thinking about “processes of real humans”, ActiveCampaign does the best job at working automation.

In reality, there are aspects of marketing that need a human touch and you can’t handle everything with just marketing software.

Email Marketing 

Email automation is the first thing that most people think of when they hear “Marketing Automation” – despite the high-profile of all-in-one tools.  They are a lot cheaper compared to the whole mumbo jumbo package. That’s why I said, sometimes you don’t need everything and return to your criteria list if you’re unsure. Now, what is the task involves email marketing automation? 

You can send triggered emails and build complex automated campaigns by personalizing audience segmentation. In other words – emails to promote your business. It cultivates relationships with potential customers and by doing that, your customers will be well informed with updates on your brands.

For instance, you can offer coupons to claim their free trial (depending on your product and service). It’s a “direct form of marketing” and it’s efficiently cost saving. Not forgetting, you’re also contributing to the environment since it’s totally paperless. 

Watch this video on 7 powerful ways to write better sales copy to implement in your emails.

Now, this may sound interesting and easy. You might be thinking that this is just what you need for your business – nothing more. 

Int hat case, you’re leaning towards email marketing automation. Learning how to write direct response emails is essential.  There’s no point if email marketing automation works well for you but you or your team is unable to craft brilliant emails.  The whole point is to turn your well-qualified buyers into loyal customers – Increase return on investment.

Now, let’s get into Social Media. 

Editorial Credit: Solomon7 / Shutterstock.com

Marketing Automation for Social Media

From content publishing to monitoring to analytics – social media encompass one of the broadest fields – it automates various aspects of social media marketing. Your brand is probably active in more than one social media channel – more than one person publishing under your brand’s social media account – using social media for multiple purposes – such as paid advertising or providing customer support. 

If this is not the case, you probably don’t need a full-fledged social media marketing automation tool. Then you focus only on what you need. 

Hubspot Social Inbox

A new feature by HubSpot called Inbox is meant to help you better prioritize your time on social media. It elevates your content that resonates best with your most engaged customers. This also means, your personalized message is being shared with your customers based on their persona. On top of that, it improves the customer experience. (CX)

Hootsuite

With features that help you schedule content, monitor conversations about your brand and industry, Hootsuite is what you need for a unique presence to your brand.  On another note, it’s one of the most comprehensive and full-featured social media automation tools.

Buffer

It’s a simple web application that allows you to schedule your post across a variety of social platforms. Basically, Buffer is a stripped-down version of Hootsuite – focusing mainly on post scheduling. While it can be integrated with other social platforms, this application is easy to use and relatively popular. 

But if you want to integrate Buffer to Facebook, keep in mind that it only allows you to schedule posts for pages and groups – not Profiles. Unlike LinkedIn, you can post on both profiles and pages. However, for Instagram and Pinterest – you need a business account or a premium Buffer subscription. 

CoSchedule

One of the best solutions for planning and strategizing social media content in advance. By doing a bulk map out of your content throughout, it gives you a bird’s eye view of your complete social process.  In addition to that, you can reuse and create more content with analytics and CoSchedule’s suggestions. 

Sprout Social

With individually tailored solutions from social management and marketing to customer care, employee advocacy, and data and intelligence. Sprout Social has one of the widest features among other social automation tools. This kind of solution is great if you have a sales team – making it easy to collaborate with strategy and executive. 

Now, let’s talk about advertising marketing automation. Since you’ve been well informed on the essence of customer journey automation. This next step is the key to make everything work.  

Advertising Automation

If you’re investing in several different platforms, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn – it’s a hassle managing ads campaign across different social media networks.  Thanks to the ever-evolving digital landscape, there’s always someone creating a valuable tool to help marketers take away the hassle. 

Adstage is one of them – helps with automating, create and manage your campaigns across major pay-per-click (PPC) platforms and it allows you to report on your results. This powerful automation tool comes with visual features and not only it’s recommended to pay-per-click (PPC) experts, but also newbies. 

Of course, there are other marketing automation tools that are available for you to choose from. And some tools work best for certain social media platforms but not for others – like, Zalster – they only handle Facebook and Instagram ads. However, despite their limitation – it’s a remarkable tool that truly handles your ad campaigns from end-to-end. 

Other Advertising Automation Tools

AdRoll: Run ads across every channel from the display and social to emails.  In addition to that, they offer retargeting campaigns, so you stay top of mind with new and inactive prospects by re-engaging with them. 

Metadata.io: One and only tool that enables B2B marketers to run account-based ads. With the help of AI and multivariate testing, in order to get the best results for your ad budget – Metadata.io identifies the most effective combination of ad creative, copy and placement.

Shoelace: This tool focuses on the customer journey and they make it easy to use ads throughout every stage of your buyer’s journey. The good thing about this tool is that it continuously nurturing and pushing leads towards a sale.  On top of that, their software offers segmentation that  allows hyper-targeted ads and prevents ad fatigue 

Editorial Credit: Solomon7 / Shutterstock.com

Pricing Automation

Should you keep your prices competitive as your competitors shift or optimize your price from top-down? For some small companies, this may not be necessary but for larger companies – pricing automation software makes it easier to react towards competitive pricing changes. 

This can be an advantage to your pricing strategy. Generally, it’s designed with an eCommerce mindset. With that said, companies that will most likely benefit from this tool are eCommerce and those that are selling competitive products to the marketplace. 

If you’re interested in starting an eCommerce business, watch this video

Loyalty and Referral Marketing Automation

Did you know that the most powerful marketing tool is “word of mouth”? When you think or talk about marketing automation or marketing itself – very often, loyalty and referrals get left out. And when you combine both together, it can be a good fit for your business. 

But how to know if it’s a good fit? 

If you’ve seen results from word of mouth or extensive research or negotiation is not required then this tool is an added advantage to upsell or increase your return on investment. Leverage your referral and loyalty program in this digital landscape with some of these tools 

TapMango

Offers flexible reward structures and plenty of choices for promotions. TapMango opens the door to inspire customers and reward loyalty and referrals. 

Ambassador

By hand-selecting your preferred customers to automate and testing reward incentives – find the right mix with Ambassador. If you want a tool that’s like an auto-pilot, this is it. I personally like this because the platform offers plenty of integrations and pre-built templates. You can just choose one and go.

Get to the Top With Marketing Automation

As I said, marketing automation is not for every company or marketing team. Not everyone is ready to automate their operation.

Needless to say, in today’s digital world, you can take your sales marketing strategy to a whole new level with marketing automation tools. If you go back to the criteria and you see your business is heading in the direction of failure with the current marketing strategies – automation is a surefire way for small businesses to prevent this from happening. Not only does it save you time and money, but it also maintains brand messaging while reaching thousands or millions of people. 

The key is simple: Determine which platform fits your company best so you can save time and money. Each platform you use must be utilized to the fullest potential and run in such a way that your customers feel taken care of and enjoy the best customer journey you can build. 

If you don’t know where to start, click here to discover the best-kept secrets of my success and all I know about social media. This vault has everything I learned and used to grow businesses and turn leads into loyal customers. 

How To Use LinkedIn To Get More Clients

Perhaps you’ve been wondering what’s the hype around LinkedIn all about? LinkedIn is a business-oriented service and it’s mainly used for professional networking. As a business professional, you might want to know how to use LinkedIn to get more clients?

This business platform has about 660 million users in more than 200 countries worldwide. In this article, I’m going to share the interview I had with Melonie Dodara on how to use LinkedIn to get more clients. 

The interview was great as she shared so much information and insights about the secrets of LinkedIn. Melonie Dodara is a Canadian number one LinkedIn expert and an international best-selling author of the book “The LinkedIn Code”. If you’ve not read it, I highly recommend you read this book. 

 

The Question Most People Have Is How To Use LinkedIn To Get More Clients

As you already know, Facebook still holds the number one record of users as a top social media platform and a social networking channel. However, with all the different social networks that are available, some are better than others for a certain reason and purpose. 

LinkedIn is the best platform for professional networking but how to use LinkedIn to get more clients? Click To Tweet

The thing with social media is, there are two types: those for making friends and those for making money.

As Melanie said, Facebook is a wonderful social network to stay in touch with family and friends. But it’s not a platform for business professionals. This is where LinkedIn comes in. Now, you might wonder how you can use social networking platforms to bring in more clients? 

Get Connected With Business Professionals And Make Money

LinkedIn needs a certain strategy to fully leverage its purpose. But before we get into the details of LinkedIn strategy, let’s first take a look at what makes this platform special.  So, if you want to know how to use LinkedIn to get more clients… Stay with me until the end. 

As I said earlier, the different social network has certain reasons and purposes. LinkedIn is the number one business social network, there isn’t anything that competes with it. Unlike Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram, which can still be used in similar ways, LinkedIn is the only Business Social Network. As such, it requires a unique strategy if you want it to bring you more clients. It doesn’t mean you have you do direct selling, sales pitching, or even promoting your products directly to clients regularly. But you do need a strategy to approach people. 

LinkedIn is a “Business Social Network” and as such it is unlike any other social networking platform out there. Click To Tweet

Understand The Effectiveness Of LinkedIn

Every second, there are two new people joining LinkedIn. In 2015, the number of people on LinkedIn in Canada was 9 million. And in a recent statistic dated September 2019, the number of LinkedIn users in Canada was over 16 millionThat makes up to slightly over 44% of its entire population. However, the largest traffic is still the United States with 161 million users and about 27 million for the United Kingdom. 

Apart from the large traffic on LinkedIn, the average household income of LinkedIn users is $109,000. If you’re going for a more affluent demographic – LinkedIn is perfect for you. Additionally, people are two times more confident about the content and information found on LinkedIn, which means their levels of trust are higher. That’s because, as a business social network. People assume that all content shared is professional and accurate. 

LinkedIn is 277% more effective when it comes to B2B lead generation. Click To Tweet 

A study of over 5,000 businesses conducted by HubSpot, showed that LinkedIn  traffic  is 277% more effective when it comes to B2B lead generation.  Its conversion rate has outranked Facebook and Twitter.

Create A Business Profile 

As an entrepreneur, you must create a good impression of your brandYou see, people want to know who they are doing business with – whether it’s you as an individual or a big company or even a person in a company. What they do first when learning about someone or something new in their professional realm is that they do research. You do that too, right? 

Let’s take the “High Ticket Closer Certification Program” for an example. You may have come across some videos about High Ticket Closing or maybe you’ve seen some of my Facebook and LinkedIn Ads.  I believe, the first action you took was to google “Dan Lok” and “High Ticket Closing.”  

So if people search for you, what will they find? As an entrepreneur, you must have a professional profile and keep it professional across all your platforms. This is crucial. It portrays your personal brand.

Close Deals With Your Professional Profile

Imagine if you’re trying to close a big-ticket deal with a connection you recently made on LinkedIn. Now they search you on Google, only to find unpleasant photos and information about you. Unpleasant drunken pictures from a last wedding you’ve been to? Strange college memories still up there? What do you think a potential business contact would think about you after seeing some of the stuff you have on your social media profiles right now? Would they be gone right away or intrigued to get on the phone with you? 

You see, as Melonie Dodaro said, you must always ask yourself this question: Are you making the kind of impression that you want to make? If not, you might want to give your profile a little more care. Your first impression is crucial when making any deals or even a connection on LinkedIn. It’s through this profile that you’re defining your personal brand and value.

If you manage to give a good impression, that’s when you think about what you can deliver. Thinking in terms of delivering value is the number one step in acquiring new clients. 

Define Your Value – What Can You Deliver?

Most people think LinkedIn is mainly for posting jobs and job seekers posting their resume. That’s a big mistake!  Don’t treat LinkedIn as a job-seeking website. With the number of growth in LinkedIn users in the past years, the way you can leverage this social network has completely changed. 

As Melonie said, only 16% of people using LinkedIn for job search. The rest of them, 84% of people, are using it for business. So, if you post your resume on LinkedIn, it’s not going to resonate with that audience that you want to connect with. If you’re looking to use it as a business tool, you must approach it differently. 

3-Step Formula For Success

So, what Melonie has done is that she created a 3-step formula for LinkedIn success

  • Get Found 
  • Attract Your Ideal Client
  • Stand Out
The key to success on LinkedIn is in this 3-step formula – Get Found, Attract and Stand Out! Click To Tweet

LinkedIn is where people will get to know you on a surface level at first. They’ll look at your experience and what kind of value you have provided to the marketplace. And if you have a resume based profile on LinkedIn – that attracts employers but not your ideal clients. Clients will not know what you can deliver that will significantly help them increase or generate their revenue. 

So, when you think about how to use LinkedIn to get more clients, you must think carefully about the details in your profile. I would say this is the most crucial foundation when you start using a LinkedIn account.  Why? Because, if you want to be found on LinkedIn, you must be visible on the first page. If you’re not found on the first page – you’re invisible. You must pay attention to details, deliver value and content, and be consistent. 

Connecting With Powerful And Influential People On LinkedIn

Now, you might still wonder, how to connect with powerful and influential people? As I mentioned just before, first off you must create a professional-looking profile. That way, you’ll be able to stand out among everyone else and it might be easier to get connected with your ideal clients or prospects. 

If you don’t have an ideal first impression, how will you get connected with your ideal clients? Click To Tweet

You must find a way to stand out, so pay attention to the details. If you are “in sales” – what’s your niche? What makes you special? Is there something that makes you different? What value do you bring? Keep all these questions in mind as you tweak all your profiles. If you don’t create a unique profile, you’re most likely to lose leveraging this business tool. 

There are many people using this platform but, in reality, 99% of people are using it very poorly. Therefore, to stand out is exceptionally easy. 

Be Professional And Get Found

As Melonie mentioned, the first step is to get found. Each day, people conduct searches on specific keywords. They might be looking for a certain type of client or prospect. For example:  financial advisor, accountant, lawyer, etc… And usually, people look for someone based on referrals – people they can trust, like a financial advisor. So you can use this fact to position yourself well to be found. And as Melonie said – “Isn’t it beautiful just to get leads to find you?” With the correct use of LinkedIn, you can do just that. 

So, you want to be showing up at the top of the search result. Think about what are the specific keywords that people are using and how to leverage them on your profile. The higher your rank on the search results – the better your profile will be. There are several ways to do that.

To show up on the top of the search results, you want to choose two or three specific keywords. If you’re doing business in a specific geography, you should throw in a keyword that’s based on your business.

Picking The Right Keywords

The key to picking the right keywords is thinking about the keywords that people would use. Most of the time you must think about how they are looking for what you offer. As Melonie mentioned in our interview – instead of just using “accountant” you might think about “Kelowna Account” as that might be something that people are searching for.

Think carefully – what can be your keyword? This is the most important step if you want to know about how to use LinkedIn to get more clients. 

Creative Keywords Could Mislead Clients 

Some people can be too creative with keywords, and it can mislead your clients. So, stick to the general basics of the right words when it comes to keywords. You have to know, not everyone on LinkedIn understands your creativity. 

It’s also really important to choose your three primary keywords which best describe who you are and what you do. When you do that – you can optimize properly. 

There Are 4 Places For Keywords 

According to Melonie, there are 4 places for keywords. The first one is the headline. The headline holds a tremendous amount of weight in the LinkedIn algorithm – it may sound techy but it’s important if you want to find your ideal clients. 

This part of your profile is meant to tell people who you are and who you’ve helped. For instance, a few keywords on your main profile, “Kelowna accountant” and or “business adviser”.  If you watch the video above, you’ll be able to see some examples that Melanie elaborates on more. 

Consistency Is Key

The second place to optimize your profile with your specific keywords is in the title of your current work experience. If you want to boost your profile on the search result you can also include those keywords in your description. 

Consistency is key to success - with the right and consistent use of keywords on your LinkedIn profile you can attract more clients. Click To Tweet

If you’re a business owner, chief executive or founder of a company, it’s advised not to use that as your keywords.  Because of the broadness and generalization of those words – your clients won’t be able to find you. Think about it, nobody will search for; “founder”, “business owner” or “chief executive” unless you’re a salesperson.  Therefore, choosing the right keywords is crucial to get more clients from LinkedIn. 

The next place for your keyword is past work experience. This can be easy for those who have previously done what you’re doing now. I get that for some of you this might be something brand new. But there’s a little ninja trick Melonie has taught me to make all this easier. 

You Can Create A Project-Based Past Experience 

For example, you can craft your profile saying that you’ve worked for someone (maybe a certain company) for a short period and explain a little on your job description. It’s good to have at least one past experience that’s relative and related to what you do now as that’ll help with the search results. 

Another place where you can reflect on past experiences and include keywords is your summary section. As you write it, make sure to include the same two or three keywords again. As you make these changes, you’ll be able to know how many times your profile’s been viewed and shown up in search results. 

Observe Before And After

Keep an eye on how many times you show up in search results. You can use this feedback to keep looking for better words and adjusting. The best thing is that this is all on your LinkedIn profile’s home page, so you don’t even have to work hard to find this data. 

When you make the changes that Melonie has suggested, the change and results in the search ranking are instant. This is how, with LinkedIn, you can be on page 50 and moved up to the first page at an instant with the right keywords. 

Connect And Engage With Your Ideal Client

High Quality and original content will also boost your reputation and authority on LinkedIn. When you fix your search results, your content will be the key factor in attracting more clients.

Your profile must speak to your ideal client Click To Tweet

If you’re writing an article, make your post visible by adding them to Pulse, LinkedIn’s built-in publishing platform. If you’re already producing other types of content, you can add them to your portfolio by simply typing the links into your profile. 

Here are 4 strategies you can use to create compelling content:

  • Write in first-person 
  • Identify who your ideal clients are
  • Share how you can help them
  • Call To Action

Speak to your clients individually and directly. It’s always helpful to learn some copywriting skills to implement these strategies too. Any copywriter will tell you that writing in the first person is the key because it will allow you to identify your ideal clients. 

Let’s say, your ideal client comes about to do a search on LinkedIn. When they land on your profile, it speaks to them directly, it resonates with them. If they read relatable stuff in the first person, they will see themselves in your profile. It will encourage them to take action. The way to get them to take action is to share how you can help them.

This is where you engage with your clients. By talking to them and asking them where and what they’re struggling with, you can help them with problems they’re facing. You can also tell them (or show) exactly how you can do that. 

Speak to your target audience about your audience – not about yourself! Click To Tweet

Remember that clients and prospects will always have this question in mind – What’s in it for me? In reality, nobody cares about you, everyone cares about themselves. Everyone cares about how you can help them. So, if you make your profile all about yourself – it’s not going to resonate with anybody. 

Never Forget To Have A Strong Call-To-Action

Now, if you capture the attention of your client, you have to guide them to action. This is where call-to-action comes into play. 

And the final part is to have a strong call-to-action. You see, Melonie said the first place for your keyword is your headline.

Now, as soon as someone lands on your profile, what’s next? You don’t want to leave your ideal clients hanging by not having a call to action. The whole point and purpose of implementing these strategies are to get clients from LinkedIn. And if you don’t have a call-to-action, you won’t succeed. 

I believe that if you don’t make the sale today, you won’t make the sale tomorrow Click To Tweet

A call to action can be:

  • Book a call with you
  • Link to your landing page
  • Link to a specific webpage
  • Get a FREE consultation
  • Register for your webinar
  • Watch this video

These are some examples of a specific call to action. It doesn’t mean they have to purchase something. It can be an excellent method for lead generation. The call-to-action will depend on your business model and your sales model. With that said, it depends all on what your goals are and what you want to achieve with each post.  That’s why you need to know your target market. 

Editorial credit: IR Stone / Shutterstock.com

How To Know Your Target Market?

Your profile needs to be client-focused and the only way for you to be able to do that is to know your target market. If you don’t understand what their problems are and the language they use, it’s going to be challenging. 

You then need to do a lot of research about ideal clients. One of the easiest ways to do that is to look at your last ten clients that have been your best clients. Who are some people you enjoyed working with? What clients did you go an extra length to help them transform their business? 

You can look into common interests, industries, profits, and perhaps look at their location and dig deeper geographically. Where are most of your clients from, what are their positions in the company – in that way, you’ll get to know your ideal clients better? I’ve mentored thousands of entrepreneurs, business owners and sales professionals specifically on getting to know your ideal clients. 

Communication Skill Is Important In Your Personal And Professional Life

Honestly, from the way I look at it if you have a certain communication skill, not only it’ll help you get more clients but also become a great salesperson. The best part about High Ticket Closer Certification Program is that you don’t need to be so knowledgeable about your product. Just like what Melonie said earlier – They only care about how you can help them.

So, knowing the right communication technique and skills will give you the opportunity to engage with your client with finesse. May it be to help them transform their business or generate more revenue because when you’ve mastered this skill. It will also transform your life – personal and professional. 

Stand Out Significantly From Others

The more you use LinkedIn, the more you will see the value of it. You will also notice another people’s profile that’s being poorly done – they’re completely blank. 

This is easy to fix – have a professional headshot. People want to see who they are dealing with – upload a professional picture of yourself. When people see a smiling face – that’s an inviting aura. To strengthen your LinkedIn profile is that you can upload a video to your profile.

It can be an introduction video or a professional video. In that way, you’re marketing yourself and showing your communication skills to your ideal clients. Talking about skills, on LinkedIn, you can add your skills and endorsement to your profile.

For example, if you have a copywriting skill that you’ve learned a few years ago, you can add that into your profile. It could be just a short certification program – add it. Any additional skills you’ve acquired in the past years will be an added advantage to your profile.

Many people fail to see the power of social proof. Click To Tweet

Here’s another video I want to share with you. It’s about the 5 things you’re not utilizing in content marketing on LinkedIn. 

Final Thoughts On How To Use LinkedIn To Get More Clients

It’s basic psychology – we trust our social network. People trust what they see online, and if people like you then more people will like you because of that. Does that make sense?

So, you’ve followed the 3-steps here and you’ve rank #1 on LinkedIn. What’s next?

If you want to know how to use LinkedIn to get more clients, I recommend you read “The LinkedIn Code” book by Melonie as she shares more in-depth tips and principles for LinkedIn in her book. 

(Featured Image Credit: 13_Phunkod / Shutterstock.com)

How To Use Social Media To Get More Clients

Social media is an excellent tool to attract clients if used correctly. Read on to learn how to use social media to get more clients.

Is it possible to use social media to get more clients?

For entrepreneurs, it is a powerful opportunity to get the most attention in a short period of time. Clients are essential to your business because, without them, you can’t generate revenue and your business will cease to exist.

In order to make this work, not only must you know how to use social media to get more clients, you need to leverage it as a way to attract your ideal potential clients.

You want to magnetize your active and loyal followers of ready-to-buy-fans and turn them into your ideal clients. Click To Tweet

Looking at social media as a tool is a very limited way of looking at it. I simply look at it as a place where “attention” goes. You see, that is where people spend their majority of their time. Therefore, having a clear idea of why you’re using social media is an important start to your marketing strategy.

Define Your Social Media Platform

When you think of social media, you have different platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and more. On top of that, there are new platforms being developed and launched every single month or day.

While most business owners haven’t clearly defined why and which social media platform to use, how will you accomplish your goal?

In the past, advertising via the radio, television, newspapers or the magazine were used to attract clients.

Social media is where people spent the majority of their time Click To Tweet

Besides knowing how to use social media to get more clients, how do you convert the attention gained from social media into sales?

Let’s say you have your own products and services; you can use social media to get all the views and convert that attention into leads. And once you get those leads, you can follow up with them – drive them to your website, webinar or get them on the phone and actually sell them your product or service.

Another way to do it is if you don’t have a product or service but you have a lot of followers – you have “fame” which can be leveraged to get brand deals, endorsements or sponsorships. In this case, brands and companies will pay to get access to that attention.

Instead of being an entrepreneur with products and services, you’re leveraging their brands and companies to make money from social media. That’s if you have an incredibly huge number of followers.

Let me share with you the first rule of marketing online

Getting The Right Audience

As mentioned in the video, if it’s the right audience, companies are willing to pay you a large sum of money to collaborate with them and provide access to your pool of followers. They’ll collaborate by publishing a video with you, a single post or an endorsement video.

What they are actually paying for is the shortcut to getting the attention and views from your followers. And if you have one million followers, you can do that.

Social media is not only for companies that are looking to sell their products and services.

You can also do some kind of collaboration, where you’re promoting a particular brand or other company’s products and services, such as affiliate marketing deals.

When it comes to social media, there are many ways to make money Click To Tweet

If your question is “how to use social media to get more clients” – that’s how you can make money online – with or without a product.

The thing is, when it comes to social media, there are many ways to make money. What I mean is, the line between social media and marketing is blurry. For example, “offline marketing” or “direct mail” or “TV marketing” or even “Facebook marketing”.

Social media itself is marketing.

Imagine how much attention and time span these people are giving. The number of hours they spend on reading newspapers and watching television compared to people who spend their time on social media.

You Can’t Sell If You Don’t Get Their Attention

People are spending more time on YouTube watching videos and reading Facebook posts every day versus reading a newspaper. And you can’t sell to them if they’re not paying attention to you.

It’s more difficult to sell to people who don’t pay attention to you because they don’t know who you are – simple!

The thing is, people think social media is something like, “As long as I get attention – I’ll make money” or “If I build a number of followers, I’ll make money”. You’re wrong!

Let’s say you’re building a group of followers on your Instagram channel, this is what I always ask people, “If you’re not making money with 20,000 followers, what makes you think you can make money with 40,000 or 60,000 followers?

Watch this video on how to make money on Instagram

It doesn’t make sense if you suddenly say you can make money when you reach 100,000 followers. You don’t suddenly make money when you haven’t been making money throughout the whole journey.

One method on how to use social media to get more clients is to have a solid business model – an offer that converts. This is a product and service that people actually want to spend their money on before you drive attention.

If you produce and launch a bad product, oftentimes people remember the bad more than the good. And even though you have all the attention – it’s not going to make you money.

Assuming you have a good product, not only will you get the attention to grow, but you also get to scale your business fast.

Social media is an excellent tool to generate clients if used correctly. It can help you reach billions of people around the world. Look at the number of people on Facebook daily, it has over 1.66 billion users.

Create A Product That Converts Attention To Clients

To get the attention of your followers through social media, the first thing is to make sure you’re using the right social media platform. What is your goal? What would you like to achieve on a particular social media platform?

Over 97% of marketers are using social media to get attention from their clients. That’s why it’s important to have a solid business model to convert this attention to your clients.

It can be hard to pick with a social channel to use but these guidelines will be able to provide a certain clarity.

97% of marketers are using social media to get attention from their clients Click To Tweet

With a greater need for social media and the overwhelming amount of platform choices – you don’t want to spread yourself thin by managing each and every imaginable platform. However, you also don’t want to miss great brand-awareness opportunities.

With that said, I’m going to share with you the strength of some major platforms available.

Social Networking

These platforms are used for “networking” because they allow some form of interaction between people in different ways. With these platforms, you can build a business profile and include links to your website/s especially Facebook.

Let’s say you have a product or service to introduce to the world – you create an ad or post to get your client’s attention. And if your product is compelling and irresistible, you’ll be able to convert that attention to your client.

Whereas, if you’re looking to offer a professional service – B2B for example, LinkedIn would be a great platform to grow your business. When creating a business profile, you can categorize them according to your industry.

But if you prefer a wider spectrum of industries, having a Twitter account will be helpful – from entertainment to e-commerce. You can use twitter to post about company updates and retweet positive customer’s feedback.

Messaging and comment features for both LinkedIn and Twitter will help increase engagement with your customers.

Sharing Photos and Videos

YouTube: Over 1.9 billion active users

Instagram: Over 500 million daily active users

Pinterest: 235 million monthly active users

Instagram and Pinterest are the two biggest platforms when it comes to photo sharing. This could be helpful for restaurant owners or an online store. You can take photographs and display them to provide updates for your clients.

People like to be updated and if your product catches their attention, they will share among their friends and followers. As a result, you’ll get more clients and drive more traffic to your website.

I spoke about brand deals, endorsements and sponsorships earlier. Instagram is the home to influencer marketing.

Almost 100% of influencer campaigns took place on Instagram Click To Tweet

Almost 100% of influencer campaigns took place on Instagram in 2018.

This is excellent if you don’t have a product or service. You can leverage the influencers with a large fan base on this platform. And that’s how to use social media to get more clients.

It can be just one brand or two – depending on your closing power and ability to attract them.

The difference with Instagram is, it doesn’t allow you to share links directly – Instagram emphasizes visuals. However, for basic users, you can only share links in your bio but if you’re a verified user or you have over 10,000 followers, you can post links in your stories.

Lastly, Pinterest is best categorized for e-commerce activities. For example, those who sell handicraft and home goods. Small business owners can share standalone product images that link to their website or a sale page.

Here’s a video about how to start an E-commerce business

If you’re new at this and still wondering how to use social media to get more clients – there’s so much I can share. I can go on and on and on about social media.

Anyway, for Pinterest, it’s interesting that you’ll be assigned a theme “board” and with that – your clients can engage with you by simply giving you a “heart”.

That means, they like your product and usually, they’ll continue to browse to see what’s more in store. This could be great for lead generation.

Video-Sharing Helps Pin Down Strategy

As I shared, the number of monthly active users on YouTube is over 1.9 billion. Here’s another great video platform – Vimeo has a total of 1.2 million subscribers.

With the rise of people watching videos online – 83% of marketers say video gives a strong return on investment. And, YouTube appeal to be the best video platform choice among online users. Adding a video platform can help pin down your strategy.

Watch this video on The #1 most important secret to grow your YouTube channel

If you have an incredible business model, a video could make your brand look relevant and keep you up to speed with your competitors.

While a technology company focuses its video strategy around product demos – a restaurant could have a video log with cooking tips.

YouTube and Vimeo are leading platforms for long-form video. Since YouTube appeals to be the best video platform, they have a bigger audience base and better SEO capabilities. On top of that, Google has acquired YouTube and it’s the second-largest search engine next to Google.

A study done by Cisco in 2017, video represents 80% of all internet traffic by 2021.

Videos represent 80% of all internet traffic by 2021 Click To Tweet

As a matter of fact, along with YouTube and Vimeo, more and more traditional social networking platforms have also begun embracing video marketing. Have you notice, in the last few years, Facebook launched “Facebook Stories” and “Facebook Live” – which is added to a tab on your mobile that’s dedicated to video.

Now let’s get into how to use social media to get more clients with interactive media

Younger Generation Yields Interaction

Snap Chat and TikTok’s social media trend lean towards Gen Z and Millennials. The dynamic nature of social media makes it challenging to keep up with the latest trends. With more and more new platforms that have been created, Snapchat and TikTok are taking over the social lives of the youth.

The younger generation influences business opportunity and you can’t afford to miss that. Here’s why; Gen Z holds $44 Billion of buying power. While many brands considered Gen Z as little more than kids who are addicted to their smartphones – 98% percent of Gen Z still shop in-store – according to the National Retail Federation.

That being said, Gen Z population is set to reach 2.6 billion by 2020 and retailers need to create more interactive engagement around their brands to reach new clients. So, with this, exactly how to use social media to get more clients?

Gen Z population is set to reach 2.6 billion by 2020 and retailers need to create more interactive engagement around their brands to reach new clients Click To Tweet

Like any other target market, tailor your content for mobile and desktop, that’s why I said in the beginning, choosing the right platform according to your brand and product is essential. In that way, you’ll get all the eyeballs of the right audience.

But why do you need to produce content for both mobile and desktop? According to IBM, 66% of Gen Z frequently use more than one device at the same time.

And because of this, for them to get the best customer experience across all devices – have your branded content put out in the world with the highest optimization – from the layout of a website to blog post to any of these social media platforms.

 

More Attention Towards Bad Product

Before thinking about scaling your business or promoting your brand. You need to have a solid product or offer that convert your clients into a potential customer. Get their attention by introducing a great product offer.

Because, if you create a bad product, you will get a different kind of attention. Instead of winning and growing your audience as potential buyers, you’ll lose trust from billions of people. And that’s not going to make you rich, you won’t generate any money from bad attention span.

So, assuming you have a really good product, now you’ll get attention from there – you can scale your business fast. Because, with the right social media channel, you can scale by leveraging the huge number of traffic.

My point is, end of the day, you need a product or service that people are willing to spend their money on before you get any attention. Here are some mistakes I see people are making – especially the younger generation.

Don’t fix the marketing first, fix your product. Once you’ve got a good product to talk about, the marketing’s going to flow from that – Scoot Monty, Ford Social-media chief Click To Tweet

They ask me how to use social media to get more clients, just because they want to be famous on social media – they say, “Dan, how can I build a social media followers like you?” But the real question is WHAT FOR? When you’re only 19 years old.

Do you have a product or service to offer to the marketplace?

Here’s another video on “How To Grow Your Social Media”

The thing is if there’s no substance – building that to get more attention doesn’t do any good. As I said, unless you’re in the entertainment industry, that’s a different story.

Even if you managed to grow a large number of followers and making a small income out from it – that might work for the short term. But it won’t be long term progress. So, build that substance and value that shows the marketplace you’re there for reason.

Final Thoughts On How To Use Social Media To Get More Clients

If you’re an entrepreneur, using social media is one easy way to increase your clients. If you have a valuable product or service – you can catch millions of attention throughout your social media platform.

I know it’s not easy and it won’t be an overnight success. With guidance, I’m sure you get more clients on your social media account.

I have over 100 videos on my YouTube channel and I’ve shared some here to get you started on how to use social media to get more clients. My team and I produce videos every single day.

On another note, if you’re already producing content and videos – don’t stop doing it! Post every day so you get the attention on a daily basis.

Are you ready to take the next step?

How To Vastly Improve Your Social Media Presence And Grow Your Following (Viralnomics Book Review)

Learning how to improve your social media presence is challenging, yet vital to your brand’s success. The online market is huge, the world’s social media user base is massive, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. According to a 2019 study by Pew Research Center, 72% of American adults actively use social media, and that number keeps exponentially growing.

Clearly, neglecting this online market of billions of social media users would be a huge oversight for any sensible business. Like many entrepreneurs, influencers and business owners, I’ve scoured the internet for tips and tricks for boosting my social media following and improving my online presence.

While I’ve learned a lot from mentors and speakers, I attribute much of my success to certain books I’ve read that have guided me along the way. 

You'd be surprised how many business owners don't take the time to read books. This means that if you gain knowledge by reading books, you'll also gain a competitive advantage against your competitors who did not take the time to read such… Click To Tweet

While it’s true that over 73% of marketers reported success by implementing social media marketing as a significant component of their marketing strategy, not all engagement is created equal. Similarly, not all of the knowledge out there is equally as valuable.

Let’s take books, for example, as opposed to Google searches and online question-and-answer forums such as Quora.

Books offer more systematic, detailed strategies and unique insights that aren’t always available on blogs, on Quora, or via a Google search. Not every business owner is willing to take the time to read books, however. What does this mean for you? If you take the time to read books, you’ll gain a competitive advantage, since most people don’t read books about business.

Image of the book Viralnomics

Viralnomics by Jonathan Goodman

One of the books I’ve received immense value from is the book, Viralnomics: How to Get People to Want to Talk About You by Jonathan Goodman. In this book, Goodman offers insightful commentary on social platforms themselves while giving you plenty of actionable tasks that produce real results. 

Unlike other blogs or guides out there, Goodman doesn’t leave any room for excuses. Instead, he gives you the tools and the information you need to cultivate a highly engaged following on social media, and guides you on how to execute his advice accordingly. This is one of the reasons why his book is so impactful.

As you know, I don’t believe in making excuses – I believe in taking action – even if you think you have the best excuse in the world to delay or procrastinate.

In this article, I’ll recap some of what I feel are the most important points in the book. In Viralnomics, Goodman’s advice proves to go a long way, even in small doses. But first, let’s discuss why it’s so important to improve your social media presence and grow your social media following.

Social media apps on an iPhone

Why is it Crucial to Improve Your Social Media Presence and Grow Your Social Media Following?

Social media followers convert into real customers, and social media growth facilitates the growth of your business. It’s as simple as that. If your social media followers enjoy your content, check your social media pages regularly, and come to love your brand because of your social media, what happens? They become real customers. They buy whatever product or service you’re selling. And everyone knows this.

What you post on social media is incredibly important. The more people resonate with your social media posts and share your content because it reflects their own thoughts, feelings, and values, the more you will improve your social media presence. And, the more you improve your social media presence, the more likely you’ll improve your overall sales and business growth. 

You might be wondering, If it’s so obvious that a huge social media presence is good for business, why don’t more companies, businesses, brands and entrepreneurs have a larger social media presence? Well, I can answer this question in one word: Effort.

It requires time, resources, effort and patience to grow your social media following and improve your social media presence. It doesn’t happen overnight. Many companies, businesses, brands and entrepreneurs don’t have the time, energy or patience to do this. Even though they know how important social media is for business, they just don’t put forth the effort. Growing their social media is on their to-do list, but they don’t get to it. 

That’s why you’ll have such a major advantage against your competition if you do put in the effort to grow your social media following and strengthen your online presence.

So, let’s discuss some of my favorite tips from Jonathan Goodman’s book Viralnomics, along with my own tips for achieving powerful social media growth, and subsequently growing your business.

Friends on social media

Improve Your Social Media Presence By Giving Your Audience a Reason to Stick Around

One of my favorite analogies in the book Viralnomics is that of the metal spoon. Goodman describes a time where he was given a free sample, but he was given his free sample with a metal spoon instead of a disposable, plastic utensil. 

Though Goodman originally approached the booth to take the sample and go, he was unwittingly obligated to stay with the marketer, and discuss the product. After speaking with the sample-giver and trying out the product, Goodman was sold— but only because he wasn’t given the freedom to walk away with his sample, without talking to the marketer about it. You see, he didn’t have a disposable spoon. No, he had a metal spoon that he couldn’t walk away with.

In order to improve your social media presence, you need to figure out what your metal spoon is. Having initially enticing pieces of information isn’t enough on its own. Goodman’s metaphor of the metal spoon empowered me to ask myself, “What is going to make my audience stay? What is my ‘metal spoon’?”

I’ve found that the best way to answer this question is to look at why I stay on my favorite brand’s social media pages. Perhaps they’re giving me a solid piece of advice or inspiration, and it’s so valuable that I don’t want to walk away or keep scrolling. I’m willing to listen because a brand is giving me personal value, not just content. Makes sense, right? 

The Importance of Favors and Providing Value to the Community

Oftentimes as marketers, we focus far too heavily on what we can get from the consumer, rather than what we can give to our customers. Jonathan Goodman hits home on this point by asserting in his book, “Spend time every day looking for ways to do as many favors as possible.”

For most of us, this doesn’t feel natural. However, why would a consumer give something valuable to a business if they’re not getting something in return? Consumer trust is crucial, and Goodman is 100% right when he says that you have to earn it. 

When Goodman talks about doing favors for your consumers, he’s talking about providing value to the consumer. This could be something simple like saying, “Thanks for following our Instagram page! As a thank you, here is a free eBook!” 

Another ‘favor’, or as I call it, providing value, could simply be to thank a new follower by giving their Instagram page some love. Like their recent photo, comment on it with some words of encouragement. Sometimes you can do this before they’ve even followed your page, and because you showed their page some love, they will decide to follow you.

It often really is that simple. If you don’t have time to do this yourself, you can have a team devoted to this type of community engagement.

Manage your Online Community with Daily Interaction on Social Media

As I just explained, if you want to improve your social media presence and grow your following, you need to be devoted to community engagement. Engaging with the community should be done daily, and it involves commenting on other people’s social media posts, liking their posts, and even sending DMs. This type of role within a social media team is often referred to as a “Community Manager”.

Hiring a Community Manager who engages with your target audience by commenting on their social media posts is a great way to build a real, organic following.

Your Community Manager can provide value or ‘favors’ to the community by offering free eBooks, links to valuable blog posts, sharing their posts on your profile as a re-post crediting the original person who posted it, or simply commenting on their social media posts and showing their page some love.

By using this method, you’re likely to build much more meaningful interactions online, and build the type of loyal social media following that will actually buy your product or service. The old saying, “Sharing is caring” proves to be very accurate when it comes to social media. 

If you want your business shared and cared for, you’re going to have to share and care for others. It’s as simple as that.

Learning What Type of Content People Share

In order to improve your social media presence, it’s essential that you understand why people  share the social media content of others in the first place. In Viralnomics, Goodman breaks down the types of posts we tend to share into 5 main categories:

  • Intelligent
  • Intellectual
  • Interesting
  • Attractive
  • Funny

These may just seem like personal characteristics, which is exactly the point. Goodman argues that what we share is much more about self-representation than the content itself. 

When a consumer chooses to share something, it’s partially because what they share is a representation of themselves.

My take on this is that it seems only natural that your target audience will want to share content where someone else has said exactly what they themselves are thinking or feeling.

Everyone wants to share content that represents themselves in the way they want to be perceived. It’s the same reason why you only see people posting the best pictures of themselves on their profile. With this in mind, you can begin to craft content to help your target market represent themselves in a favorable way. In other words, you need to understand how your target market wants to be perceived, and create content that helps them paint that perception of themselves. Do this, and they’ll want to share your content.

Another tip is to share content that evokes emotion. For example, many big brands use the emotion of nostalgia to sell products through social media. This is called nostalgia marketing, and it works because it helps you resonate with your following.

Think Before You Post Content: Will it Resonate?

So, the next time you share a post, ask yourself, “What does this content say about a person that would make them want to share it?” Implementing this simple thought exercise before you create your social media posts, will give you invaluable insight to vastly improve your social media presence.

If your target audience tends to share humorous content, get your social media manager to create a variety of funny, witty or smart memes that you can post regularly. 

Improve your social media presence with memes

If your target audience tends to share motivational content about self-worth, believing in oneself, or self-improvement, create content that caters to that emotion of building oneself up.

Don’t forget that the more people resonate with your social media posts and share your content, the more you will improve your social media presence. And, the more you improve your social media presence, the more likely you’ll improve your overall sales and business growth. 

Information is No Longer Valuable in Itself

Goodman drops a hard truth when he explains that simply sharing knowledge and information is not enough on its own. He shares an anecdote where he used to love reading the encyclopedia as a kid, simply to learn.

Nowadays, we are constantly bombarded with information online, so much so that the value of information has gone down drastically. It’s no coincidence that encyclopedia Britannica stopped printing in 2010. Perhaps they knew they couldn’t compete with the modern-day encyclopedia of Google? Understanding this is crucial in order to improve your social media presence. 

The playing field is now much more level. For you to succeed, you’ll need to offer value to your consumers. Since anyone has the opportunity Google information, focusing on providing value will help you stand out.

Use unique analogies and examples when you provide information or share knowledge, so that people want to follow you simply because of the clear and captivating way that you share information. If you share valuable information in a way people can understand and appreciate, you’ll stand out.

This is why in Viralnomics, Goodman highly recommends fostering a community that enjoys the way you communicate to them, not just a marketplace. That way, people will return to your site for its ecosystem and in turn, feel more inclined to use your product or service. 

Building Your Web

To improve your social media presence, you’re going to need a network. I’ve learned from Viralnomics that I shouldn’t be picky with who’s a part of that web. A web is a circle of friends or a community of supporters.

In the book, Goodman described it best when he described a connection with a Facebook friend he hadn’t spoken to in years. Even though Goodman and this person weren’t necessarily “friends” in real life, that person saw Goodman’s content and shared it on their own social media page.

Think about it this way: If you have five friends, you have five more chances to get shared than if you had just one friend. To improve your social media presence online, you’ll have to play a number’s game. 

What if you want something more intimate for closer relationships? Goodman has a solution for that, too. In Viralnomics, he recommends having separate business and personal accounts. That way, when you’re on your business feed, you’re focused on engagement and not emotionally distracted. 

Build your web with anyone and everyone. You never know who will be receptive to your content. 

Networking at a networking event

Learning From Media Giants

Jonathan Goodman talks about Sea Lions in his book. You may be wondering how these mammals can help you improve your social media presence. As it turns out, they serve as the perfect model for fostering a highly engaged audience. 

In Viralnomics, Goodman notes how sea lions will feast on fish that a whale leaves behind, rather than try to compete directly with the whale. As I’ve learned from Goodman, this is precisely how we should learn from media or tech giants.

We need to learn how to cultivate similar followings in the way that huge social media influencers and media giants have. In this way, Goodman suggests reaching out to the engaged followers of social media influencers you admire, rather than the to influencers themselves.

You can combine this tip with the tip I mentioned earlier of adding value first, by showing these people some love and liking and commenting on their photos. While this may not be the most time-efficient way of doing things, it’s a surefire way to build a community. And, like I said, you can hire a Community Manager to do this for you.

Statistic on social media's popularity

Understanding Social Media First and Foremost

Understanding social media means that you understand how each different type of social media platform works, what its best used for, and understanding the different audiences for each. The video-sharing app TikTok, for example, is known for having a younger audience of mostly Gen Zers, as well as some millennials. 

Innovative new social media platforms like TikTok will always pop up, and like TikTok, some of the new social media platforms will quickly grow to a user base of around 1 billion monthly active users, which is huge. However, as Jonathan Goodman points out in Viralnomics, 

The biggest mistake that you can make is to attempt to keep up with new innovations before taking the time to understand why people use those innovations.”

So, going back to the example of TikTok, you must understand how TikTok works, who uses this social media platform, and why people use it. This understanding must be cultivated before you attempt to grow your presence on TikTok. The same goes for any social media platform you’re attempting to improve your social media presence on.

Don’t forget how crucial it is to learn how to improve your social media presence in order to grow your social media following and grow your business. As Goodman says in Viralnomics,

We work hard every day to ignore marketing so we can go home and put our feet up to relax. And when we do this, we go on social media. It’s a place where our subconscious takes over, it’s a place where we let our emotions dictate our actions, and it’s a place where we’re more open to persuasion than anywhere else.”

Investing in Yourself

I’ve learned from experience that one of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs, business owners and influencers make is not investing in themselves, and not reading enough books. In order to improve your social media presence and grow your business, you need to do so from both a top-down and bottom-up perspective.

What that means is you shouldn’t focus all of your energy on simply curating content. You’ll need fuel for that fire, which comes from acquiring more knowledge and more digital marketing skills. Acquiring more knowledge and more up-to-date skills is not only good for you, but it’s good for your business, too. 

Just as an artist shouldn’t perform a song on stage without knowing the lyrics and emotions they’re meant to evoke, you should not put out content if you don’t have a firm understanding of your market.

Try your best to seek out more valuable information through books, blogs, videos and online courses. I typically don’t suggest buying books that were published a decade ago, because you want the knowledge to be relevant to the modern economy and the modern consumer. 

The value of information online may have gone down in quality as a whole, but the silver lining is that much of it is free to consumers. And if cost is an issue for you, books are cheap. Most books are between $5 and $25, and many of them have insanely valuable information inside.

Woman reading books

Why You Need Books to Be Successful

Investing in yourself in the form of self-education is important, but how should you go about that process, specifically? Aside from online courses, a very effective way to do so is by reading books. 

Nowadays, not as many people are willing to sit down and take the time to read a book, which automatically gives you a competitive advantage if you get into the habit of reading every night. The fewer people who are reading books, the more unique insight you gain access to that your competition isn’t accessing.

A bonus tip I could give you is to order a paperback version of the book you’re buying instead of the eBook version. Sure, it might cost $5 – $10 more than the eBook version, but it’s nice to give your eyes a break from screen time. Reading in bed helps you fall asleep and get a better night’s sleep, because taking a break from screens before bed encourages a proper sleep cycle.

It goes without saying that reading books by business experts will help you grow your business. However, the caveat is that you need to read books by authors who practice what they preach. 

When it comes to authors whose books you should buy, you can trust those who have built a successful business themselves, have grown a huge social media following themselves, and have become a self-made multi-millionaire themselves.

That’s why people buy my books. I have millions of followers on social media, and I am a self-made multi-millionaire entrepreneur who understands business and became successful. I enjoy sharing my secrets with others who strive for greatness, and that’s why I’ve taken the time to write over a dozen books.

Dan Lok and his Unlock It book

Ready to Unlock The Secrets and Strategies for Growing Your Business and Growing Your Social Media?

Are you ready to unlock financial confidence, unlock the secrets to growing your business and social media presence, and become unstoppable? Are you willing to read a book that could lead to life-altering success? 

Success comes to those who take action. Reading a book by someone who has shared the closely-guarded secrets to their success, is an example of the right action to take if you want to be successful. Click To Tweet

Success comes to those who take action. Reading a book by someone who has shared the closely-guarded secrets to their success, is a fantastic action to take if you want to be successful.

My new book, Unlock It, will provide you with more social media secrets and digital marketing secrets to grow your social media following and dramatically improve your online presence. Unlock It offers more than just social media secrets, though. This book will make it easier for you to understand how to grow your business in general, and how to start a business.

In Unlock It, you will learn specific systems and formulas that will allow you to unlock the key to success for yourself and your business. Unlock It will guide you to achieving wealth, success, and an impressive social media presence.

Do You Want the Key to My Secret Formula for Success?

It is my book Unlock It that I share the secrets, strategies, methods, formulas and systems that I personally used when I went from being a broke immigrant with no money, to becoming a self-made multi-millionaire and global social phenomenon with a social media presence that lead to millions of highly-engaged followers. In this book, I even share tips on how to put out content that your audience will resonate with. 

My book doesn’t solely focus on how to build a social media following or improve your social media presence. It of course touches on that, but there’s so much more to it than that. These skills I teach in my book are skills that are not taught in school or college. But these are skills that once you read about them and harness them, can help you become a powerful business magnate and social media influencer.

So, if you’re ready to unlock the secrets to growing your social media following, building your brand, and growing your business, click here to buy my book Unlock It for as little as $7.50. 

The price of my book may not always be this good of a deal, so take action now if you want to improve your social media presence, grow your business, and build a powerful brand.

How To Create Interesting Instagram Posts That Keep People On Your Page

Are you struggling to create interesting and engaging Instagram posts? There are plenty of ways to create an interesting post, even if you’re selling a digital product that’s impossible to visualize or something that’s not glamorous. 

If you’re using Instagram to grow your business, it’s essential to grow your audience and keep them engaged on your page, but how do you create interesting Instagram posts that could help you grow your business? 

With over a billion people active on Instagram monthly, it’s crucial to know how to use it effectively. Instagram has become one of the favorite social media channels for many people. As you know, Instagram is a photo-sharing platform. They have 500 million daily active stories users worldwide in 2019. 

If you can create interesting Instagram posts, it is a platform to grow your audience fast. So how do we do that?

For some businesses, it makes sense to establish a presence if you want to monetize on this platform. It has become a very competitive platform for those who are aiming to grow their audiences. You need to constantly find innovative ways to keep them interested. Only then, you can keep people engaged on your page.

A good and shareable post means you need to have a compelling caption. Why? Because a compelling caption draws your audience to share and stay on the page. In this article, I will share with you my Instagram secrets and on how you can create interesting Instagram posts that hook people to stay on your page.

Create Compelling Caption for Instagram Posts

Instagram is all about visuals. Not only good quality photos will capture the eyes of your audiences, but also a compelling caption will make them stay. While a good photo exhibits your brand instantly, a compelling caption explains what the photo is about and tells your audience to take action. 

With that said, there are many ways to create compelling captions. It’s either you do a lot of research about your competitors and other brands, enroll in a course, or borrow ideas from other online sources. However, coming up with great ideas to generate compelling captions can be very easy. 

To create compelling captions is a learnable skill. Even for someone without a digital marketing background can do this – as long as it’s relatable to your brand. It may sound easier said than done because not only does it have to be relatable, it needs to look good to be able to capture your audience’s attention as I said earlier.

If Instagram is for you and your business, watch this video on how you can grow your followers organically.

Now you must be wondering how to create compelling captions.  

Are You Offering Value or Persuading Your Readers?

Like any other skill you learn, it’s either from enroll for a course, engage a mentor to teach you, learn from tutorial videos, read blog articles, or read some books on how to create interesting Instagram posts.

To be able to write something that’s so compelling is not an overnight success. For those that have been creating captions for social media, they are experts in digital marketing and if you’re one, you can relate to this. 

Now, what if you’re a copywriter who wants to learn content writing? Or you would like to learn more about copywriting?

As a copywriter, first you have to understand the difference between copywriting and content writing. Both are important to know for marketing as they have different purposes, but the differences have a fine line between them. 

Content writing is about offering value while copywriting is about persuading the reader.  So, knowing the difference will be able to help keep people on your page, depending on your brand and niche.

As I said earlier, like any other skill, you can always learn copywriting if you want to venture into online business. Maybe you have an interesting product that you want to share with the world. But you have little to no knowledge about Instagram. Honestly, I know how you feel, and I can relate to that. That’s why, in this article, I’m going to share some Instagram secrets that got me from zero to 1.5 million followers.

Using Hashtags Is One Interesting Way to Get Attention

Don’t neglect using hashtags. One interesting way to get attention and gain new followers is by using relevant hashtags. With that said, you’ll not only get to keep your organic followers on your page but also new people. Although you can basically hashtag any word that comes out of your mind, if you’re marketing for a certain brand or company, doing research is an important factor to find out what’s the top trending hashtags. Of course, you want to find out what’s related to your topic or brand.

Hashtags have great connectivity element which connects users who aren’t connected to one another. Click To Tweet

No matter how interesting a hashtag can be, limit to 4 hashtags. You don’t want to flood your audience with too many hashtags. It has to tie with the conversation of different users into one stream. So, if your account is public, anyone who searched for that particular hashtag may find your Instagram post. 

Hashtags have a great connectivity element. It connects users who aren’t connected to one another. This means people who are interested in the same topics, brands, meetings, and events. They will be able to find you through a hashtag. 

Now, why limit to 4 hashtags? If you use a string of hashtags, people will notice and they might think you’re just looking to gain new followers (it’s like spamming). They would get the wrong idea so use it sparingly.

Use High Quality Images

Stock images are probably the easiest and fastest way to find high quality images. Even though they have a bit of a bad reputation recently, that doesn’t mean that you can’t use stock images. However, not all stock images are perfect for your niche. Although some can help you create a varied feed, if it’s not given a prime spot to your feed, they can be bad for your branding if that is the case.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words. Click To Tweet

When you’re looking for ideas online, be aware of the differences between commercial and editorial licensing. Especially when you download an image with a quote or a caption. Legal action can be taken against you, so beware of using an image improperly. That’s why understanding all of the rules is important. Many digital marketers neglect to understand the danger of acquiring stock images, even though most of them are easily downloadable for free. 

According to HubSpot. High quality stock photos don’t have to come hand-in-hand with a hassle of a high price tag. They’ve compiled 20 of the best free stock photo sites for you to use in 2020. 

Here is the list of the best 20.

  • Negative Space
  • Death to Stock
  • Picjumbo
  • Stokpic
  • Kaboompics
  • Startup Stock Photos
  • Freerange
  • LibreShot
  • Fancy Crave
  • Unsplash
  • StockSnap.io
  • SplitShire
  • Life of Pix
  • HubSpot
  • Pexels
  • Gratisography
  • Jay Mantri
  • ISO Republic
  • New Old Stock
  • Pixabay

If you have a bit of budget to spend, you can get better quality images and have access to a wider variety. But bear in mind, the recommended dimensions of an Instagram post, it’s at least 1080p and aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 4.5.

  

Post Consistently At The Right Times

If you’ve watched the video I shared in the beginning, I said to post at least once a day or maybe 2. Don’t over-post as that is a surefire way to turn off your existing followers. You want to stay fresh and relevant to your audience. 

On top of that, it’s critical to know when the best time is to do what kind of post on Instagram. With the recent growth to one billion monthly active users on Instagram, the median engagement rate is 1.6%. More and more people are leaning towards segmentation, because it provides a more satisfying journey to your customers. So, to fully understand your market when creating your Instagram post is crucial. 

Now, you might have this question in mind, “why do I need to segment my audience?” Well, segmenting your audience will provide you more focus and authenticity. This gives a more personal experience because the Instagram algorithm prioritizes certain posts. With that said, you’ll want to know those key statistics on the best time for your Instagram post.

Use Instagram Stories

As I said in the beginning, 500 million people use Instagram stories daily and we’re talking about worldwide. So, can you imagine, the traffic in an hour? I have 1.5 million followers, that’s only 0.003% of the total number of people. 

So, if you can create an interesting and compelling Instagram post, people would share your post across and in addition, it keeps them on your page. Instagram stories have become very popular. Not only is it interesting, but it’s also attracting people in an engaging way. Why? Because stories that are on Instagram only last for 24 hours on your page and usually, people are always curious about what you’re up to. Especially when you have a new product and service. 

The reason behind people’s curiosity is that they don’t want to feel left out. That’s why it’s interesting. 

When you tell your audience what you’re up to. It shows more authenticity and builds trust among your audience. By doing that, it’ll help you increase the number of followers and engagement rates. 

Having said that, when creating Instagram stories. Tell stories instead of preaching marketing missives. Because if you want to keep people on your page. You should captivate your audience through compelling stories, images, videos, and words. Become a storyteller. 

People are mostly curious, and they don’t like to be left out. So, telling stories is one of the best ways to keep people engaged on your page.

Be Consistent On Your Feed Visually

As you know, Instagram is all about visuals and to create interesting Instagram posts, keep your visuals consistent. Experiment with profile colors, it’s the simplest and most popular way to make a stylish account. On top of that, it’s incredibly effective. 

You can repeat the same color theme in different ways using objects and filters. Or background color but post photos in one colored theme as it reflects on your brand. You could change your theme anytime you want, as long as you are consistent with your feed. Besides that, you’re giving your followers a fresh new look at your products. 

Users prefer to experience authentic expression and diverse perspectives. Which means, people today want to see something that’s more natural-looking. For example, replace your high-saturation filters and perfectly positioned item with candid shots.

Instagram is all about visuals. Create interesting Instagram posts by experimenting with profile colors. Click To Tweet

Again, keep your feed visually consistent. So, to achieve a consistent look, using photo editing apps is the key. Here are some of the best photo editing apps.

  1. Snapped
  2. Afterlight 2
  3. Prisma Photo Editor
  4. Adobe Photoshop Express
  5. Foodie
  6. Adobe Lightroom CC
  7. Canva
  8. Adobe Photoshop Fix
  9. Visage
  10. Enlight Photofox

Now, I’ve shared some of the best photo editing apps. Did you know that videos will make up more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic by 2021? This means you could also add a couple of videos on your feed. 

Leverage Instagram Video Formats

From Instagram stories to standalone 60-minute videos, consider Instagram stories’ live video options. Maybe a sneak peek about your new products or service. This will add authenticity to your Instagram posts which will also keep people on your page. 

While video continues to dominate the online space, according to Instagram, 60% of stories are viewed with sound on. So, what does this mean? When 40% are viewed without the sound on, subtitles have become essential for marketers. Now, having subtitles delivered alongside your visuals would enable your core message to your audience. 

Knowing the difference between copywriting and content writing for a copywriter is important. On top of that, captioning a video increases average video view time by 12% (Research from Facebook)

Although it’s not part of Instagram’s best practices for stories, it’s more about how compelling your caption is that keeps people on your page.

Use Emoji With Instagram Post

Emojis are used by most people across online platforms. Such as, messaging apps, social media and so on. Even for emojis, you need to create a strategy on how to use it effectively but when it comes to Instagram posts, use emojis because it catches people’s attention and it has a more fun engagement.

The power of compelling words extends to “Emojis.” Click To Tweet 

Emojis can sum up a sentence with a dash of personality. In fact, little emojis can make a huge difference when you’re trying to convey a message. On top of that, it can also increase your click-through rates and engagement levels.

Include a Call-To-Action (CTA)

On any social media platform, always include a call-to-action. This gives your audience the answer to what’s next? If you don’t have a call to action or some form of a close, you’re most likely to lose a potential customer or further engagement. 

Your whole point of creating an interesting Instagram post is to keep people on your page as long as you can. As a result, they continue scrolling on your profile or visit your website (if you have one on your bio) and they could share some of your content across other channels. 

Followers may love your Instagram ads and share your content but make sure you lead them to the most powerful action. With that said, this last action is the most direct way to increase interaction. This means, you’ve managed to keep your audience right to the end of your goal and it’s time to let your audience make a decision.

So, a clear and concise call-to-action is critical to tell your audience what they have to do next. A call-to-action can be leading them to your profile or a certain landing page. It can also be a website, a comment or even a request for an emoji.

Discover More Instagram Secrets To Keep People on Your Page

Now that you’ve read this far, all of this might sound daunting. Your Instagram profile is like your business and it is constantly growing and evolving. That’s why I created this training called Instagram Secrets. In this video training, I’ll show you how to build a massive tribe of followers. 

But you might have this question in mind, ”What do I get out of this training?” Here’s what you’ll get:

  • Instagram Secrets: How To Get Your Next 10,000+ Followers 
  • The Secrets to QuickStart Guide
  • Decoding Dan Lok’s Top 3 Instagram Posts
  • Instagram Secrets Bonus Material

Now, here’s the thing I don’t want you to miss. Almost every hour people are purchasing my Instagram Secrets from the shop and it’s currently priced at $49.00. The problem is, I don’t know for how long it will be at this price because I usually sell this at $99.00.

If you’re a serious digital marketer and a copywriter or you want to start a profile on Instagram to monetize your presence, I recommend you get your personal copy. Instagram is one of the best social media channels for marketing. I’ve also created different training videos based on your expertise. 

If you want to discover the secrets to Instagram’s success. Head over to the Dan Lok Shop now to get your very own personal copy before my team decides to remove the discount, click here to get your copy now. 

Otherwise, if you prefer to continue watching my free content, you can also subscribe to my YouTube channel where you watch the many educational videos that my team and I upload everyday.

Develop A Powerful Personal Brand With These 3 Secrets

To develop a powerful personal brand can be a daunting task, as many entrepreneurs and small business owners struggle with developing a brand for themselves. But branding is not only for companies, it defines who you are. Like everything else, your personal brand is unique.

What is a personal brand and why is it important?

A personal brand is a perception in someone’s mind. As I said earlier, when someone calls out your name, what would be their response? The truth is, you can determine what you want people to think and say about you.

Developing a brand is about taking control of your image, and that reflects who you are in many aspects. When someone calls out your name, it should give them an honest impression of your talents, values, and beliefs. 

Developing a powerful personal brand is crucial for entrepreneurs and small business owners. In fact, it’s important for everyone. Because our personal brand will not only boost our business – it helps drive them to success. 

For example, what makes you different? What are you known for? This means, what are your values? Are your values aligned with your mission and beliefs? And what kind of impression do you want to leave behind for the world?  

You are your brand, no matter what your current job is. Click To Tweet

Branding is like a mental game. It acts as a magnet that pulls the matching pair together. So, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you must develop a powerful personal brand. 

If you don’t develop a powerful personal brand, it makes you no different than others in regards to your profession. 

The more you present yourself to the world, the higher your brand gains its credibility and recognition. So how do you develop a powerful personal brand? In this article, I will share 3 of my secrets to develop a powerful personal brand. 

1. Brand Around Your Talents, Values, And Beliefs.

People like to know the story around why you did it and what makes you do it. It can be because of a certain talent you have or a strong belief of a product that you’ve created. Either way, people are drawn into a combination of vulnerability and enthusiasm. Your beliefs are what drives your core values. 

 Everyone looks at your watch and it represents who you are, your values and your personal style. – Kobe Bryant

When I say value, it isn’t based upon your position at your company. Rather it’s based on what you can bring to the marketplace. What is the unique talent that you do exceptionally well that others can’t? When you establish your own target audience in your niche market. You’ll be able to develop a unique talent around your niche. So, why do you have to do this?

Because with your own target audience, it helps you narrow down your potential customers. Clients won’t just walk up to your doorstep. You need to put yourself out there and when you understand your audiences, it is easier to create value based on their problems.

But before you do that, ask yourself these questions. This is where you begin. 

  • Am I perceived as I want to be? 
  • How strong is my reputation in my industry?
  • What does my brand reflect most on my personality? My ability?
  • What makes me unique?
  • Does my website/blog reflect my brand?
  • Does my social media channel reflect my brand?

Asking yourself these questions is where you begin developing a powerful personal brand. Choose what you want to be known for and focus on being the best at it. If you’re looking to be a successful entrepreneur, being the best at what you do sets you apart from your competition. 

2. Develop A Powerful Signature Style

As I said in the beginning, branding is like a mental game. It’s like a magnet that pulls a matching pair together. So, when you develop a powerful personal brand, you need to stand out. Because being average makes you similar to everyone else and this is where you take control in developing what people think and say about you. 

When you think about a signature style, it can be varied. It can either make or break a personal brand. So, be careful when you decide on your style. If you can develop this well, it can be powerful and make you instantly recognizable. Think about your favorite brands. What makes them unique? This is crucial to know because your brand allows self-expression through your personality to the marketplace. 

You can visualize your style with these guides. But remember to be consistent with your style. 

  • Logos
  • Trademarks
  • Signs
  • Core visual elements
  • How you dress

Think of it this way, if you have a different color logo on your signs and your blog. People will find it hard to understand what you do. So, being consistent with your style is a surefire to success. 

Apart from that, develop your unique dress code. As I said earlier, you are in control of what people think and say about you. You want people to remember you for the right reasons. My mentees associate me with my red suit and my Bentley. Steve Jobs always dressed exactly the same and Obama only wears either a blue or a gray suit. 

My point here is, these may be their signature style. But when you call out their names, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Steve Jobs – Apple products. Dan Lok – Red suit and Bentley. On top of that, a powerful personal brand gives you an advantage in your professional and personal life. 

3. Create An Impression With An Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch allows you to earn someone’s conversation. It is never an opportunity to close a deal. However, it’s an opportunity to get people’s attention. It acts as a quick introduction and with a short, snappy explanation, it explains how you can help your customers. 

So, where and when should you use your elevator pitch? You can leave an impression with an elevator pitch during a networking event, warm calls or conferences. You also use an elevator pitch with job interviews. Especially when someone asks you this question, “Tell me about yourself” or “What do you do?”

Instead of convincing someone to hire you, earn 30 seconds of conversation. Click To Tweet

A compelling short stunning elevator pitch will uplift your value. Which means, people will instantly remember who you are. But never forget that when people who listen to your pitch, the first thing they think about is “Does that bring me value?” or “What’s in it for me?” Therefore, when you develop a powerful personal brand, it’s crucial to understand your audiences.

For example, at a networking event. Someone prompts an attention-grabbing question saying, “Isn’t it a daunting task to develop a personal brand for yourself?” And you answer, “ Yes, but you know what will make it less daunting? The founder of my company constantly creates educational content. They created a video training that cost less than a cup of coffee a day. And if you spend 30 days on coffee, you could discover the secrets to develop a powerful personal brand without feeling daunting.”

Or if someone asks, what do you do?. You can say, “I help companies scale their business by exponentially increasing their conversion rates.” While different types of questions have different impressions, it should also be memorable and punchy. 

What Should You Be Doing To Maintain Your Personal Branding?

Now that you’ve developed a powerful personal brand. What should you be doing to maintain your brand? Yes, it’s time to gain visibility. This is where you’re letting your audience know you exist. 

To gain visibility requires multiple processes. For example, creating a well-strategized plan across your social media platform. In order to establish a strong foundation, you need to be active in a couple of things.  

Here’s how you can market your brand through different channels. 

  • Client Referrals 
  • Direct Mail 
  • Networking
  • Joint ventures
  • Seminars
  • Public Relations
  • Warm Calling (if you have a product or service)
  • Internet (Social media platforms)

Don’t get overwhelmed by the number of platforms. To begin with, you can start with one. Decide which is your best channel according to your target audience. Now, let me give you an idea of what I do to promote and maintain my personal brand.  

Here’s what I do to maintain my personal brand. And this is strictly on personal branding. 

  • Give one interview per week. 52 interviews a year which includes TV, Radio, Podcast or print.
  • Conduct one interview per week with successful entrepreneurs.
  • Create and upload 200+ videos per year on YouTube.
  • Publish at least one new book per year.
  • Give away a minimum of 3,000 books a year.
  • Deliver at least 20 presentation or speeches a year.

Ensuring your brand is personalized, creates compelling and convincing content. Write valuable and educational content to your audience. You need to put value to the marketplace. Why? Because your brand and value is a self-expression through your personality. So, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, position yourself by being the best at what you do.  

Why Entrepreneurs Fail At Developing A Personal Brand

As I said in the beginning, many entrepreneurs struggle to develop a powerful personal brand. So, whether it’s personal or business life, it defines who you are. In order to be successful in any business, having a powerful brand is crucial because branding elevates your success exponentially. 

Developing a powerful personal brand right is crucial for success. Click To Tweet

Of course, it’s not an overnight success. You can’t get the world to know who you are in a day. But if you’re consistent, it’s a surefire to success. It takes time and effort to understand and learn how to develop a powerful personal brand effectively. 

Here’s why entrepreneurs fail at developing a personal brand.  

They Don’t Fully Believe In Themselves.

If you don’t believe in yourself, certainly, nobody will. If you want to develop a powerful personal brand, you must be clear and certain about who you are and what you can offer to the marketplace. Again, your value is on what you can bring to the marketplace. But keep this in mind, there’s a difference between confidence and arrogance. If you set yourself with confidence, you’ll overcome hurdles with grace.  

No Strategy 

Everything you do reflects on your brand. Therefore, having a good strategy is important in every area of business. If you want to stand out and be remembered. You need to put in the extra effort as it won’t magically appear for you. Think and plan out a couple of strategies before you execute. But don’t be afraid to fail. I failed in 13 businesses before i became a self-made millionaire. 

How you do anything is how you do everything – Dan Lok 

Unsure What Is Personal Branding 

Don’t get confused between professional and personal branding, because they are very different. Personal brand is a perception in someone’s mind. It is how people perceive you would be. Remember the first question you ask yourself? Am I perceived as I want to be? Talking to people and asking for honest opinions is the best way to do this.  

They’re Inconsistent With Their Content On Social Media

Have a narrow focus on your topics with your social media channels. When you’re consistent, it’s easier to recognize a voice. To ensure a powerful brand is achieved, you have to demonstrate consistency across your communication.  

Never Leverage On Social Media Platforms

In 2018, an estimate of 1.8 billion people worldwide purchased goods online.  And during the same year, global e-retail sales amounted to 2.8 trillion U.S. dollars. It’s projected to grow up to 4.8 trillion U.S. dollars by 2021. So, can you imagine the number of people purchasing a product through social media platforms? It’s significantly high. So, leveraging social media might be the key to your success.  

Not Investing In Themselves To Learn

I’ve seen many entrepreneurs make plenty of excuses. Such as, I’m too old to expose myself in social media. I’m not young enough to learn new things anymore. Well, let me tell you this. If you want to develop a powerful personal brand, you need to have a shift in mindset. The process of gradually developing into the person you wish to be is crucial. When you get constructive criticism, you can use that to grow. Regardless of how long it takes, your brand will grow much more quickly. 

If you want to grow your business, investing in yourself to learn new technology is essential. Unless you have the confidence to learn through my free 200+ video content. Engaging a mentor and gaining their secrets will bring you success quicker. 

 

Want To Develop A Powerful Personal Brand?

Making a name for yourself can be tough and frustrating. As I said in the beginning, it can be a daunting task. It requires time, effort and consistency. When you see other leaders making a name for themselves, you wonder, how did they have it all figured out? When you want to develop a powerful personal brand, you have to understand the most important aspect, which is trust. 

A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. – Seth Godin

Whether it’s for personal or business. If they aren’t any trust, you’re not likely to achieve a personal brand for yourself. That’s why I told my team to prepare a special training video that consists of my secrets. Discover the secrets of my personal branding here. 

Back in my early days, when I was in high school, I was the invisible kid. No one wanted to talk to me and people didn’t think I could succeed in business. But now that I’m a business magnate, Internet celebrity and global educator with students and fans around the world, people want to know how I developed such a reputation. 

In today’s world of technology, opportunities for growth are more than before. So, to develop a powerful personal brand, be sure to stay focused and the brand stays with you. 

A personal brand is nothing more than your personal reputation. If you want to create a powerful reputation for yourself, create a compelling elevator pitch and develop the perception you want your audience to think and say about you. That drives your core values with the beliefs you have. 

And, if you’re a serious influencer, entrepreneur, and expert earning over $300,000 in revenue and want to take your business to the next level, read below. If you are an influencer and entrepreneur who wants to:

  • Scale their business to 7-figures and beyond using social media.
  • Generate a predictable and sustainable return on investment every month.
  • Build a 7-figure business that runs with or without them.

High-Ticket Influencer is the answer.