Marketing

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

February 28, 2020 by Dan Lok

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… Share on X

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. Share on X

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

February 20, 2020 by Dan Lok

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. Share on X

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. Share on X

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. Share on X

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.

Snapped
Afterlight 2
Prisma Photo Editor
Adobe Photoshop Express
Foodie
Adobe Lightroom CC
Canva
Adobe Photoshop Fix
Visage
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.” Share on X

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

February 14, 2020 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

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. Share on X

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. Share on X

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. Share on X

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.

10 Insider Secrets For Creating A Personal Brand Based On Your Unique Superpower

February 7, 2020 by Dan Lok

Are you looking into creating a personal brand, but you don’t know where to start?

I see and hear a lot of bad advice when it comes to creating a personal brand. People who never actually built a successful or powerful personal brand themselves, want to tell you how to do it best.

It’s smarter to listen to people who practice what they preach. That’s why people ask me for advice on creating a personal brand, since I have credibility in the form of success and millions of social media followers.

Personal branding is important because ultimately, your personal brand will differentiate you from your competitors. When creating your personal brand, you want it to stand for something. The last thing you want to do is to be another boring realtor, another pushy sales agent, another coach who lacks that ‘X’ factor. You are unique, and you need to figure out your unique superpower and incorporate what makes you stand out into your branding. Your personal brand should be a reflection of your unique superpower.

I spent a lot of time building my personal brand. And that’s why today, I want to share 10 insider tips on creating a personal brand based on your superpower.

Why Should You Be Creating A Personal Brand?

A personal brand isn’t something you create after you already have millions of followers on social media. Instead, I like to think of your personal brand as your reputation and your image. If you asked others to describe you in three words, what would they say?

Would people say positive things about you and your brand? Would you like what people said? Or would it be negative?

Get some clarity on how you want others to see you. Figure out the three words you wish other people would use to describe you, and your brand. Those three words will become the base of your personal brand.

For example, the three words could be, “Diligent, “Honest”, and “Humorous”. It can be whatever you most desire to be known as.

Now, my personal recommendation is not to stop there. Next, you want to find out what your unique superpower is, and build your personal brand around that.

Why Should Your Personal Brand Be Created Around Your Superpower?

What do superpowers have to do with creating a personal brand? If you’ve followed me for some time, you know that I love superheroes like Iron Man or Batman. Studying comics, I noticed one thing. Superhero characters often have longevity. People remember these characters. Some of these superhero characters have been around for decades. People like to follow the story of superheroes.

That’s why when you are creating a personal brand ,you want to model your brand story after a superhero story. Basically, you are creating a character. The character is you, but maybe not all of you.

In other words, perhaps you tell your audience certain stories from your past, such as things that shaped you, but you don’t tell them about your current private life. That’s perfectly okay. Your personal brand doesn’t need to be based on your full story, or include every little detail of your life. With personal branding, you just have to reveal enough of a story so that you are authentic and people can connect with you.

Focusing on your superpower also has another benefit. Instead of trying to be good at everything, you narrow it down to what you are best at. What you’re best at is your special gift – your unique superpower. You have positioned yourself as an expert on one particular subject.

If you claim to be an expert at everything, nobody will believe you, and nobody will like your brand. That’s why specializing in one thing or one niche creates a lot more credibility. If you position yourself as an expert in one niche subject or field of focus, your brand will garner more respect and attention.

I personally have been using this strategy, and it’s been working. I have positioned myself as an authority figure and established myself as an expert in certain niche fields related to business, copywriting, sales, and closing. That means that my personal brand won’t be for everyone. My brand is for certain kinds of people who are interested in learning what I am an expert at. P

art of developing my personal brand involved telling my story of how I became an expert at these things. I won’t be around forever, but the character of Dan Lok will live on.

Below are 10 insider secrets for creating a personal brand using your unique superpower:

1. Creating A Personal Brand by Discovering Your Superpower

The first thing you need when creating a personal brand based on your superpower is, of course, your superpower. I’m not talking about superhuman strength or the superpower of flying, though.

Your superpower is what you exceed at. You superpower is your special gift, skill, or talent – it’s something you are exceptionally good at.

It could be anything from public speaking to consulting to SEO copywriting. Your superpower is based on your primary skill that you are an expert at.

Focus on a superpower that you enjoy, which will also bring value to the marketplace. Then, communicate your superpower to your target audience.

What if you aren’t sure what your superpower is, exactly? Determining your strengths and weaknesses is an important task to further your growth. So you might want to dig deeper and get to know yourself.

Usually, your superpower feels effortless. It’s what you’re naturally the best at, without trying that hard. You are great at it, and it amazes others. Your superpower can be a skill or something you understand more clearly than others. It could be something you’re so good at, you’re are almost fearless. When you discover your superpower, you will notice because it will feel just right, and you’ll feel very confident doing it.

2. Be Clear on What You Want to be Known For

Tying back to your reputation, what do you want others to say about you?

Maybe there are others that have a similar superpower to yours. For example, there are several motivational speakers out there, but what if your superpower is motivational speaking? How do you break through the noise and stand out from the crowd? You do this by creating a personal brand that is solid, unique, and powerful.

When you are clear on what you want to be known for, you don’t leave anything to chance. If you look at my personal brand, for example, what do people know me for? Possibly things like “Dan Lok is a millionaire”, or “Dan Lok is the King of Closing”, or “Dan Lok is the boss in the Bentley”, or “Dan Lok wears a red suit.” Now, do you think any of that was by accident? No. I made very conscious choices about my personal brand and what I wanted to be known for.

So, what do you want to be known for? What do you want to be viewed as an expert in? Make sure you are clear on this. Then start to communicate it with your actions, words, and personal branding.

3. Creating A Personal Brand By Adding A Face To Your Business

Another reason why personal brands are so powerful is this: When you are creating a personal brand, you are adding a face to your company. Your business isn’t just a logo or a product anymore. That’s important, because people don’t really connect with logos. They connect with humans beings they like and trust. That’s why adding a face to your personal brand can really help you.

Adding your face to your brand adds credibility and increases trust. Why? Because at the end of the day, people buy people. They don’t buy products as much as they buy people.

With a strong personal brand, it’s no problem if your product or career might change. You and your personal brand stay the same. You are so much more than a logo and that’s why you will stand out. If people are connected to your story and you ‘why’, they will follow you. Even if you change careers. They want to know what you as a character will do next.

4. Creating A Personal Brand by Adding Your Backstory

All superheroes have on thing in common. They have a backstory, which tells their audience how they became superheroes in the first place.

There are three very powerful ways to tell your backstory:

The reluctant hero: In this story, the hero is an ordinary person. But something changes in their lives that makes them step up as a hero. In the beginning, they aren’t sure if they can do this though. Only when they find a reason – a strong ‘why’ – they fully pursue their story as a superhero.

An exceptional person who overcame serious obstacles. People aren’t interested in ordinary people. They love to watch people who are great at something and succeed, despite obstacles and challenges in their way. When you build your personal brand on such a story, people will want to follow you, because they are wondering, What will happen next? People also love underdog stories.

Us versus Them. This is another powerful story because people tend to naturally think in belief systems. It’s very powerful if you and your tribe have the same enemy. Use this tip only for good.

Now all you need to do is look back and see which of the three fits best with your story. Are you a reluctant hero who only found your true calling after something significant happened? Or have you always been on your path and overcame big obstacles to get where you are? Or maybe you want to create your personal brand on an us vs. them framework?

Decide which one you are, and start telling your story. Storytelling has infinite power when it comes to marketing. Maybe you heard of the saying, “facts tell and stories sell”?

5. What Do You Stand For?

When you are creating a personal brand based on your superpower you also want to communicate what you are stand for.

If you look at popular superheroes, they all stand for something. People don’t care that much about what you do. They care about why you are doing it. So if you share your story and share why you are doing what you are doing – wouldn’t that add much more power to your personal brand?

Think about successful entrepreneurs or celebrities that you look up to. What do they stand for? What does Elon Musk stand for? Or what about Oprah?

This also ties back to your backstory and your ‘why’. Tell people what you stand for and why. Are you contributing to a good cause? You will be creating a powerful personal brand if you are. Even if others are doing similar things as you, you can find a way to be unique. Even if others have a similar ‘why’, nobody has the same unique backstory as you do. So when you link the two together you will stand for something and nobody else can do it the same way. You will be able to cut through the noise and stand out with your story.

6. Creating A Personal Brand Based On Your Parables

You might be wondering, what are parables? Simply put, parables are your stories. You have your main backstory but you also have other stories that you use to make a point or strengthen your personal brand. So, if you watch my YouTube videos, for example, you will see I have a few stories. I have my copywriting story about my first mentor who taught me the art of copywriting, I have a story about my mother, and a story on how I used to work in a supermarket, and so on.

You’ll want to create an inventory of stories that you can tell when you are making a certain point. You also want to continuously add more stories to your inventory. Because at the end of the day, marketing is storytelling. Never forget that facts tell and stories sell.

7. Your Secret Language

When you are creating a personal brand, you also want to pay attention to how your target audience is speaking. Maybe they are using certain words and phrases that don’t make much sense to outsiders. But when you use the secret language they will feel connected to you much faster.

So, you might want to do some research on your target audience and see how they speak and what their lingo is. But since you are your personal brand, you want to make sure your secret language also makes sense to you.

You are unique and you want to show that by creating a personal brand. Don’t try to copy others. Don’t try to copy me. There is only one you in this world.

8. Create Your Own Technology

This is very closely linked to your secret language. When you are creating your personal brand you want to come up with your own technology or your own mechanism. What do I mean by this? This means you are creating a system that helps your customers solve a problem, and then you give it a name.

For example, if you are an accountant you most likely already have a system in place. You have some way of how you help your clients. Now all you need to do is give that system a name.

Maybe you hear of the book “S.P.I.N. Selling”. In this book, the author is teaching how to sell following a certain method. He came up with it and called it SPIN.

Now while there are many people that teach sales, he is the founder of the SPIN sale technology. He stands out from the crowd because nobody else uses this kind of technology.

Maybe what he teaches is very similar to other sales methods. But because of the technology, it is special. You could easily do the same for your superpower when creating a personal brand.

9. Creating a Personal Brand For Your Niche

When it comes to marketing and branding, you don’t want to appeal to everyone. Many people think it’s better for sales to try to relate to everyone, but it’s actually not. Trying to market to everyone is counterproductive. You become too vague and you end up selling to nobody. Why? Because consumers in the marketplace would rather buy from someone who specializes in solving the specific problem they’re looking to solve.

Take a look at your current customers – what kind of professions do they have? If a large chunk of your audience are realtors, start by marketing to realtors. If, however, a large part of your audience are entrepreneurs, market to them. You get the idea.

Nobody goes to get a specific surgery from a general practitioner.

It’s the same when creating a personal brand. Maybe there are several things you are good at. Still, you want to start narrow and very specific. If needed you can always go a bit broader later. As I said, your specific superpower also helps you to be more specific. You aren’t an expert in everything. You are the go-to person for one or two very specialized things.

10. Creating a Personal Brand Based on Your Signature Style

When creating a personal brand, your signature style will play a role, too.

Remember my superheroes analogy? All superheroes have a signature style. They all have a special suit or outfit that they wear when they get into their hero persona. That’s also what I did with my red suit. I wear my red suit for special occasions, like when I’m on stage. People easily remember it and it became part of my personal brand identity.

Your signature style means more than the clothes you wear, though. Your signature style incorporates the color themes you use on Instagram, and the general feelings you evoke with your style. Is it luxurious? Sporty? Intellectual? Adventurous?

Your signature style also is formulated by the way you speak. Are you direct and authoritative? Or are you warm and bubbly? How about humorous and sassy? Choose a way to speak to your audience that matches your signature style and helps solidify it.

Again, you want to make very conscious choices about this. Base it off your unique superpower. I also suggest you make sure that your personal brand is congruent. Congruent in itself and congruent with your personality.

Ready To Supercharge Your Personal Brand?

You’ve probably learned a lot about creating a personal brand by reading this article. However, there is still much, much more to consider when it comes to building a powerful personal brand.

Since you are your personal brand, you should always be working on bettering yourself. If you become better, your personal brand becomes better, too. That’s why I always advocate for the importance of lifelong learning.

If you want to supercharge your personal brand and become a better version of yourself, now is the right time.

To celebrate the Lunar New Year, I’m offering a special discount in the Dan Lok Shop. Buy any two of my courses and get one for free. So, for example, you could get my Personal Branding Secrets, my YouTube Secrets and choose one more course for free. Use this package deal to educate yourself and create an even stronger personal brand.

Check out the special Buy 2 Get 1 Free store-wide discount HERE.

The Most Important LinkedIn Content Strategy For Your Personal Brand

January 20, 2020 by Dan Lok

What is the most important LinkedIn content strategy? Many people already focus their content marketing efforts on other social media platforms, other than LinkedIn.

But on LinkedIn, there is also a lot of potential for content marketing. My team and I tried different approaches on LinkedIn and noticed something.

The difference between LinkedIn and other social media channels is this: The rate on which a post dies is a lot slower.

Let’s take Instagram as an example. When you post a piece of content it gets the most engagement within the first hour after being posted. If you don’t get many likes or comments fast, the post will die down. It’s all about those first few hours. So, content on Instagram is relatively short-lived.

LinkedIn is currently very different. That’s why content marketing on LinkedIn is something you should absolutely consider. Especially if you want to build your personal brand in your niche.

So, what is the most important LinkedIn content strategy? How can you build your social brand?

Is Copywriting The Key To Your LinkedIn Content Strategy?

In my opinion, to know and utilize copywriting is the most important LinkedIn content strategy. What does that mean?

Copywriting is a skill that allows you to persuade others through your written words. If you know copywriting, you know to write in a way that gets others to act.

On LinkedIn, there are two important chances to use copywriting: Your posts (updates) and your content (articles on LinkedIn).

If you know some principles and rules of copywriting your written content will go up in engagement. You will know exactly how to position your personal brand, too.

Articles on LinkedIn are a lot like blog posts. Profile posts, on the other hand, are more like traditional social media ads.

How To Write Engaging LinkedIn Posts

How do you write a good LinkedIn post? A great way to start is giving your posts these three parts: a hook, the main content and the call-to-action.

First of all, your post needs a hook. A hook is something that draws the reader in. It could be an interesting question or an unusual claim that you are making. Anything that stops them from scrolling and actually gets them to read your article.

Remember though that on LinkedIn, most people aren’t looking for light entertainment. They are looking for content that makes their life easier or is helpful to them in some way. They are looking for value or useful knowledge. So really deliver value in your posts.

The way LinkedIn posts work is that you will only see the first three sentences on the feed. Then comes the “open more” button. You want to make sure your hook is right at the beginning, so the reader actually clicks on the “open more” button.

Good copy is crafted in a way that the reader is guided from one sentence to the next.

Before they noticed they read your whole post and want to engage with it.

After the hook, you could tell an interesting story or give valuable information to the reader. Something so that they actually want to read on.

You also always want to have a call to action at the end of your posts. The call to action tells the reader what they should do next. Is there a link they should click? Should they leave a comment? Share your post with a friend? Clearly tell the reader what you want them to do exactly.

So as you see, a LinkedIn post looks like a typical social media ad.

But as not many people are actually posting content on LinkedIn yet.

That’s why it’s a great chance to get a lot of engagement. It should definitely be part of your LinkedIn content strategy.

How To Write World-Class LinkedIn Articles

The second piece of written content in LinkedIn are articles. They are very similar to blog posts.

When you write an article on LinkedIn, it’s a great idea to keep sharing them in your posts too. This way your articles will get more attention.

In your articles, you want to give valuable advice to your readers. Keep in mind who your audience is. You will mostly communicate with other business owners or self-employed people. They are on LinkedIn to expand their network and possibly to find jobs.

It’s a very different audience than on most other social media channels. So don’t go ahead and copy your Facebook posts on LinkedIn. Instead, keep your audience in mind and write for them.

Focus on your niche to build up a strong personal brand. Really think about what you want to portrait. Position yourself as an expert through your content.

Articles are usually longer than posts. However, they shouldn’t be long-winded. In articles, you don’t want to do academic writing. Keep it conversational. It’s best to write in the language of the audience in your niche.

If you make it sound like a scientific paper, most readers will scroll past it or stop reading in-between. Why is that?

Because, on social media, people aren’t using their full attention. They scroll through their feed rather mindlessly. If your copy is too hard to read, they won’t bother.

The Importance of Copywriting

The thing with copywriting is, most people don’t know how important it is. They think it’s enough to quickly write out a post.

But, writing something on the go isn’t a content strategy. Copywriting is not like the writing you learned in school.

Actually, you sometimes break the rules of traditional writing in order to sound more conversational. Copywriting isn’t about being academically correct. It’s about engaging the reader and get them to take action.

Copywriting is most prominent in ads and sales letters. But it’s also valuable for your LinkedIn content strategy.

I personally started out in copywriting. I see how most people don’t really understand how copy works. It’s about captivating people and it’s closely linked to marketing.

That’s why when you learn the skill of copywriting you also will understand marketing on a deeper level.

It’s not enough to quickly write out a text. You have to understand your niche and target audience first. Then tailor your content to them.

So, you might want to learn how people get engaged and re-engaged by your written words.

If you use the principles of copywriting in your LinkedIn content strategy, your engagement will skyrocket.

Leverage Videos on LinkedIn

Videos are another great piece of content on LinkedIn. Especially, as there aren’t as many videos yet as on other social media platforms.

So this is a great time to start out. No matter if you are new to video making or a novice who is used to making videos.

LinkedIn videos produced some impressive numbers of engagement:

more than 300 million impressions on the platform
three times more engagement than text-posts
videos are five times more likely to start a conversation between LinkedIn members

For your own videos, you want to make sure you know exactly what you want to portrait. Be yourself, but highlight the parts of your personality that fit with your audience.

If your clients tend to be more professional then you want to make sure to dress professionally and the camera is set right. Even the camera angle is important.

For business, it’s best if the camera angle is going up. You don’t want to be looked down on. Also pay attention to your body language, mimic, and gestures.

Keep in mind, you are on LinkedIn and the users there value a certain type of content.

LinkedIn is Different From Youtube

In youtube videos, most people are a bit more hyped. It’s okay to be more casual and outgoing. On LinkedIn, you might want to tone it down a bit. You don’t want to turn off your potential contacts.

Really be mindful of who your clientele is and what you want to appear like in your videos.

Even for videos, you want to follow the principles of copywriting. Maybe script out what you are going to say. Don’t read out your script though, you want to stay natural and engaging. Share on X

Don’t be over the top, but don’t sound a robot either. Be a human being that has something valuable to say.

Again, you want to know your audience and what kind of words they would use. What kind of person do they see as an authority? What topics are they interested in? What will stop them from scrolling and watch your video?

If you focus on them it will allow you to build a strong personal brand.

What Kind of Content Does Well on LinkedIn?

When it comes to content, you want to be original and valuable. Don’t repeat the advice that everybody else has already posted. Or if you have to, add a different angle to it.

Original content is interesting and a great way to build your personal brand.

Nobody likes boring stuff. Keep it fresh and engaging for your readers.

Again, it all comes down to good copywriting.

Also, don’t be too self-centered in your content. Yes, you want to position yourself as an expert, but that doesn’t mean you want to boast.

You can position yourself as an expert by actually caring about your readers and adding value to them.

If you only talk about yourself in your posts, your readers will get bored. Really think about what’s in for them.

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chiangmai-thailand-oct-42018-women-holds-1194727528

An Underrated LinkedIn Strategy: Hashtags

Hashtags are another thing you want to add to your LinkedIn content strategy. They are severely underused on LinkedIn – which means there is a lot of opportunities.

It’s most common to use hashtags on your posts. So, if you write a post on sales, for example, you can add the hashtag #sale.

But your hashtag shouldn’t be only in your post- Also put it in your comments when you comment back on other people. It’s gonna trend and your name will keep popping up in your industry.

You can also put hashtags in your LinkedIn profile. Put it anywhere, where it makes sense. You don’t want to spam people but you want your name on posts that get trending.

If your name keeps coming up in trending posts, you will get known in your niche on LinkedIn.

Which hashtags to use exactly is a question of marketing. Again, know the audience you want to attract. What hashtags are popular and relevant in your niche?

Increase Your Network on LinkedIn

Another vital part of your LinkedIn content strategy is to expand your network.

Whether it’s followers or mutual connections, for LinkedIn, every connection you have counts. So really work on getting a bigger network.

One thing that is so great about LinkedIn is that it is relatively easy to reach users in other people’s networks. If a person engages with your content, that piece of content might show up in their network. So you can really branch out into other networks.

And the more people are in your network, the more people you can reach in their network. It almost sounds like an MLM – thankfully it’s not. But this is how LinkedIn is set up. If you know and understand this part, you can see how important networking is on this platform.

So, by posting valuable content that is very engaging you expand your network. And because you have a bigger network now, the next piece of content gets even more engagement.

Do you see why this is so powerful to build your personal brand?

This way you will get well known in your niche. Your name keeps coming up on relevant topics in your sector. Others will see you as an authority in your field.

Choose The Top Trending Material

Now you published all that amazing content. You’ll likely see that some posts, articles or videos got a lot of engagement. Maybe it got many comments or got shared a lot.

You want to pay attention to which posts were trending. This means the readers do resonate with something you said. You managed to position yourself as an authority and expert in your industry.

Now you want to go ahead and copy that post on your LinkedIn profile for several reasons. It re-engages people back into your LinkedIn content. Also, it keeps your post alive. If you don’t do this the post or piece of content might die. But if people re-engage, it goes back up and might even show up in their network all over again.

So that’s a huge advantage of putting what already worked back into your profile and have it re-trend again.

Monitor Your Performance

Now I said that content on LinkedIn doesn’t die down as fast as content on other social media platforms.

Still, your post has to perform well within the first few hours after you published it. In those hours after posting only a part of your network sees the post. If they react well to it, your reach expands.

If none of your connections engage with your post, it will die immediately. It won’t even get a chance to trend. That’s why it’s so important to know a bit about copywriting. An engaging copy will get your content to actually be seen. Copywriting will also help to keep your posts alive.

So pay close to attention to your posts early after it was published. But even later, keep monitoring your content. If you notice some of your posts aren’t performing well, you can learn from that and adjust your strategy.

And of course, also monitor which posts are doing especially well. Find out what made these posts so good and apply the principles to your future posts too.

Understand LinkedIn

Another important part of your LinkedIn content strategy is to understand how LinkedIn works. What kind of content does well on LinkedIn? How does the algorithm work? What kind of people are on there and what do they value?

An important aspect to note here is the use of links on LinkedIn. LinkedIn wants the users to stay on the platform as long as possible. So, when you post a link, LinkedIn doesn’t like that. The algorithm will pick it up and your post doesn’t rank well. You want to avoid that, as you want all your content to be visible and trending.

So, what can you do? Instead of external links, direct your users to other posts that are already on LinkedIn. Share valuable information with your audience but don’t send them to leave the site. This way, LinkedIn won’t punish you.

Want To Develop The Number One Skill You Need To Succeed In Content Marketing On Any Social Media?

Now really, the basis of every successful content strategy on social media is copywriting.

It’s about understanding the user, writing for them and persuading them to take action with your words. And that’s exactly what copywriting is all about. We see a lot of this on LinkedIn.

It’s so much more than just writing. It’s persuasion in your written words.

In my early twenties, my career skyrocketed after I mastered the skill of copywriting. It allowed me to increase my income and slowly get to where I am today.

Many of my followers kept asking me to offer training so that they could learn copywriting from me.

That’s exactly what I did. I created a free, on-demand training that explains the principles of copywriting in greater detail.

In fact, copywriting works for all social media channels. If you want to take your LinkedIn content strategy to the next level, check it out.

Click This Link To Access Dan Lok’s FREE Training.

How To Position Yourself As An Expert

January 18, 2020 by Dan Lok

Do you know why it’s important to learn how to position yourself as an expert? Because establishing yourself as an expert in your industry means that people in your industry will think you’re the best.

If you’re viewed as an expert, you’re viewed as the best.

Most people want to work with the best, learn from the best, and collaborate with the best. This means that if you figure out how to position yourself as an expert, you’ll be highly sought-after. Opportunities will be endless.

Furthermore, most people are willing to pay premium prices to work with the best and to work with experts. For many business executives, working with an expert is worth every dollar.

In fact, the moment a business increases its hiring budget, they’ll often seek out experts to hire, especially if they can now afford to hire a coveted expert.

Another great thing about learning how to position yourself as an expert, is that once you become viewed as an expert, you are highly trusted. This means that your clients and peers will trust you with big projects, large-scale public speaking opportunities, coveted media slots, exclusive contracts, and more.

Successful people have often established themselves as an authority figure or expert, in a particular field or subject area. They become known as the person to go to for their niche.

You will feel very significant if you’re known for something. Once you learn how to position yourself as an expert, you’ll be known for something, and it’ll lead you to amazing opportunities.

In this article, I’m going to guide you on how to position yourself as an expert. If you are able to establish yourself as an expert, incredible opportunities will come your way, and you’ll earn a much higher income than you do now.

In other words, becoming viewed as an expert is extremely good for business.

Let’s discuss some various ways you can work towards positioning yourself as an expert.

Specialize in a Niche Area of Focus

As soon as you decide you’re going to narrow your focus and specialize in a particular niche, you’ll fast-track your way to expert-level status.

It’s very difficult to be viewed as an expert unless you specialize in something particular. If you specialize in a service such as copywriting or closing, for example, you’ll get more clients than you would if you were a general freelance writer or a general sales person.

An expert eats, sleeps, and breathes his or her special skill. An expert’s sole focus is typically on that one thing they want to be the best at.

The reason this works is because you gain your audience’s trust when they know your focus isn’t split between various services, fields, or industries. Once it becomes clear that you’ve dedicated yourself to one niche, you’ll attract more clients and more opportunities.

Have you ever noticed that you tend to gravitate towards ‘specialists’ because you view them as experts? I want you to imagine that you’re searching online for a freelance graphic designer to design your new company logo. What would attract your attention more: A general graphic designer, or a graphic designer who only designs company logos, and specializes in logos?

That’s why it’s best not to claim to be an expert at everything, but rather an expert at one thing.

Get Media Coverage

When you’re trying to figure out how to position yourself as an expert, hopefully you won’t forget how important media coverage is.

I’ve been interviewed by Fox Business News Network and CNBC, as well as plenty of media coverage from Forbes and Entrepreneur magazine.

If you’re interviewed in a big magazine, or quoted as an expert in a large publication, you’re effectively positioning yourself as an expert.

Wondering how to accomplish this? One thing you can do is pitch people who write for large publications that have a target audience that aligns with yours. If the writer is intrigued by your story, they might contact you for an interview or a quote.

Worried that you don’t have what it takes to craft a compelling pitch to the media? Many people hire copywriters to write their pitch for them, so that it’s as persuasive as possible.

Another thing you can do is use HARO which stands for ‘Help a Reporter’ and sign up for email updates as an expert source for the media. Often, popular magazines and well-known publications will send out queries, looking for a particular expert in a particular field, who can contribute advice to their article or story. By responding to several of these queries every day, you’re bound to get some media coverage.

When people start seeing that famous publications are quoting you as an expert or interviewing you, you’ll immediately be viewed as an expert and you’ll be highly sought-after. Being featured in a popular magazine is a very effective form of social proof.

How To Position Yourself As An Expert Using Social Proof

You might be wondering, What exactly is social proof? Well, social proof is a social and psychological phenomenon that describes people’s natural tendency to ‘do what everyone else is doing’, ‘follow whoever everyone else is following’, ‘buy whatever everyone else is buying’ and copy the actions of others. The term was coined by Robert Cialdini in his 1984 book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

With the rise of social media, the concept of social proof has become much more powerful than Cialdini himself could have predicted.

For example, if your Instagram account has hundreds of thousands of followers, people will view you as an expert and be more likely to follow you. I currently have over 1.5 million followers on Instagram, and this just makes more people want to follow me and work with me. This is social proof at work.

Similarly, if your book is for sale on Amazon and has hundreds of positive reviews, this is another form of social proof that positions you as an expert.

You can call yourself an expert all you want, but it doesn’t mean much unless other people are calling you an expert, too.

I always say that what other people say about you is infinitely more powerful than if you say it yourself.

This is especially true when a popular public figure or influencer endorses you as an expert. Whenever someone famous or well-known endorses you, this is an especially powerful form of social proof.

Provide Value on Social Media

Short Instagram stories, Facebook Live videos, and YouTube videos are a great way to show your followers that you are an expert on a particular subject.

You don’t want to give all of your knowledge and expertise away for free, but you do want to provide value in these videos to demonstrate that you not only know your stuff – you’re an expert.

You can answer common questions your audience has, so that you’re providing valuable advice and positioning yourself as an expert.

When you’re figuring out how to position yourself as an expert, you’ll want to keep track of the common questions and concerns from your audience. Make sure to provide expert advice on your social media that answers some of these common questions.

Publicize Your Awards, Accolades and Experiences

Be sure to tell your story to your audience about how you got to be so good at what you do, and how you became an expert in your field. Describe your experiences that lead you to your current expert-level status.

Furthermore, don’t forget to publicly share any awards, accolades, interviews or press that you’ve received. All of these media mentions and awards help boost your position as an expert.

You might be thinking, But what if I don’t have any awards or accolades? If you don’t have any yet, why not apply to be nominated? Sometimes awards are awarded through a voting system, and other times there’s a panel of judges. Sometimes, a submission of some kind is required to be considered for an award. With a support system behind you, you can try to get yourself nominated for recognition.

In 2019, I won the Eventex People’s Choice Event for Closers in Black. The award is based on votes from members of the public, and I came in second place. I also won one of the 2019 Best in Biz Awards and a 2019 Stevie Award.

Speak at Public Events

It’s not easy to get a position speaking at a public event. However, being up on stage in front of an audience definitely positions you as the expert. Everyone knows that the person up on the stage is the expert. I recently gave a public speech on the stage of StartCon Australia, and I’ve also done two TEDx speeches.

Speaking on these prestigious stages definitely helped me establish myself as an expert.

Whenever I’m given an opportunity like this, I make sure to prepare very valuable material for my audience. I make sure not to let such an important opportunity go to waste.

Testimonials, Testimonials, and More Testimonials

The more testimonials you have from impressed customers, the more you’ll be viewed as an expert.

I have received thousands of testimonials. Many of these are video testimonials from students who graduated from my High-Ticket Closer Certification Program (HTC graduates) with positive reviews.

These reviews and testimonials only make more people want to enroll in HTC.

Associate With A-Players

Don’t get caught associating with B players. Why? Because winners surround themselves with other winners. A-players surround themselves with other A-players. Experts should therefore surround themselves with other experts.

People will respect you more if they see that you associate with A-players and work with the best.

I associate myself with A-players such as Dan Pena and Jay Abraham.

So, where can you meet A-players? You can meet A-players at elite networking events, or within elite communities such as my HTC community or my Closers in Black community.

Charge High-Ticket Prices

Experts always charge high fees, and part of positioning yourself as an expert is raising your prices.

Many of my mentees have thanked me for teaching them how to charge higher prices. I equip individuals with the self-confidence and closing skills necessary to charge higher prices. It’s these premium prices that help position you as an expert.

No expert would charge a low fee, so if you want to learn how to position yourself as an expert, raising your rates must be on your to-do list.

If you discount your services or charge low fees, people will assume you must be pretty amateur and not an expert. Everyone understands that they get what they pay for, and they assume they’ll be paying more for an expert.

Write a Book

Although it’s a lot of work, writing a book is another powerful way to position yourself as an expert. You’ve heard the expression, “I wrote the book on that.” Well, the truth is, if you write a book on a niche subject, people will automatically assume that you must be an expert in that niche.

Imagine if you are trying to figure out how to position yourself as an expert in interior decorating. If you’re trying to close a high-ticket client, wouldn’t you be more likely to close that client if you could show them the recent book you got published on interior decorating?

I have published over a dozen books, including several books on High-Ticket Closing, and people started calling me the King of High-Ticket Sales.

I don’t really want you to call me that, so please don’t. The point is, because I teach a course on High-Ticket Sales and I’ve also written books on it, people know that I’m an expert in this niche. I’ve established myself as an authority figure on this subject.

The Closer’s Black Book is one of the best books I’ve written on the art of closing, and people buy it because I’ve established myself as an expert on this subject. The people who buy this book know that they’re going to learn about closing from the best, because I am a master at closing. Click here to buy a copy of The Closer’s Black Book.

Do You Need Help Figuring Out How to Position Yourself as an Expert?

If you need help figuring out how to position yourself as an expert, let me ask you this: Are you ready to invest in yourself? The Dan Lok Shop has several items that will help you learn how to position yourself as an expert. Click here to visit the Dan Lok Shop and set yourself up for success.