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Every business owner needs to market themselves, while facing the question “how much do I allow my clients to see overlap between my business life and personal life?”. How do you make your marketing message matter? I’ll let you know a secret: it’s really okay to be genuinely you. As a matter of fact, being authentic will likely enable better connections with your audience.
So, how do you use your social media to accomplish this? We talked with Kim Vander Poel of Fresh Impact to get some insight, and here are her tips:
Be Yourself
First, be completely and unabashedly yourself. Why? Because followers will enjoy your story much more and you’ll get higher engagement than with any marketing message you come up with. It makes you more relatable – you might be surprised how many of your clients want to see who you are as a person, and how that reflects on how you approach your business. Show up by letting your clients into your business and your life, and make sure you are enjoying both!
Be Informed
Second, know your audience. What are your client demographics? What issues matter to them? For your social media to be effective, it must emerge from a foundation of authenticity (there’s that word again!). So, how do you learn and understand your current and potential clients?
- Define them – write down details about their age, gender, interests, professions, or any other specifics that provide insight into who they are as individuals. If you want, you can even place representative images of them next to your computer. This might make it easier to visualize to whom you’re speaking.
- Define your marketing message – write down three key marketing messages you want your audience to hear from you. Address the key problems or concerns your targeted clients have. Then, for each client profile, write down how you can solve those.
Be Generous
Third, be generous! Being stingy with information reflects poorly, so create a tip sheet on your areas of expertise. Include content from other businesses in your industry that you admire. This will build your credibility, your collaborations, and your business community. The things that you share in your marketing message tell stories about who you are. Perhaps the most important aspect is this last one…
Be Consistent
Develop a consistent method for implementing your strategies. What does this look like in practice?
- Start with one platform – it’s far preferable to have a strong presence and marketing message on one or two social media accounts, rather than being just average on all of them.
- Plan your time – social media takes energy, a precious (and limited!) resource. Decide how many accounts and how much posting is manageable for you. Then reevaluate your structure after a month to see what needs adjusting.
- Schedule your accounts – this is vital for consistency. Block time on your calendar, turn off distractions and dedicate regular time to social media. It really only takes 15 to 30 minutes per day for the first month or two. Then, as you get more practiced, it’ll go quicker.
- Streamline your strategy – don’t duplicate efforts! Link your accounts instead of treating them each as a stand-alone platform. This is how you work smarter, not harder.
Summary
Using these will give you structure for your marketing message and social media efforts, and – once you’re a pro at two or three platforms – you can expand your plan to incorporate more. And, as always, having a clearly-defined goal will make your time measurable so you can see your own success over time.
Click here to connect directly with Kim and find out more about her Get it Done Social Media Club. To find out more about Fresh Impact, click here.
You don’t have to do it alone! Set up a strategy call with me anytime. If you are interested in industry learning, daily inspirations, lessons, and thoughts, hop into my private FB group, the Interior Design Business Forum .
