6 mistakes that slow down your audience growth (and how to avoid them)

Online business owners are struggling to reach the right people and grow their audience because they're following outdated tactics and advice. They have a limited budget (and time) but they're wasting their time on things that don't actually get their business in front of the right people. In today's episode, I share 6 mistakes that slow down this audience growth and how to avoid them.

– Why relying on social media to attract new clients no longer works—and what you can do instead.
– Why jumping from tactic to tactic, or platform to platform doesn't work either and how being consistent on one platform is much more effective.
– How sharing remarkable content is even more important now that AI is here.
– How being crystal clear on your ideal client, messaging and content pillars is what will stop your ideal client mid-scroll.
– Why looking to others for what to do and what to share online is a sure fire way to blend in with the crowd.

 

 
Today, I'm sharing six mistakes that slow down your audience growth. What I have noticed through having a lot of conversations with the students in my courses, through people who listened to the show, and through people who are on my email list, is that online business owners are struggling to reach the right people and grow their audience because they're following outdated tactics and advice and they have limited budget and not enough hours in the day to do all of the things, but they're wasting their time on the things that don't actually get their business in front of the right people. 

And maybe you're starting to think, Oh, that might be me. If it's you don't worry today, I'm sharing a couple of mistakes that are a waste of your time. And as a waste of your time, they are slowing down your audience growth.

 

Mistake #1: Relying on social media to attract new clients. 

I have been saying this a lot, but social media platforms are not a great place to reach new people. They want you to spend money with them on their paid ads. So their algorithms make it a lot harder for you to stand out and reach new people.

Every now and then they will release a new feature. For example, when Instagram released Reels a few years ago, and because they wanted everyone to use that new feature, they prioritised it with the algorithm. And they would show that type of content to more people in the feed. And that's when you hear everyone saying things like, Oh, you have to be doing Reels.

But the problem is that as everyone starts doing reels, the algorithm now has to find a way to distill what is good content and what is bad content, and then after a while it stops working. And guess what? I have 38, 000 Instagram followers which has happened over six years. It's not something that's happened quickly and it's not because of reels.

And now if a reel of mine gets over 2, 000 views from 38, 000 followers, 2, 000 views, that's when I know it's a good one. Think about that. 2, 000 people out of 38, 000. And most of the people who are viewing that reel are people who are already following me. It has taken me around six years to grow that Instagram account to 38, 000 followers.

Most of this comes from people that I send to that Instagram account from elsewhere because the content that I'm sharing on Instagram is not there with the goal of finding new people and reaching new people. It's there to nurture the people who are already following me. 

So instead of leaning back and hoping that the algorithm is going to show your content to the right people, start to build a visibility plan with the things that are going to actually get your brand and content in front of the right people outside of social media and then think about how you can create content that's going to make them stick around and nurture them into buying from you.

 

Mistake #2:  Jumping from tactic to tactic or platform to platform.

So starting a podcast one month and doing TikTok the next and then giving YouTube a try and jumping around searching for that one thing that will work is a waste of your time and your energy because there isn't one magic tactic trend or platform that's going to work for you. And if there was, everyone would jump on it and it wouldn't be as effective anymore. 

So to fix this mistake, pick the platform or the platforms and the strategy that you can be consistent with over a long period of time. Consistency is what builds momentum. I have been sharing three podcast episodes a week for the last couple of years. 

You need to pick something that you can be consistent with over a longer period of time. And once you are consistent in one place, then you can build on that. 

 

Mistake #3: Not being consistent in showing up with your content online.

This is a huge mistake and usually, if you're finding it really hard to stay consistent with your content online, it's because you're missing one of the three key ingredients. You're either missing a strategy, missing structure or you're missing systems. 

If you are stuck on what content topics to share, it's probably that you're missing the strategy piece. If you are struggling to create the content or get it in front of the right people consistently, you're probably missing the structure piece. And if you're finding that it's taking you way too much time and you don't have enough time to create all of the content and get it all done, then you're probably missing the systems piece.

So make it easy for yourself to be consistent and make sure you've got all three of those in place. It makes it so much easier to keep showing up and that is how you build momentum. It doesn't happen overnight. 

 

Mistake #4: Sharing content that is unremarkable.

There is so much content out there online, so much free content, so much how-to's, tips and tricks, and all of that, and now AI and ChatGPT have made it even worse. Anybody can share a post on the five tips and tricks to get your dog to stop barking or whatever, and that's no longer remarkable. 

So now it's not about creating content and showing up for the sake of showing up and posting every day so that you can say that you've posted every day this week, but instead, it's about sharing content that is remarkable content that AI couldn't generate. That means being human. That means leaning into your unique perspectives, your unique insights, and things that cannot be replicated by Artificial intelligence.

 

Mistake #5:  Not being crystal clear on your ideal client, your messaging or your content pillars.

In other words, you are probably missing some fundamental parts of your content strategy and without a content strategy, your online presence is going to be pretty blah, right? 

You're going to be following that spray-and-pray approach where you are wasting time by putting content out there that's not going to resonate with or attract the right people. 

One of the easiest ways to stand out online is to get crystal clear on your messaging because if you can get the right message in front of the right people at the right time, that is when they will stop scrolling and pay attention.

 

Mistake #6: Looking to others for what to do and what to share online.

If you are looking around for inspiration and if you're in search of the solution for what topics to talk about online, the right thing, if you can just talk about that right topic that's going to catch the attention of your ideal clients, you're going to struggle to stand out because how can you expect to stand out when you are doing exactly what others are doing, right?

So instead, how can you be creative? How can you bring in some of your own personality and your own creativity? How can you share something that is different and unique, a fresh perspective, a hot take on something that has been talked about to death? 

 

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