Coaching call: How do I overcome my fear of being a “brand” on social media and reach the right people?

Today I'm coaching Marissa Green who is developing a brand new business from scratch and is struggling with a common fear that presents for not only new business owners but those that have been running for quite some time. How can she overcome the fear of being a “brand” on social media to grow an audience and reach the people who need to hear her message?

In this episode we chat about:
– How social media can fit into the greater scheme of your business without you having to show up daily and share your entire life
– Exploring alternative avenues for content distribution that engages your audience and helps with audience growth.
– Strategies for choosing where to show up for your existing followers that aligns with your values, whilst nurturing these people into paying customers.
– Leveraging a variety of marketing platforms to release multiple content streams that inspire further engagement…there is more than one way to grow an audience!

 

Today, I am chatting with one of my Launch Magic students, Marisa green. Who is building a brand new business from scratch and she's struggling with quite a common fear that pops up in new business owners and actually people who've been in business for quite a while as well. 

And that is the fear of building that brand on social media and having to show up online and all of the things that we have around. If it means that you have to be an influencer or meaning that people are going to judge you, opening yourself up to being judged potentially. 

Today we are working through that challenge and I'm actually giving Marissa some suggestions that don't necessarily mean being on social media. If you don't want to be on social but on the flip side, also some ways that you can start to create or design social media. 

I have no problem creating content. I know how to write, and I know how to put things on paper. Where I really struggle is that I've always, up until today, I've always done that for other people. I've never done it for my own voice or my own company or my own brand, and I am finding it really hard to put it out into the world.

I have written a ton. I've made websites, and I've got podcast episodes, but I kind of, get stuck when I start thinking about it being me and, and my voice that I'm actually putting out because everything I've always done in the past has been for other people, other leaders or other companies. And so I really need some help kind of getting past.

Getting past the fact that it's me. I don't think it's a confidence thing. I believe in my message. I believe that I should be the one sharing it, and that I have something that could help other people. I just really struggle with getting it out there. I think it's mostly social media. I went off social media during the pandemic because it was all too much, like all too much information and I've never been a big share on social media anyway.

 

How social media can fit into the greater scheme of your business without you having to show up daily and share your entire life

You can share that content on social media without having to constantly be present on it and without having to bear soul on that. It’s something that might help you to understand where social media fits in the greatest scheme of your business. It's not so useful anymore for reaching new people. It's more useful for engaging the people who are already following you, and already interested in what you are doing.

Platforms like TikTok, for example. That might still reach those new people, but something like Instagram, or LinkedIn, it's probably going to reach more of the people who are already interested in what you're doing. So it becomes less about shouting into the void and trying to reach as many people as possible, talking to all these strangers.

And it becomes more about talking to the people who resonate with what you're already sharing elsewhere. 

 

Exploring alternative avenues for content distribution that engages your audience and helps with audience growth

That then shifts us to look at what are you doing outside of social media to grow your audience. Where are you sharing that content and how are you getting that content in front of the right people?

So, a blog, YouTube, podcast, or any of those three could be a really great way to get that content out there. Looking at things like partnerships, are there people you can partner with, maybe teach to their audiences if they have an online course? If they have a membership, can you teach a masterclass to them?

Can you reach out to people who have podcasts and say, Hey, look, this is something that I can share with your listeners that might be really valuable for them? 

So you're kind of flipping my mind a little bit because basically, I think what you're helping me to see is that, In my mind, I've been thinking all about these channels in these mechanisms as channels and mechanisms that I need to own, be fully present on, which in my mind also equates to a lot of time and a lot of like being on my phone.

But I think what you're unlocking for me is that there are different ways to have a presence and to be online without necessarily needing to be. One like on my phone all the time, but two, it could be somebody else's podcast. It could be just being really strategic about where I do show up and how, so that it fits within both, I guess, the time that I have to commit as well as reaching the people that I really need to reach versus everybody.

 

Strategies for choosing where to show up for your existing followers that align with your values, whilst nurturing these people into paying customers.

So when you've taught that masterclass to somebody else's course, when you've been on that other person's podcast, where are we sending them to next? That might be social media. 

If that's somewhere where you feel comfortable sharing content with people who you know are already interested without having to be on your phone all of the time, maybe it's not social media. Maybe you consciously decide I'm not going to be on social media at all.

That can work too. And then it might be that you place a bigger emphasis on growing your email list, which everyone should have anyway. You build a private community, maybe it's a Facebook group, maybe it's a telegram group somewhere where you can show up for those people who are already engaged. They want to learn more from Marissa, where can they take that next step with you?

 

Leveraging a variety of marketing platforms to release multiple content streams that inspire further engagement…there is more than one way to grow an audience!

The main reasons you don't want to be on social media are because you think that it means you have to be consistently present and you spend a lot of time on your phone and bearing your soul and there's this huge focus on growing followers like an influencer or being an influencer.

These are all of these kinds of stories that you've got going around in your head about why you don't want to be on social media and when you look at it that way, like, oh my goodness, reading that, I don't want to be on social media either if it means I have to always be on my phone and bear my soul and you know, focus on growing my followers like an influencer.

But the amazing thing is it's your own business, so you get to choose what that's going to look like for you. And personally, in my own business, I've just come back onto Instagram after really not showing up much over the last six months, and coming back onto it.

I don't want to be sitting there obsessively looking at how many people are following me or how many people are liking my posts because that doesn't feel good to me. So instead I thought, Instagram is a really great channel for me to provide that value. It's where a lot of my ideal customers are.

And this might be something for you to reflect on as well, is where are your ideal customers hanging out? Because if they are there, then it becomes a great place to add that value and to help them and as well, nurture them into one day hopefully being, paying clients, paying customers. 

Maybe you create a community, maybe social media becomes a way to drive people into a community where you're sharing deeper content. There are so many different ways you can structure it, and we don't have to do it. The one way that we've been sold, we've been told, Oh, you know, you've got to do it on it.

You've got to post on Instagram, you got to do all of the reels, and that's where you can sell and you got to sell on your stories and you got to share all the behind-the-scenes on your stories. 

If I leverage these other social media tools to get people back to where they can find help, then that feels right. And it's not necessarily getting them to like me. 

And something else that popped into my mind is also, you don't have to be the person who's posting all of these things. You can create that content and you can bring in a virtual assistant.

I don't know if you've got a team already or if it's just you, but if you do, you can bring in a virtual assistant for a few hours a week to schedule all the posts or to actually physically post them for you. 

Then maybe from a piece of content, maybe the call to action. Maybe that call to action from that content becomes, Hey, join my community, Hey, I share more of this on social media or wherever you choose, to then nurture those people and your email list is something that kind of happens along the side. That is something that I would recommend doing from day one.

 

Pin it?