The Impact of Authenticity: Rethinking Social Media for Entrepreneurs
The Hamster Wheel of Content Creation
Social media often feels like an endless hamster wheel. Every business owner can relate to the pressures of creating constant content, using trendy filters, and hoping to go viral. Amy argues that this approach is not only exhausting but also counterproductive. We do not own the platforms or the content on them. Consequently, building your business solely on the hopes of virality is like building a house on sand. If social media isn’t converting your existing audience into customers, adding more followers won't solve the problem.
The Purpose of Social Media: Building Relationships
Amy emphasizes the importance of viewing social media as a tool for relationship building, rather than just a marketing platform. Strong relationships are the backbone of any successful business. When you focus on making your audience feel seen and heard, you naturally create a community that is more likely to be engaged and loyal.
Amy recalls her experience with her first business, a professional home organizing company. Despite having a social media presence, most of her client base came through word of mouth, local collaborations, and donations to high-ticket auctions. This proves that real-life relationships can create a more significant impact than the virtual pursuit of likes and followers.
Engagement Over Followership
In recent weeks, Amy made a conscious decision to post less frequently while focusing more on engaging with her existing followers. The result? A boost in engagement and a deeper connection with her audience. This approach is about quality over quantity. Genuine interactions foster an environment where people feel valued, and when people feel valued, they naturally advocate for your brand.
“People buy from people,” Amy states, highlighting the importance of authenticity. Instead of being another faceless entity, humanize your brand. Share your values, show empathy, and genuinely engage with your followers. Authenticity can significantly boost your brand’s trustworthiness and credibility.
Word of Mouth: The Timeless Marketing Strategy
Amy reminds us of the power of word-of-mouth marketing. While social media offers endless possibilities for advertising, the recommendations from trusted peers often hold more weight. High-quality relationships often lead to valuable word-of-mouth referrals. Encourage your satisfied customers to share their positive experiences with their social circles—this form of marketing is more sustainable and impactful than chasing online virality.
When Amy donated her service bundles to local auctions or collaborated with realtors, she generated local buzz and built credibility within her community. Such strategies can be more effective than hoping for a breakout moment on social media.
Reevaluating Your Goals and Strategies
One of the most poignant points Amy makes is about goal setting. So often, we set our targets based on what others are achieving, forgetting that our journey and circumstances are unique. “What do you truly want?” she asks. Understanding your unique goals allows you to create an authentic brand and business model that generates real impact.
Amy shared powerful advice she heard from another podcast: "I would rather be disliked for who I am versus being loved for someone I'm not." This underscores the importance of authenticity in every aspect of your business, especially on social media.
Taking a Break to Reflect
Lastly, Amy advocates for occasional breaks from social media to regain clarity and focus. Disconnecting from the digital noise allows space for innovative ideas and personal growth. Amy's weekends devoid of social media have proven to be a game-changer, giving her room to recalibrate and stay true to her mission.
Conclusion
In summary, Amy’s insights prompt us to rethink our social media strategies. Shift the focus from gaining followers and likes to building genuine relationships and humanizing your brand. Social media can be a powerful tool, but it should not be the cornerstone of your marketing strategy. Embrace authenticity, nurture your existing audience, and never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. In the process, you might discover that the key to growing your business was never about the numbers but the connections you make.
Episode Links
❌ Don't buy my Bestselling Book, The CEO Method: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Business Success because I want to give you a FREE copy. Click here!
🙋♀️ Ask me anything! I know you have a burning business question you would love to ask. Submit your question here for a chance to have it answered on a future episode.
➕Did you like this episode? Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button for more actionable strategies to shatter your sales plateaus!
▶️ WATCH: We’re on YouTube! Check out our channel here!
Transcript for Episode 336. Stop Relying on Social Media to Market Your Business
Amy [00:00:02]:
What words come to mind when you think of social media in terms of your business? I asked this question recently, and the responses I got are ones that I hear so often when working with clients. It's draining, it's exhausting. It feels like a waste of time. Endless content creation, dancing, going viral filters. Every single business owner has thoughts and feelings about social media. Does it work? Should I be spending my time creating endless content? Well, my opinion is no. You really don't need to be spending near as much time as you are on social media. And here's why.
Amy [00:00:56]:
We do not own our social media platforms. We do not own the content that we add to these platforms. So what we're doing, we're on this constant hamster wheel of creation, of doing all of the things when the reality is and this 1 may sting a little bit, that if you're not able to sell to the people that are in your audience, if you're not getting conversions from social media, why do you think having more people, more followers, is going to magically solve your problem? I know that stings a little bit, but when I heard this little nugget of wisdom, and I wish I could give credit to whoever said it, but when I heard this, it was a game changer. Because so often as entrepreneurs, we're using social media and relying on social media for discoverability, we end up basing our worth off of the amount of likes, comments, followers, shares, all of the things. But are we really taking the time to nurture, to build relationships, to humanize our brand? That is at the core of what, as business owners, we need to be leveraging social media for, versus trying to get more followers, more likes, more comments, all of those things. This is especially true if you have an in person service that you provide. I like to reflect on my very first business when I had a professional home organizing company. I would go into people's homes locally, help them declutter, help them reclaim their time and space for what mattered most.
Amy [00:02:45]:
And I will tell you, I wasn't getting clients off of social media. Yes, hear me out. I do think that as a business owner, you should have social media, but for a very different reason. Not for discoverability, but in order to humanize your brand, because people buy from people. So instead of chasing more followers, more likes, all of those things that we're constantly stressing about. What if you actually massively served those that are already there, started engaging? And I've noticed this too. Over the past few weeks. I haven't been posting much, twice a week, maybe but what I've been doing is very, very intentionally engaging, engaging with those that are following me, just showing them some love.
Amy [00:03:48]:
And you know what? It's done. It's boosted my reach. I'm engaging to humanize my brand because at the end of the day, people buy from people. Now, I'm not going into the DM's and pitching people. What I'm doing is I'm just building relationships. I am being a human. I am attracting those who go, oh, yeah, she has those beliefs. I have those beliefs too.
Amy [00:04:16]:
She doesn't like filters. Guess what? And tired of seeing people that use filters as well. And the power of relationships when you're growing a business is massive, because when you make feel, someone feel seen, heard, validated, what do they do then? They naturally do the marketing for you. We always forget about the power of word of mouth. That is something that will never go away. And typically, word of mouth advertising, word of mouth referrals are one of the best ways to get alliant clients into your world. It's those warm recommendations. It's not hoping that you go viral on social media so you can get a whole bunch of followers into your world.
Amy [00:05:10]:
Maybe if you're a social media marketer, maybe if you're an influencer, that's a road you wanna go down. But for the vast majority of us, no. How are we positioning ourselves in front of our ideal audience? People will go on social media to see, are you legitimate? Do you really have a business? They'll kind of creep on you, right? I mean, we do it as consumers all the time. I do this too, but what I'm really going on social media for is to see, do I like this person? Do they resonate with me? What are their thoughts? What are their beliefs? Is this a good fit? Because as humans, we're constantly evaluating, assessing, and seeing, okay, right now, is this the best investment for me? And the unfortunate reality is, in the online space, there has been a lot of tactics. There have been so many tactics out there that are just cringey, right? Like, I don't care how much you make, I don't care, like, what you're doing. All of this income based marketing that keeps happening, what it's doing is it's holding so many incredible entrepreneurs back from stepping outside of their comfort zone, from doing the things, from really creating that impact and that ripple effect because they get in their heads and feel less than, because they're not making $100,000.06 figures. Ten k weeks, ten k days, all of these numbers have been taken out of context, and so we're left feeling less then that. Oh, my gosh.
Amy [00:06:46]:
Like, I'm not there yet. And that is the key word. Yet I am not there yet. But at the end of the day, you need to take the time to quiet the noise and realize that your goals are your goals. Stop adopting everyone else's goals as your own. What do you truly want? What fulfills you? Because when you know the answer to this, that's when you start to create an impact. That's when you become a change maker and create that ripple effect. Because again, it goes back to, you have the solution to the problem that someone has.
Amy [00:07:26]:
I know that I say it all the time, but I mean that I really do that you have so much that you bring to the table, but you're stuck in your head. You're stuck in your head because you're comparing yourself to everyone out there on social media. And yesterday I heard a fabulous quote. It was like one of those mic drop moments. I heard it on a podcast and I had to write it down. And the host of this, he even said, he's like, you know, I didn't come up with this. He's like, I don't know who did. So again, I'm going to continue to research and try and figure it out, but it was, I would rather be disliked for who I am versus being loved for someone I'm not.
Amy [00:08:11]:
Oof. Right. But isn't that the case? That's when we lean into our authenticity, who we are, be willing to be misunderstood by a few to impact many. That is when I the tables turn. That's when we're not using social media as a way to get discovered. Hoping, praying, post and pray to get one, like comment or share. No, we lean into our superpower, which is who we are at our core, as a person, as a business owner, serving and nurturing those that are already in our world, because that is the catalyst to creating that ripple effect. Effect.
Amy [00:09:00]:
And when your engagement goes up, you're deepening those relationships. So you get out of it what you put into it. You can't just post and hope that people are going to find you one day. Get in front of them. Take the time to ask yourself, where are my clients? Where are my clients? Because again, when I was in organizing, they, yes, they were online, but they were not discovering me online. They were discovering me because I would donate gift baskets. I donate bundles of my services to auctions, high ticket auctions in my area. It was from collaborations with aligned industries, realtors helping clients declutter before their home goes up for listing.
Amy [00:09:52]:
So many different avenues existed. Your entire marketing strategy should not rely on social media. There are so many opportunities out there, but when you're scrolling social media, you think that that is the only way. I'm here to tell you it's not. It's not. So what I want you to do this week is take some of these actionable strategies and implement them. Take a day off of social media. I've started unplugging on the weekends and it has been the most game changing thing ever.
Amy [00:10:29]:
And I will tell you, it was hard at first. It was really hard at first because what happened was I found myself picking up my phone just to like, check in on Instagram. It was that hit a dopamine. So it takes a while for us to break that habit loop. But I'm telling you what, I do it every weekend now. And it is the coolest thing because what that's allowing me to do is quite the noise and get back to what is it that I actually want. And I've had some really big ideas come to me during this time where I'm not worried about what everybody else is doing. I'm just staying in my lane, doing what I do best and growing my business in a way that feels so good, so good that doesn't rely on social media as the marketing strategy that allows me just to be me, to show up as me for who I am.
Amy [00:11:33]:
And it takes practice. But I am here to tell you that it gets easier. Just like you didn't get on a bike the first time and start riding. This takes practice, but I know that you can do it. I am here cheering for you. And until next time, cheers to making the money you might have so that you can create the impact you desire.
Comments