“Your goal shouldn’t be to attract all the followers, but to attract your ideal audience and cultivate real connections with them.”
In last week’s video, I shared with you how to niche down your purpose and turn your passions into profit. Today, I’m going to walk you through the three keys to consistent growth in your online business.
One of the most common questions I get all the time is, “How do I grow my audience and community?” Audience is super important, but your audience number doesn’t matter as much as attracting the right audience. Who cares if you have 500,000 followers or 100,000 people on your email list when only 10 of them are genuinely excited and engaged with what you share and sell? I’d rather have 50 loyal supporters than half a million who are MIA. Your goal shouldn’t be to attract all the followers, but to attract your ideal audience and cultivate real connections with them.
Social media platforms are so insanely saturated that it’s almost impossible to be seen if you don’t have a highly engaged following or if you’re not paying to play—hello, algorithm. Basically, a very brief explanation of how this works is that if you have 1,000 followers and, say, you get 100 likes and 20 comments, your account would be promoted over someone who has 10,000 followers but also gets 100 likes and 20 comments. So if you cultivate an audience who are truly engaged, it does lead to profitability.
How you can do this is simple: consistency, visual messaging and building a community culture that serves their needs. If you hit these three key points, you will see growth. It may not happen overnight, and it shouldn’t if you’re growing the right way, but it will help you get there.
Let’s take a look at eight simple tips that you can start using today to get there.
1. Have your photo and bio be the same on all of your social media platforms and your website. This is key for brand recognition. You want people to instantly know and recognize you, no matter which platform they’re browsing.
2. Make sure your elevator pitch is clearly stated in your social media bios and on your website. You want people to immediately know who you are, what you do and how you can help them the second they land on your page or website.
3. Always have a call to action. Your audience are not mind readers. You’ve got to tell them what you want them to do. For example, if you want them to go to your website and download a freebie, let them know that. If you want them to check out an article that you wrote or an excerpt from your book, give them the direct steps on how to do that.
4. Focus on your message and visuals with around three to five themes or topics to test. The more you simplify your themes or topics and really focus in on who you’re speaking to, the more engaging your content will become. You don’t want to be talking about everything under the sun because it’s too confusing for your audience.
5. Focus down. When you have focused content, your audience knows what to expect, and by default they’re more likely to engage when you post. Ultimately, you become their go-to for your niche.
6. Get your audience involved and create a sense of community. If you want to grow an online presence that’s here to stay, the engagement is key. Getting your audience involved is absolutely essential. Ask questions, teach them something, inspire them, make them laugh, share something relatable.
7. Create before you consume. Engagement is the production and creation of your own work, not the mass consumption of other people’s work, so make sure that your work is truly yours. Keep your eye on your own page and don’t worry too much about what everybody else is doing. If somebody else’s content really inspires you, give them a shout out. You may earn even more of an audience that way.
8. Make it consistent. It goes without saying that if you’re growing a business and wanting to attract an audience online, you need to look professional. Some people argue that edited and planned content is inauthentic, but I disagree. Things like your website and social media pages are like the front door to your business. So you need to ask yourself, what do you want people to see first? Remember, you can be you and be professional.
***
