The holy grail of business building, particularly in the online world, is audience building.
No audience, no mailing list, no sales.
So, how should you find your potential customers?
Be seen where they hang out
Work out where your ideal clients are hanging out online; are they on instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or a combination of a few platforms? Set up your stall where the majority of your ideal clients are, and be actively engaging in their midst. Use the social media platforms to engage, to listen to the language your ideal clients are using, and to offer advice and insights that position you as an expert in your field.
Keep ahead of the trends too, and make sure you are connecting with people where they already hang out.
Share what is relevant and a mixture of content
Sharing content that is valuable to your audience and ideal clients is immensely useful in becoming a “go-to” source for material in your sector.
Pepper your social media streams with re-shared content from key sources, your own blog content, and some “live” and personal interactions. A great rule of thumb is to think in the 70/20/10 percentages of sharing others, sharing yours and live engagement online.
Be authentic and make your messaging clear
Authenticity goes a long way online. Whilst you probably won’t reinvent the wheel in terms of what you DO for a living, HOW you do it and WHO you are sets you apart. No-one has your individual and collective experience from life; no-one has your tone of voice, your approach, and your special sauce.
So, let your clients know this in every piece of communication you have with them – via email, on Twitter, on Facebook, Instagram – everywhere.
Be yourself, and people will want to engage with you and build a rapport.
Create content that is shareable and valuable
A blog is a brilliant conduit for adding value to your clients and prospective audience. It allows you to bring in storytelling, behind the scenes authenticity, and allows you to create content of value to your ideal clients who, if they enjoy it, will also share your content too.
Position yourself as an expert in what you do, and build your audience online by sharing, providing value, and being authentic as you do it!
Really good tips. I’ve found that whatever your business is, when it’s a small business people want to connect with you as a person. So while it takes a little courage to let your true personality out, it really does pay off. And it’s often the easiest way of standing out from the crowd – you don’t have to construct a brand the way corporations do, you just have to be yourself.
Thanks so much Helen! And yes, it’s so true, finding your own voice it so, so important :) I do a whole module on it in my Blogging for Biz Bootcamp http://www.dexterousdiva.co.uk/bootcamp xx