Grow Your Following

The Numner 1 Mistake in social media marketing is that everyone makes the bulk of their posts advertising what's for sale.

THEN drive sales!

When all a brand or marketer to is constantly post what's for sale, what's for sale, what's for sale, their audience get's worn out and stops following the brand. This will not help row your following
Time to come clean.

In this blog post, I share with you what I believe is the most valuable gem of everything I teach from my experience of building a community around a brand of over one million people. And I attracted that community 100% organically. I did not boost any posts, I did not pay for ads, and I certainly did not “buy likes or followers. It is a real community, and a highly engaged one. Everything here with help you Grow Your Following.

Context

In my blog post, The Real Purpose of a Post: “5 to Keep Your Brand Alive” I mention the topic of Value, and how you need to Be Helpful as one of the five crucial elements. I also mention that you need to Be Inclusive. And I share the fact that this particular element is what skyrocketed the numbers of my lifestyle brand, Drum Talk TV. They continue to soar today in our 8th year, far surpassing anything our industry peers are doing. “Industry peers” is a fluffy way of saying competition.

What to Avoid to Grow Your Following

The whole idea is to post content that avoids what is depicted in the image above, which is essentially this:

The Number One Mistake a brand posting all or most of its content that leaves the viewer felling like it says, "Welcome to our channel, all we want to do is advertise to you." This of course will not grow your following.

You cannot build a community of people in love with your brand if all you do is hammer them over the heads with what’s for sale. This should account for only about 20% of your content, 30% at the most. When I teach this in person or live online, I see all the blank stares looking back at me. The faces basically say, “What the heck are we supposed to post?”

And I get it. We all got social media channels to promote what we/our business has to offer. But if that makes up the majority of what you post, you will lose your audience. This can happen in a couple of different ways. Let’s use Facebook as an example. They have clicked “Like” or “Follow” for your page. But then you wear them out with posting nothing but “sales r advertising content.”

The User Experience Mechanics

Now, remember, they see your content in their newsfeed(if you are lucky – that’s another upcoming article). They may not bother to go to your page to unlike or unfollow. When they see the post that pushes them to their breaking point, they may simply click “Hide all posts,” and then it leaves their Like and Follow statistic on your page. The amount of followers stat on your page doesn’t matter if they are not following your content or engaging with you.

This is why there are so many big companies–and even entertainers–with huge followings, but if you look down the timeline of their page, there is little to no engagement on their posts. And it’s a “Timeline,” not a “wall.” Facebook hasn’t called it a wall in 6 years.

Guaranteed To Grow Your Following

So, take it from a guy with over one million followers and a reach of a few more million people a month: It’s all about the engagement. And if all you do is advertise to them, there is nothing to engage with. We have an average of 500K to 750K post engagements every seven days:

The stats for just this one week on our Facebook page is 864 new page Likes, 3,294 new Followers, a reach of 4,777,953 people with our posts, 32,829 post engagements and 2.6 million video views. That's using content to grow your following!

The post engagement of your content is representative of how interested your audience is in what you/your brand have to say. Please take a moment and do two things and then I will show you the magic of the 80% content category:

  1. Look at your overview of your Facebook Page and see what you have for these same statistics above. There will be a few other categories, but these are the once that matter the most. By the way, if you don’t have a Facebook page for you as a business, get with the program, seriously. It’s the largest online population of people and your customers are there.
    • If you work for a company and don’t have access to the insights, you can still do the next step as a telling exercise.
  2. Look at your last 20 posts on your Facebook business page and calculate how many are advertising something.

“Engagement” is comments, shares, and emoji’s on each post. Emoji’s mean nothing because you can’t really learn anything from them. Comments are where you and your audience learn from each other. And it’s where you build a relationship with them. It’s also where you answer questions (imagine that!).

Shares are how you grow organically. If your posts are not getting shares, people are not finding your content compelling enough to share it with like-minded people. When people see a lack or reach and engagement, they freak out and eat Facebook’s (or whatever other platforms) carrot: Boost this post to reach more people. Big Mistake.

The Rub with the Boost

Think about this for a moment: If your post is not getting much engagement organically, how will boosting help it? Essentially, it means you are paying Facebook or whomever money to show something that’s not working to more people. That doesn’t fix it. It just shows more people what’s not working. This “strategy” does not fall into the category of Content to Grow Your Following.

If you apply what I teach it is guaranteed to work. You will absolutely have content to grow your following and if that’s happening, you will be reaching more people and getting more engagement. It will make it easier to drive more traffic of people interested in what you are offering when you post the 20% Sales Category posts.

Becoming a Content Factory

You too can become a content factory, as if boxes and boxes of effective content are rolling don a conveyor belt to grow your following!

So, here’s how to succeed at becoming a content factory that won’t wear your audience out. The answer is so big and so easy to understand once you see it, that I can tell you in two words. This is always an eye-opening forehead-slapping moment when I work with people on developing exceptional content that get’s results:

COMMON INTERESTS

Yep, that’s what I call the foundation of “Community -Building Content.” This is what makes up the 80% category of what you are to post if you want to grow your following and keep them paying attention. Because, now you will have a captivated audience when you do post the 20% category of sales content. And now you will have earned their trust and built brand love. When most of your content is made up of common interests between the audience and your brand; what you do; what your expertise is, that is a game-changer.

Examples of Content To Grow Your Following

If you are in the music industry in any way, post about artists within the genres and instruments that relate to you.

As a brand of cookware, you would post about recipes and nutrition.

A bicycle store or brand could post about maintenance, customization, and amazing bike trip stories.

A life coach could post about the most common hurdles people face and success stories.

A business coach could use the same format.

And make them part of the experience; the Inclusive factor. When you post about any of the community-building content categories, ask your audience to share the experience they have had with it. I go into more depth ion this element as well in my “The Real Purpose of a Post: Five to Keep Your Brand Alive” article.

Are you beginning to get the picture? Translate this strategy into whatever you/your company provides. Sometimes the sales category messaging can seep into the community-building content category. This is OK, if it’s done correctly. That’s a whole new lesson.

Thanks for checking out this article. Apply what I reach and it absolutely will work. Be sure to poke around some more and subscribe to my list to receive tips, notifications about FREE live online workshops with me, course discounts, and more! You can also learn more about what I have to offer as far as full courses here, and if you are interested in just a focused workshop on Content to Grow Your Following or any of my other blog topics, send me an email through here to set up a complimentary video conference consultation. I encourage you to learn more about me by going through the site as well.

Happy Marketing!

Success With Video on Social

This image shows some mind-blowing stats of how much video is consumed on social.

This post is all about having success with video on social media as a tool. When done effectively, it will help you build trust, brand love and drive sales. I am going to convey how productive video has proven to be for social media marketing. We will also bust some myths and break some common bad habits (no offense!) because I truly want everyone to get better results with their online presence. Video is key! I am also going to break down a few different types of videos that do not require professional gear or an expensive production company. There is a place for that, and we will get to that point in a bit.

While this article is as robust as a workshop, I go even more extensively into video in my courses and workshops. After reading this article, check out the full-rounded one-on-one courses I offer with my Social Media On Steroids packages. Or you can contact me to talk about addressing the video marketing aspect ala cart. With over 20 years of successful video marketing experience, I know I will be of value to you.

The Value of Video

Let’s first begin with some statistics. And please bear with me if you are not a stats-minded person, because it is important I do my part to make sure you understand the value of video. On social media, video typically gets 3 x’s more reach and 5 x’ more engagement than status posts. Most people say they want to receive information via video.

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is all about storytelling. And there is no more effective way to tell a story on social than with video. When done effectively, it’s compelling, emotive, evocative, and literally takes the viewer on the journey we want them to go on.

Let’s look at some statistics, real statistics. The sources of these stats are from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Marketland, TechCrunch, Buffer, Wordstream, and Mashable, respectively. Please take a moment and gaze into these TV screens and let these numbers marinate for a moment:

These are some of my favorites of the dozens and dozens of astonishing statistics about video on social.

Embracing this the first step to achieving success with video on social media. Even if there are dazzling stats above that are on platforms you don’t use, it’s important to embrace the fact that video usage is growing in social and digital marketing. Those who do not use video effectively will be left behind.

Embrace Proven Strategies

There is always resistance. I am 57 years old as I write this. Not exactly some young wiz-kid who happens to be hip on what’s hot, born with a tablet in my hands.

I am drop-jaw floored regarding how many people 10 – 15 years younger than me who refuse to embrace social media marketing. And these people are often in the mid to upper management marketing or biz development positions with large companies. And equally disappointing to me, they are people of my tribe: Musicians. Most just refuse to learn and instead are following each other of the cliff doing it wrong. It is truly heartbreaking.

The fact is this:

If you don’t keep up with what’s working and learn to master the trends that are, your results won’t change. And I don’t mean follow trends in a sheople sense. I am referring to proven strategies that will get you success with video on social media. If you want to get better results you’ve got to get out of the box, get out of neutral. This requires putting other proven effective strategies in gear in order to move from where you are.

Numbers Don’t Lie

I was excited when the video feature came to Facebook. Drum Talk TV was in its first year. Before Drum Talk TV, which is a lifestyle media company, I had a video production company for 14 years. I saw the video trend coming before there was Facebook o YouTube. My bread and butter work was turning the sea of text on most Mainstreet businesses websites into video modules to make their information more compelling messaging. I also did marketing videos, product launch videos, and training videos.

When the video feature arrived on Facebook, our number one platform I immediately worked hard to develop several strategies that skyrocketed our numbers past all our industry peers. Some had been around 15 to 40 years. The numbers you see below are very typical of any other average 7-day period on our Facebook page and has been since we began using it in our first year, 2013:

This Facebook Insights report shows our new page likes, post reach, new page followers post engagement and video views for just that week. This is achieved weekly with no ads and no boosting posts.

Three Types of Video

There is no one single category that will give you the best success with video on social media. You ought to have at least two. After I spell this out, I am going to give you content category ideas. After that, I will review the two biggest mistakes most people make with video, and these errors flood my feeds daily. Here are three types of videos for you to consider. The first two you can easily put into action NOW:

Just Get It Done!

These are easy-to-do videos with a smartphone or a program using your webcam (like Zoom) tr any other DIY method. You certainly want to project yourself, your brand and your message in the best light. And more people than not agonize over just getting good content done.

In my blog post “Five to Keep Your Brand Alive” two of the items I cover are staying present and relevant and the importance of frequency in putting out content. If you know your stuff (and you do!), you are ready to go. yes, do some planning and record a couple of tests to review yourself, but don’t over plan, over-rehearse or over-think anything. Here’s why:

The more comfortable you get with this process with less rehearsal and being less critical of yourself, the more genuine you will come across. Being genuine scores HUGE points with your viewer. Consider the fact that we are all bombarded with so much content. Whether sought out or unsolicited, people generally appreciate those who are more “real” and genuine. Would you agree? After all, how you and your message comes across has a lot to do with your success with video on social media.

Live Stream

Here is the most golden of golden video opportunities to achieve success with video on social media! Ever since this feature came out a few years ago, I began live streaming on Drum Talk TV a few times a week. It is the number one relationship builder with your audience/followers/target market you could possibly employ without being with them in person.

Some people are freaked out about the concept of going live. But if one overcomes those inhibitions you will be fine. Do you know why?: Because all you have to do is be YOU. Who’s better at that than you? NO ONE!

The dynamic of interacting live with your viewers is a great opportunity. They can ask questions, you can ask questions, get feedback (like it or not LOL!) and this element of to-way participation builds interest, trust and bend love. This is a winning combination.

A Note on When To Live Stream

There are two schools of thought on when to do lives: Consistent days and times or random. Here’s some insight for you to decide what’s best for you: I do mine at scheduled times, but they are the same times on the same days consistently. I do live streaming at a different time each of the three or four days a week. The reason this works for me is that I have followers in all 24 times zones in more than 130 countries. So there is no one time where people from all locations would catch me live. So if I had the same time every day, an immense amount of my followers would never see it.

Making it Work

If your followers and target market are anywhere between one and four connected time zones, you can likely find a time to broadcast consistently. If you have followers in North America and in Western Europe, for example, you can either take my approach or have to separate broadcast times. However, broadcasting at your equivalent time to 8:00 or 9:00 AM Pacific will hit all those time zones. I have broadcaster at 10:30 PM Pacific to be able to hit Australia and Asian Regions at prime times, being that that’s a 12 to 17-hour time difference span to me.

On a Techincal Production Note:

For both of the video types mentioned above, don’t worry about the “perfect setting.” the setting should indeed be eye-appealing, have good lighting and of course, clear audio without load background noise, like traffic, waves on the beach, pets, kids or your dentist. Regarding “Production Value,” there is so much latitude for what “quality” means on social. However, keep in mind the purpose of the video should be a guideline for this as well. Video Blogs, or “Vlogs,” have a lot of latitude. Relax. Don’t develop a Spielberg complex. It’s not a movie.

An interview, product launch video, how-to, and human resources and other official videos, for example, should be done in the quality we will cover next.

THE NUMBER ONE MISTAKE!

I don’t understand this phenomenon of everyone recording video on their phones vertically. This IS NOT success with video on social. Thank goodness my mother was wrong about “If you keep making that face it will get stuck that way!” Or maybe she was right! I am constantly cringing at the newsfeeds everywhere I look. This is regarding the unknown reason why most people hold their smartphone vertically instead of horizontally when recording video. No offense, but this looks like hell on a laptop, computer monitor or flatscreen. Look at the difference:

The top image is the error. The black represents the unused video space when recording vertically on s smartphone and watching it on a normally shaped video monitor. It’s like looking through a cracked open door.

And then imagine how awkward it looks trying the speaker if they move. Here’s what video looks like when properly shot on a smartphone and viewed through a YouTube or Facebook video player, and any other video device:

Notice how it fills the screen of the player window! And compare the two views. Which works best?

Let’s say you are at a trade show making a quick video to show off your booth. What is the best representation, This?

Or THIS?

At the risk of me over-demonstrating, please humor me and go through the rest. I promise it will be helpful. Musicians and concert-goers have got to be the most frequent perpetrators. I can’t get my head around why so many people think this is acceptable …

When they can simply achieve this. But it’s not about me, it’s about you getting the best results possible and I am here to help.

Would you ever watch a movie like this?

Or does THIS make more sense?

©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

So, which road would you choose?

So remember:

By the way, this is the rule for the best results if you are streaming live with a smartphone as well!

Going Big

As mentioned above, some video content categories warrant a professional production. Think of anything that falls into the category of a Television-quality commercial for your business, product or service. And having said that, there is some amazing consumer production software available. One is a multi-camera shoot software program that works with any iOS system. Even with just one camera, you can fly in text, graphics, video clips – it’s amazing!

We used it for the first time in August when filming two documentaries in Japan and one in Singapore, all on a few iPad minis linked together. And streamed live at the same time. We now use it for my Vlogs when I play drums to get different angles. If you are interested in checking it out, they are giving folks who use the code “ASM2020” a 30-day trial instead of 14 days. Go to https://bit.ly/SwitcherStudioTrial and check it out!

Finding The Right Vender

So if you find you need a professional videographer or full-on production company, here are some tips in seeking out the right people to work with:

  1. Have a clear way of conveying to them what you need.
  2. Be sure you work with someone who will help your vision come to life with the integrity of your brand and message. Avoid working with someone who will turn your needs and project into their vision. If they can’t work within the scope of bringing your vision to life, they are not for you.
  3. Review their portfolio and even if they have testimonials, as to speak with people they worked with. Even a glowing testimonial reflecting a wonderful end result may have had to endure a journey riddled with tension, disagreements, a not so pleasant experience. Be sure you can work with them cohesively and have fun so you can be as effective as possible!

More to Come

In a future blog post, I will breakdown a long list of video content categories so you can learn more about how I have achieved success with video on social and use it. And it’s still just the beginning. I teach how much content needs to be produced and at what frequency in order to truly be effective to achieve more reach. Often, when we get to this part of a workshop or course, people feel like they will never have enough content to put it all together. I help them turn that around and give them more ideas than they ever imagined!

Thank you!

Filming for the Charter Yacht Industry on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Thanks for swimming through this article with me. Remember, video is something I cover very extensively in my courses and workshops. Remember, if you are interested in one-on-one consulting for developing best practices for easy and effective video marketing, you can check out the full-rounded courses I offer with my Social Media On Steroids packages. Or you can contact me to talk about addressing the video marketing aspect ala cart. With over 20 years of successful video marketing experience, I know I will be of value to you. And please subscribe to my list to receive tips, notifications about FREE live online workshops with me, course discounts and more!

The Real Purpose of a Post: “5 to Keep Your Brand Alive”

The purpose of a post is not to simply barf out a bunch thoughts.

In this article, I am going to give you the elements to mastering good content to use on any platform. These elements can be used for any purpose. So, regardless of the industry you are in, even if it’s a non-profit, they will work.

You should always be marketing. You do not have to be promoting something in order to be marketing. If ever there is time to stay present and relevant, it’s now. This is especially so if what you do typically involves being out in front of people, though can’t be. You’ve heard of “Out of sight – out of mind?” Don’t let that happen to you! “Five To Keep Your Brand Alive” is something so easy (and necessary) to do, even in the best of times. Because this is key to how I built a following of over one million people around my lifestyle brand, Drum Talk TV, I can tell you they work. And, this is also how I reach millions more each month 100% organically without “boosting posts” or even running ads.

Regardless of your business or industry, this works, from music to real-estate, from dentistry to car and truck sales, from coaching and consulting to [fill in the blank with what you do], this works. I didn’t make these steps up, but I will tell you how I applied them to make them work for me and my brand, and I have been teaching this to clients all over the world for seven years.

Here’s the true, authentic, efficiently productive purpose to post:

Anytime you let these elements slip and lose momentum, you are practically starting from scratch to get the gains back. As you read these, keep in mind that everything you post should include at least two of these elements. All of them are OK as well!

1. Stay Present

Post Frequently

You must regularly and frequently post content. Otherwise, “Out of sight – out of mind.” It’s like stepping out of line and someone taking your place. Whatever your social platforms are and in whatever preference, use them, and use them frequently. And don’t worry about wearing people out. Thanks to the algorithms in place, there’s no way for all your followers to see everything you post. If you are wearing them out with what they are seeing, your content might need some work.

This isn’t something to do “when you have the time,” this is something you must make time to do. Here’s a quick side note on time for those who think they don’t have the time:

When I started Drum talk TV, I knew no matter how good the content was, none of it mattered if there wasn’t an audience, let alone an avid audience in love with what we do.

Content Doesn’t Matter Without an Audience

No matter how big the stars were who I interviewed or how spectacular the videos were, none of it mattered without the audience. The same goes for how educational and entertaining the content was, none of it mattered without the audience. I spent 70% of my daily waking hours, which was 18 hours on average, on marketing. Within the first seven weeks of the brand, we had 47,000 followers and were reaching about a million people a week. Here’s the old-fashioned Facebook report from that seventh week:

While there were major algorithmic changes that came into play over the years that made reach and engagement harder organically, I still never boosted a post and achieved a million fans and a reach of a two to three million a week and acquire 2,000+ followers each week. Again, all 100% organically, all from everything I teach.

Anyhow, I am one of you. I understand what it means to be busy with two full-time companies, helping my wife with her business, a combined eleven kids and nineteen grandkids and a cat. Yes, I get busy and don’t really want to hear anyone is too busy to be effective.

Back to FIVE TO KEEP YOUR BRAND ALIVE!

2. Stay Relevant

Remember, the content you post is for them, not yourself. It should serve both of you, serving them first. While most businesses have more than one target market and persona in each, it is import to:

Your Content is for Them

A. Drill down your target market(s) and identify as many personas as possible. This will help you come up with even more content, as well as help you re-propose your content with a different voice for different persona. You likely would not expect the same piece of content worded for a 70-year-old man to resonate with a 24-ear-old woman, and so on. Speak to them. Though you do not have to have a separate piece of content for every persona for everything you post.

B. Don’t worry about each piece of content appeasing, each different persona who makes up your audience/target market. There will likely be something for everyone to benefit from, even if it isn’t speaking directly to them. And remember: Me being married with 11 kids and 19 grandkids, I can tell you I have learned you cannot make everyone happy – LOL!

3. Be Helpful

Be of Value

Don’t just post to talk at your audience. Many do this unintentionally, though some think this is what posting on blogs or on social is supposed to be. Offer value. Give solid advice. Share your wisdom. Be inspirational. Light a fire under someone’s bum. It’s these things that truly create a following because it shows you have something I can relate to and use. Provide valuable takeaways and they will always come back for more and tell others!

Give it Away

When I first heard this concept ten and a half years ago, I was making videos for the charter yacht industry and the 2009 Sydney to Hobart. A friend of mine was trying to convince me to blog about how to make videos. I said, “I get hired to make videos, and you want me to teach others how to do what I do?” Yes. That’s basically what he said. But then he went on to explain that I should show them how to do what they could do, and then what I offered at a much more pro-level for those who wanted that.

I had an “Ah-HA!” moment. I did it and watched the magic as I built a following. When others saw this following, it gave me more credibility and people paid attention. A few weeks in Australia turned into six months of work there.

I hope you are having the epiphany I had then. Awesome effective marketing is different from advertising and promoting. Share your wealth. It will always more than make up for the giveaway and everyone benefits. That’s what it’s all about.

4. Be Inclusive

LET THEM IN!

This concept was the most pivotal point in Drum Talk TV. It has also been extremely successful with clients in speaking, coaching, consulting, real estate, dentistry, automotive dealerships, financial planning and many more. This is all about letting your followers be part of the experience you are providing. This is exactly what it should be, not just a constant hock-fest of what you are offering. In my “SMOS: Mastery” course I go very in-depth regarding this element. SMOS is my Social Media On Steroids line of workshops, courses and more.

It’s the Game-Changer!

This element of being inclusive is my favorite of the five. It is a huge part of what not only skyrocketed Drum Talk TV past all our industry peers in numbers. It also set us apart from what any of them were doing. There are many ways to be inclusive with any post, even if it’s in the category of promoting something you offer. One way we have had huge success with this is by curating videos from our fans around the world. In the course, I share a HUGE “Ah-HA!” moment I had, and it changed everything for us in the first year of the brand!

How it Works

Even though you may not work within a space that allows for such curation, there are always many ways to get your audience involved. Some ways include:

Asking your audience their favorite [whatever the topic of the post is about].

Getting your audience to talk about their first experience was with [whatever the topic of the post is about].

You Need Real Engagement

Likes and emoji’s are not real engagement. Comments and questions and a two-way conversation are engagement, as is sharing of your content to like-minded people. Inspiring your audience to comment regarding anything about an experience they may have had with whatever the topic of the post is about. This could include where it happened, how far did they go for it, the most surprising thing about the experience … There are literally about 24 or more questions you can ask about anything you post to get your audience engaged and to participate.

This process humanizes the experience. You learn from them (helpful for product/.service, sales, and marketing development) and you create trust and brand love. For almost anything out there, trust and brand love needs to be achieved before a purchase happens, let alone signing up for an email list. If you include them you engage them.

5. Position Yourself As An Expert

The Huge Opportunity

This is often missed by many people with their content for the simple reason that people don’t use any of the above four elements. Positioning yourself as an expert is not achieved by spouting on and on about what you know, promoting what you have endlessly or by bragging about your certifications. It’s also counter-productive to say how great YOU say a training went with someone when YOU were the trainer … and so on. And by the way, never compliment yourself. Leave that to others to say how great you are or what you do is. If it’s worthy, they will put it out there.

How it Works

One simple way to position yourself as an expert to curate content from other known experts. The higher profile the better, who have quotes, videos, or other assets you post to validate what you are telling people. Example:

If you are a life coach or business coach, use something of Tony Robbins’ that echoes what you are saying is a helpful thing to do, and/or that validates something you have said in what you offer.

Many people understand that “positioning” is a no-brainer as to why one should post content. Though as I mentioned, many are going about it in a completely defeating way by either constantly promoting what they do as the majority of their content. Or they do this by going on and on about their own accomplishments. Use testimonial videos of other people praising you/your company’s work.

Success in Strange Times

Positioning yourself as an expert is more important than ever nowadays because there is so many others who do what you do, or at least claim to. You have to not only position yourself but make sure you stand out with a differentiator that truly brings value.

More than ever, people need and want value So remember:

Thanks for checking out this article. Be sure to poke around some more and subscribe to my list to receive tips, notifications about FREE live online workshops with me, course discounts and more! You can also learn more about what I have to offer here. I encourage you to learn more about me by going through the site.