Your post is brilliant—packed with sound advice and a really entertaining read.
But the same few suspects give you a like or a comment. One new follower. What the heck. You’re ready to give up.
When you’re starting to build your brand on social media, it’s easy to think that all you have to do is get lots of followers and subscribers, and once you’re social media famous, sales will drop into your lap.
And then you realize it’s not that easy to get followers and subscribers, and you want to throw in the towel.
Not so fast. Let’s think through what you want to achieve.
What do you want to sell?
To whom?
Where are these people most likely to be found?
For many small businesses and independent professionals, sales come from different channels.
Some sales might come from people who live in your community and find you through a local Facebook group.
Others might come from a Google review left by a customer.
You don’t need to be the most popular person on your platforms of choice.
Instead, you need to create content that appeals to your audience.
Let’s say someone reads your post, feels a connection with you and what you have to say, and realizes your product or service would be helpful for them.
Now they’re wondering: Can I trust this person?
They might go to your profile, but even though they like it, you only have 152 subscribers and they are not quite convinced that it’s a sound decision to buy from you.
They look you up on LinkedIn, and they see that you worked for a company they know, and that one of your customers gave you a glowing review.
They’re starting to feel confident.
They click on the link to your website. Your website looks professional and lists all your services with pricing. Your potential customer realizes there’s a product that’s an even better match with what they are looking for.
They add it to the cart and buy it. Or they email you about a consulting session.
This is one hypothetical scenario. It could play out very differently, but it illustrates how a professional online presence helps you to build trust with your potential customers—a crucial ingredient in making sales.
This doesn’t mean you have to spread yourself thin and spend all your time building an impressive presence on every platform.
Pick the platforms that make the most sense for your business and create messaging and content that appeals to your audience.
For most businesses, I do recommend building a website too.
It’s a space you own and that doesn’t disappear just because of a platform bug or a flagged post. Think of it as your online store.
Building a website takes time, but it’s not rocket science anymore. There are a million YouTube tutorials you can follow.
So next time your post flops or you lose a few subscribers, don’t panic.
Building a business online is a long-term game, and with the right strategy, you can succeed whether or not you have 7,000 followers.
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