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It’s that moment when your heart opens, you feel that tingle of excitement and a gentle little zap to your brain as a new pathway and a new depth of awareness is formed.
It’s that moment when you truly connect with a fellow human being — someone who really sees you and wants to work with you, laugh with you, learn from you and follow you.
It’s that moment when you realize you share an extreme love for turmeric shots and Frankincense and you made a new bestie for life.
For real, connections are what make this life worth living.
Beyond the incredibly deep relationships you may have with your friends and family, creating connections is also the foundation for growing your business like you never thought possible.
It’s easy to close our hearts, and hide from the world, out of fear. We’ve all been there.
Failure is a scary thing.
But once you start living a life free from fear of failure or what others will think, you open yourself up to a world of possibilities, connections and success.
You can do this and once you start believing that, everything else starts flowing.
My favorite way to connect with humans is through dun dun duh daaaaahhh…. social media. Keyword: social. ⇐ and this is coming from a total introvert.
It’s amazing how far your reach can extend when you put your message out there.
Can you imagine how biz babes did it before Facebook and Instagram?!
It was a whole other game.
Now we have thousands...millions….bajillions of possible connections right at our fingertips.
And if you’re not using social media to connect and grow your biz, I’m here to help you get started — woohoo!
First stop on the social media connection train is content.
Watch this video to learn about how to narrow your brand and use social media to connect with your ideal client:
How to create wicked awesome super engaging clickable share-worthy content
It doesn’t matter if you’re selling handmade wool socks, an email marketing webinar or magic potions that will get the producers of Dancing With the Stars to ask you to be on the show….
(I want to be on the show so bad…..)
Whatever product or service you’re selling, your content needs to speak to your ideal client’s emotions.
Remember that connection thing we were talking about? It’s time to get real.
Let’s break it down.
For my essential oils biz, I don’t just craft a post trying to get people to buy an oil or open a wholesale account.
I write a post about the benefits of Frankincense, or I write a post about a new blend I came up with to help someone beat the lethargic winter blues.
Then I use high quality photographs and videos that complement and boost my written content.
This is tres important.
If you want people to click like on your latest Instagram post, you can’t post a dark blurry photo of your latest foray into Thai food.
You want to post photos and videos that are pleasing to the eye and that help convey your message.
Not a photographer? Invite a photographer-savvy friend over to shoot some pics.
Need to shoot product? Lay down a white sheet, get some props, use the light of a window or a bright lamp and snap away.
The opportunities are endless. Don’t limit yourself when it comes to content.
Use your location, personal strengths, personality, interests...and apply it to your content.
If you wouldn’t want to click on your post, read it or share it, why should someone else?
I’m going to hit you with something else…
And it may be difficult for you....
Because you’re going to be all like, “Hayley, I don’t have time!”
You have to post regularly and consistently.
You DO have the time and it is WORTH it. Most of the time people who say they don’t have time are stuck in a perfectionist paradigm. The thing is, progress is far more important than perfection. Start before you’re ready.
With platforms like Planoly, Hootsuite and so many others, it’s easy to create all your content and schedule it in one sitting.
Because when Wednesday afternoon hits and you are neck deep in meetings, product launches, webinars and sipping back your 10th Americano of the day….you’re not going to be thinking of posting to Facebook.
Having a consistent presence is key to building your audience and keeping them engaged.
If you stop posting, people are going to stop following.
Because they clicked “follow” for a reason.
Think about your own personal social media experience.
When you’re scrolling through Instagram, you click on posts, you like posts and if you really like something, you click on the person’s profile to learn more.
And if you like what you see, you hit follow and start sharing in that person’s experience, hopefully learning something new while being given something of value through a photo or copy.
Be the person you want to follow. Be the person your followers want to follow.
And finally, don’t overthink it.
If you speak from the heart and focus on really getting to know your followers and having real conversations with them, it will come easily.
Just keep the goal in mind…
Form a bond, reach out your hand, speak from the heart and see your followers for what they are…real people with the power to inspire you right back.
Connections make this world go round and I can’t wait to see your world expand.
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Tell me about a positive experience you’ve had connecting with someone with your biz online. I’d love to hear!