When it comes to social media, it is safe to say that it works wonders for self-employed professionals and entrepreneurs. Why? Because it gives you a chance to really showcase your brand and your identity in a way that creates a personality that can resonate with your intended target audience. Essentially, it gives people like life coaches and business coaches an opportunity to put a face behind the brand, to put an identity behind the strategy, and to put a real, live person on the other side of the screen – someone who can support you, encourage you, and lead you to “success” in whatever terms you use to define it.
Social media can be a powerful tool for coaches, but only when it’s used in the right way. Isabella Sanchez is an experienced business coach and life coach who brings years of social media success to the table. As someone who built her YouTube following to more than 30,000 subscribers, it’s clear to say that she has a knack for using the web to engage with her audience. And if you asked her, she’d tell you that it comes down to three simple tips to follow.
Define Your Audience Clearly
“First and foremost, you need to define your audience as clearly as possible. When you try to speak to everyone at once, you’re going to hear crickets – that’s just the way it is. Be confident in what you’re marketing and who you’re marketing it to. When you have the right audience, generating engagement is inevitable.”
This is an important tip for entrepreneurs to consider because at the end of the day, defining your target audience is one of the first steps that you need to take to launch a business. Determine if there is a market, and if there is, determine who makes up that market. Once you do that, you can determine just how you plan to connect with them and encourage them to work with you.
Your Number of Followers Doesn’t Matter
“It shocks some people when I tell them that I only had about 2,500 followers on Instagram and an email list of 500 addresses when I built a $500,000 business. Far too often, I see coaches with thousands – and sometimes hundreds of thousands – of followers struggle with engagement and closing sales. In today’s world, you just don’t need thousands and thousands of followers to sell or succeed. All you need is engagement.”
In other words, it isn’t about the quantity according to Isabella, it’s about the quality of the experience you offer. When you publish strong, insightful, and relevant content, and when you interact with your followers in a way that makes them feel connected to your brand, you’ll generate sales.
Don’t Try To Be An Influencer
“Influencing and coaching are two different things – in fact, they’re on entirely different wave lengths. Just because you have a strong following on Instagram doesn’t make you an influencer, so don’t try to become an internet personality. Instead, focus on providing relevant content that doesn’t feel like a constant and endless superficial sales pitch. Stay true to yourself, your business, and your clients, and you’ll generate engagement.”
The world of influencing is booming on the web right now, but a seasoned coach like Isabella believes that coaches should take the opposite approach. Instead of using your Instagram profile to sell excessively, use it to provide interesting content that will resonate with your target audience.
After all, if Isabella was able to grow her business into a half a million dollar brand with just 2,500 followers, you can do the same with these tips.