Last week in Part 2 of this series, I went over the 4-part Continual Marketing formula and left off explaining the last part, which is to be branded. Today, I’m going to continue focusing on the branding part of the formula by discussing how social media plays a part in it all, and how the way in which you use social media can affect your ability to attract attention from traditional media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc.).
First off, know this:
Social media is definitely a BIG part of branding and really positioning yourself.
Part of being an expert is that people want to get to know you. So social media, obviously the first part of it, is SOCIAL; so you want to make sure that people are getting to know you, and they’re learning to trust you, because that’s very, very important. You want them to see you in your everyday life, so to speak.
If someone watches you over a period of time, they start to trust you, but that’s only if you are being sincere and consistent with what you do.
I’ve had people watch me for a year before they reached out to me…and yes, many people WILL watch you for a year (even longer) before interacting with you.
I’ve had people say, “I’ve followed you on social media for over a year, and you’re always consistent.”
I’m like, “Yea, that’s just pretty much me. This is no show, this is the real deal.”
So people will do that, and they’ll lurk and watch you from afar. So when I tell people about social media – yes, there’s many different tools you can use to manage everything – but…
The strategy to always use when it comes to social media is to drive people back to your website (your hub)!
You do this so that you can get them on your list; and from there, you can speak to them one-on-one via email.
Whether it’s an email letter, or whether you’re just sending out a short little one or two things a week, or you’re giving them a series of autoresponder messages….whatever it is, is that you now have captured their attention and can work on building a relationship.
Social media is being social. When you have them go back to your website, it’s like now they’ve come back to your home.
So it’s like, “Hey yeah we met at the party, come back to my place.”
That’s when you really get to know a person.
So it’s the same way online, you met on social media, but when someone comes back to your hubsite (your home) and is on your email list, you can really talk to them and get to know them more intimately.
Social Media comes in many forms…
Some people really like material written, so blogging and doing articles – that’s just a great way to really brand and position yourself.
Some people like to listen – so teleseminars, podcasting and doing BlogTalk Radio, that’s great for them.
Some people like video – they want to actually see a person; they want to see sites; they want to hear something and see something…so doing a screen capture video where you’re using Camtasia (or something similar), or doing your own face-to-camera videos is great for them.
More and more people want to see eyeballs, so I would say doing your own videos where they actually see your face is really important – people love that.
And then some people want to see a combination of them all – video, audio, and written material; but the main thing is that you want to make sure you’re using the form of social media that’s comfortable for you.
Remember: you will be doing it consistently, so you must be comfortable doing it.
If you really hate writing, then maybe blogging and article marketing is not going to be your thing.
Then there’s people that really are just deathly afraid of speaking or doing video, so they write. Some of these people are diamond ezineaerticles.com contributors, and they write and write and they’ve got many articles… they’ve positioned themselves…and they’ve got backlinks and traffic going to their website.
So, again, it just depends on what you’re comfortable with; although, it’s really good to have a balance, because everybody likes to learn differently.
Note: If you want to be interviewed by the media, or get speaking engagements of any kind, you absolutely must podcast. This is because podcasting will give people a taste of how you speak.
You can’t expect to get speaking engagements if people have never heard you speak. You wrote a book, that’s great, but can you speak?
Anchor is a great way to get started with podcasting, and a big plus for using that network is that it’s good for SEO and they have good promotional tools that will help you “get out there” faster.
The only exception to a podcast would be if you’re already doing videos; however, I recommend you do both.
The main thing is this:
Make sure that you’re doing something CONSISTENTLY!
I have a client that does videos every single week…
She does a video and then she adds it to her blog; she writes a little bit of copy about it (because she still needs the keywords there and title it correctly), and that’s all she does, and she receives tons of traffic to her site.
Then, once the video is on her blog, she shares it on Pinterest, she shares it on Facebook, she shares it on digg, she shares it on Twitter, she shares it everywhere she can on social media.
That’s where her massage then gets amplified.
Anyone who’s doing social media and they don’t have a blog, they’re really wasting their time, because the main thing is that your message should come from your hub. You’ve got to have a hub – you’ve got to build that tribe and that community.
So once you’ve added your content to your blog, you share it on social media.
I wouldn’t say spend hours and hours on Linkedin or hours and hours on Facebook and Twitter, that’s just a complete waste of time if you don’t really have a strategy of how you’re doing that.
Now some people only spend time on Linkedin, and that’s fine, because that’s where their target market is.
Some people only spend time on Twitter, because they find that they get the most response from that.
You just have to know your market and where people within that market are hanging out.
You want to fish where the fish are.
However, keep in mind that even if many people in your market do not hang out Twitter, you still want to share your message there. The same thing goes for Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Instagram.
Why?
Because it’s important that you syndicate your content.
Syndicate your content so it can get out there and reach the masses!
Every single time you publish anything online, you should share it on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Instagram – the top 5.
Keep in mind that there’s many other places to share your content too, but these 5 are the bare minimum.
Note: If you’re a speaker, you should also be on Youtube too. If you want more speaking engagements, then you need to give people a taste of what they can expect if they were to reach out to you to speak at their event, etc.
So if most of your audience is on Facebook and that’s where you share your message, wonderful; but it only takes a minute to share it in other places too.
Majority of the people in your target market may hang out on one specific social network, but some of them will spend time on other networks too. Also, people who work in traditional media (TV, radio, newspapers, etc.) hang out on multiple social networks, and you definitely want to be where they are.
In addition to the above, sharing your content on the top 5 networks will get you more love from the search engines (such as Google) – which equates to more website traffic – plus you’re increasing brand awareness.
Keep in mind that when it comes to syndicating your content on social media, you don’t have to do it manually, you can simply use a social sharing tool like Hootsuite, or just connect some of the social networks together (for example, you can connect Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram).
How many people are you influencing?
As you continue to create content, publish it on your site, share it on social media, and do it all on a regular basis, the amount of people you’re influencing – your platform – will start to grow significantly.
So now, with the growth of your platform, you can expect more sales and more speaking engagements…but keep in mind that you have to reach a certain level of influence before you start seeing results.
So what is that level?
Well, here’s a basic guideline:
You should have a reach of at least 10,000 people within your target market before expecting to see results.
Keep in mind that 10,000 is just to make a small dent; ideally you want more than that.
With that said, here’s a list of minimums to have (followers/connections) when it comes to certain social sites and your email list…
Facebook: 3,000
Twitter: 1,000
LinkedIn: 500
Instagram: 3,000
Google Plus: No minimum, just be there, because you’ll have more influence with Google’s search engine.
Youtube: at least one signature video with 500 views
Your email list: at least 1,000…but 3,000 to make a hiccup; however, 10,000 is a respectable list that will get a publisher’s attention.
Again, these numbers are just the bare minimum, you really want to aim higher than this.
Note: Make sure that every social media profile you have is optimized. This means that you should include a customized cover that’s in line with your brand; your picture; your website’s url; links to your other social profiles; and the description or bio section(s) should be completely filled out.
Every part of your profile should be complete.
If you’re an author, make sure that you have a link to your book on Amazon.
If you want to make your platform even stronger, use Pinterest; get on Periscope or Facebook live; use Blog Talk Radio (and make sure your podcast is syndicated in iTunes); and create profiles on sites like About.me, Brandyourself.com, and Branded.me.
Creating and optimizing your social profiles, as well sharing content on this networks, is not only important when it comes to attracting your target audience, but it’s also important if you want to attract media attention so you can share your story on TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines.
Getting Media Attention
(TV, Radio, Newspapers, and Magazines)
Many authors, speakers, and entrepreneurs get so caught up with trying to get attention from popular media outlets to the point where they miss the bigger picture – attracting their target market.
People say, “Oh, I want to get on CNN” or “Oh, I want to get in O Magazine,” and they’re just being so random. They’re not being strategic.
So with every client, I sit down and strategically go over the research of who is their ideal market.
I ask them, “Who is your ideal customer? Who is your target market?”
If they don’t know, I help them with that; but before we do anything else, we get clear on their market. Only then do we focus on getting them into the appropriate media.
So, for example:
I had a client several years ago who was (and still is) a mom blogger, and she positioned herself as the expert mom blogger.
So for her, what we planned to do was get her into Working Woman magazine and More, because she was an older mom over 40. Back then, More was primarily for women over 40 and they had a million subscribers every single month, so it was perfect.
My client’s target market was working moms over 40, so those two magazines were excellent for her.
Yes, it would have been good to get into Essence, and yes, it would be have been good to get into Jet, and Oprah, and all the others…but we were looking strategically of where would be the best for her when it came to who would be the people that would really respond to her new book that was about to come out called The Brand New Mommy.
So Working Women and More (the old More, not the one now) were the ones that we really made sure to target first.
So what I want you to really understand is to focus on getting into media that targets the same market you are targeting BEFORE trying to get into media that has a more general audience.
Now in order to do this, you’ve got to work on getting to know them.
Get to know the Media and some of the reporters.
You can’t just say, “I want to be in Chicago Tribune” and think it will happen because you think you have a great story; especially if they have never done any story like what you’re pitching them ever in their history.
It all depends on the relationships that you have with a particular media.
I, for example, know some of the producers at the Tom Joyner Show, the Steve Harvey Show, TBN, Daystar…but I don’t abuse them!
I don’t take every client and say, “Oh, I’ve got another one…I’ve got another one…I’ve got another one.”
That’s being abusive.
You have to earn their respect as a communicator.
I’m a former TV producer, I’m also a journalist, so I know not to pitch them junk. So if someone doesn’t fit for them, I’m not going to try and abuse the relationship and make it fit for them.
I kind of put on the hat of really the producer at that point, because people have to really understand that just because you have a great book or you have something that you want everyone to know, doesn’t mean the media will care!
You think getting on CNN, Fox News, or a popular radio station or magazine is your ticket, well, you’ve got to realize…
The media doesn’t care about you!
What they care about is their audience, their readers, their viewers.
That’s what they care about!
They want to serve up what it is that their viewers, listeners, and readers want. It has nothing to do with you!
They are not trying to make anybody famous!
They’re looking for the best person that will bring them the most eyeballs for their particular medium, because it’s run by ratings (It comes down to money really).
So if you are a famous celebrity, you’re in. That’s why there’s so many celebrities, because they’re bringing an audience to them.
Listen, if the magazines and things like that didn’t publish anything that people wanted to read, they would be out of business. So you’ve got to realize that it’s all about money, and the best way to get in media is to really become an expert.
Position yourself as the subject matter expert for them, knowing their audience. Become the celebrity, so to speak, of that particular subject matter.
Keep in mind, however, that celebrities have a following. In other words, it’s not enough to just be the expert, you have to have influence – you have to have already built a strong platform.
Their perception of you will not be good if you only have a few hundred followers on social media.
It’s not just about how much you know, it must be perceived that you have influence in your market, and being consistent with using social media and building a following allows you to be perceived that way.
Also, don’t look at “Oh, they’re on CNN” or “They’re on Oprah, and I want to make sure I’m there so I can get famous.”
The media will smell that a mile away!
But if you’re providing content consistently (in the way that I mentioned earlier), and they happen to be looking for that information, and they Google that topic and you come up, you’ll get a call!
You don’t have to worry about it; they’ll come to you!
However, if you’re going to go to them, like I said before, the whole thing is based on relationships, so you can do something as simple as follow them on Twitter and just try to be helpful.
You see them tweeting about something you know about, send a helpful tweet. Don’t try to pitch them on Twitter, focus on being helpful. They’re people just like you. You don’t like getting pitched to over and over again by a person that wants you to buy their product and they’ve never taken the time to build any type of relationship with you.
Well, it’s the same thing with the media, they don’t like getting pitched to over and over again by someone they’ve never even heard of who wants to be in their magazine, TV show, etc.
I tell my clients so many times that we’re not going to pimp the media.
I say to them, “We’re not going to pimp them, so you definitely want to make sure that you know what you’re talking about. Don’t try to get on there just to be on there.”
Black Enterprise is a really good magazine, but you’ve got to read it and know it thoroughly to know what reporters are covering.
One of the tips I give people is to read it often enough and then respond. Their email addresses are right at the bottom of every article. Talk to them. Let them know that you’re a real person and that you’re paying attention, and you’re not just a person that just wants to get into Black Enterprise.
Pay attention and become a part of their tribe.
You know you’re trying to get people in your tribe, well they’re trying to get people in their tribe as well, so give before you try to get.
Up Next
I’m planning on stepping up my commitment as a coach, and very soon I will be opening up a mentoring program program that I will call Pam Perry Mentoring.
The goal of this mentoring program is simple…
To share everything I know about publicity, promotion, building a powerful platform, brand awareness, increasing sales, generating speaking engagements, book publishing, book marketing, selling books on Amazon, becoming a bestseller, getting better results with social media, getting media contacts, deciding on a target market or niche, attracting your target audience, and positioning.
Basically, I’m going to let it all out and share everything I know.
I’m also going to give my mentoring students checklists and templates to use, along with a home study course so they can learn at their own pace.
Two-way communication is important too, and that’s why everyone will be able to interact with me and ask their questions and receive detailed answers. People will be able to see me and hear me.
If anyone get’s stuck, I will help them get unstuck.
So education and interaction…and I’m going to do this at a price anyone can afford, so stay tuned for that.
If you’re not already on my VIP Contact list, and you would like to make sure you get the link when my mentoring program opens…
Click here to get on my mentoring program notification list
…so that you don’t miss out on this program.
In the meantime, I have more free training for you.
In my next post, I will clarify a few things that many authors and speakers have been concerned about when it comes to publicity.
I’ll send you an email after I publish the post next week.
Enjoy your day!
To your success,
This is simply strategic!