Building a brand through social media and achieving name recognition is something everyone seems to want these days.
There are so many ads out there sharing the best templates for stories and feed posts, but the essence of creating a brand online and on social media is to build authority.
Now, how do you build authority on social media? That's a question I will answer today, so hang tight and read on.
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Why you can't go a day without building authority
Before getting into the fundamentals for building authority on social media, let's quickly recap why you even need authority in the first place.
For instance, I have authority as a business coach. When people think of business coaching, they think about me. And that's the power of authority.
Claim your territory and name
Authority is when people know who you are, and they will refer other people to you that they know. Think of it as you connecting something to your name, like business coaching = FastForwardAmy.
Authority is about you claiming a territory where you position yourself as the lord and master of that subject.
To claim your authority, you need authenticity, too.
Cancel out the competition with authentic authority
I have spoken about the Authentic Authority Principle in previous episodes. The gist of the principle is this: not only do you need authority and proof that you're the best at educating people on a specific subject matter, but you ALSO need to make sure you do it in your own unique way.
In the end, it's the authenticity that will attract people to you as an authority. For example, I could be an authority on business coaching but be boring AF, and no one would sign up for my program.
‘Amy, does this mean I have to share my whole life online?'
No, you don't have to share everything online. Pick the things you find relevant, and that make you relatable. Treat social media like your friends, share what you think is funny, share what you think is interesting, and share what you want to teach people.
If you do the same thing as others and the same way, you're not going to stand out.
If you do the same thing but differently, you're going to stand out and cancel out your competition. People will come to you specifically because they are attracted to the unique way you approach your business, teaching, or whatever else you're offering.
Recap: to successfully build authority on social media, you need to be authentic, too. Authenticity is the glue that will captivate your audience and attract people to you as an authority. Authentic authority is your best weapon against your competition.
3 key principles to building authority
Building authority online naturally requires a lot of things and effort. To help you navigate the social media world, I'm sharing 3 key principles you should keep in mind as you start working on your brand.
#1 Be loud, consistently
The first rule to building authority on social media is to be loud. Be very, very, VERY loud about what you do and what you know.
I don't mean that you should be yelling, but stay very consistent at telling people what you do and what you know.
Example: ‘Hey, I'm a business coach. I teach you about sales, money mindset, abundance, Instagram marketing.'
You can't be loud just once. Instead, you need to be consistent at being loud. Be consistent at doing all those things to help build your brand.
Imagine this; you want to make sure that when someone runs into you in the supermarket after you haven't spoken for years, they will still remember you and know what you do.
The only way to get to this point of recognition is to keep talking about what you do.
Maybe you're also interested in this: Outsource and Delegate Effectively
#2 Give more than you ask
When you start talking about what you do, ALWAYS remember to provide tons of value to your audience.
Serve people, be of value.
If you're running a service-based business, being of value is essential and often the first step to getting someone to buy from you.
I try to do that on my Instagram, too. And if you want other people to refer to you, get new clients, and get new followers who are interested in what you do, you need to stick out.
The number ONE RULE to being of value is to give more than you ask: share more advice than you ask for a sale. Of course, you need to be pitching, but don't forget to add some value to the mix.
I know a lot of people are afraid they will share too much, ‘Shouldn't I keep these secrets for my paying clients?'
NO. When people pay you for a service or a program, they pay you for the accountability, for the implementation, for the advice—in other words, they pay you for the full package.
Don't be afraid to share what you know. Serve your audience and honor your followers by being of value so they will feel like the time they spend with you gets rewarded.
If you still doubt about sharing knowledge for free, ask yourself these questions:
- Will it increase my authority?
- Will it make me seem smart?
- Will people be able to do something with it?
If it's a triple YES, go for it. You want to convince people that you know more about the topic than they do, and please don't stress too much about needing a huge audience to provide value.
To be successful, you don't need a big audience; you need an audience that fits your mission and value, an audience that will actually buy from you. Likes don't pay your bills; clients do.
#3 Break through the noise
In online marketing, there's a fine line between innovating a lot versus staying the current course.
What I mean by that is that the algorithm likes certain types of posts. Find out what those are, what scores well, and give these kinds of posts your own twist, for instance, the Twitter look-a-like quote format.
You don't want to create a ton of different posts, all formatted in a thousand different ways. That might be too innovative, and people will not bite because they're not yet ready for it.
As such, it's a fine line of breaking through the noise of what everyone else is doing. On the one hand, you want to be better, be an early adopter, but on the other hand, you don't want to be too far ahead so people can't catch up to you.
Recap: break through the noise, but ride the front of the wave in social media land, so you don't get too far ahead of everyone else.
Earn the trust of your audience
Whatever you do, share a lot of knowledge and practical advice that people can use immediately. In no time, you will be an authority on social media, and so much wealth and success will follow.
Prove to be people you know what you're talking about. TRUST IS KEY, and you can build trust by using the Authentic Authority Principle as you build your brand online.
I challenge you to use the next 30 days to post a video every day to prove to YOU that consistently showing up has the potential to change the entire course and success of your brand.
As you post your videos in the next 30 days, remember these key takeaways:
- Be really loud about what you do
- Show up consistently
- Serve people, be of value
- Give more than you ask
- Break through the noise
Watch this episode on YouTube or listen via iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and search for episode 74 of The FastForwardAmy Show.
If you're ready and committed to building authority on social media, be the king or queen of Instagram stories, and provide massive value to your community, I strongly recommend you grab the free video training; Spot On Stories.
During the training, you will
- Learn the 3-step formula to captivate your audience.
- Gain story-creating camera confidence.
- Discover the only app you'll ever need to create visually appealing stories.
We do not take any responsibility for the financial decisions (or any other business-related decisions) made by listeners/businesses based on our podcast content. Every business has its own specifics, which we cannot take into account in this podcast.
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