“LOTS OF PEOPLE WANT TO RIDE WITH YOU IN THE LIMO BUT WHAT YOU WANT IS SOMEONE WHO WILL TAKE THE BUS WITH YOU WHEN THE LIMO BREAKS DOWN.” — OPRAH WINFREY
Do you obsess about how many followers you have on social media? What really matters when it comes to building your online business persona? Is it the quantity of likes or quality of connection? You can breathe a sigh of relief. You do not ever need to stress about the likes and you should care less about the follower count. Say what? The goal is not to rack up more followers. You aren’t posting to build a following. Your primary purpose should be to tell your story and make valuable connections with your audience. Let the desire to be of value and may the conversation with your followers be your north star.
THE REAL US/YOU
We used to be very picky, self-conscious and judgmental of the content we posted. We were perfection seekers. We were worried about every post on a superficial level. We agonized about what each image or video looked like and how many followers it would bring in. In the beginning, it’s easy to admit we were a little shallow. We just wanted to feed our ego with likes. Let’s face it we wanted to be cool. Full stop. We didn’t really stop to think about the incredible opportunity our social media platform was/is to get to really know our audience.
BE USEFUL
Then we discovered that doing it only for the likes, for the popularity, wasn’t a sustainable marketing model. It was full of half hearted promises. We wanted to do things differently. We learned. We evolved. We tried out new things. We posted stuff we genuinely liked and posted things from other people we respected in the industry. We started to layer in things from our professional experiences. Beyond nail technique, we started a new subject. What is salon success? What does it look like? How do you get there? How do you stay there? With that exploration, we made ourselves useful to our audience. We focus the content on the person on the other side of the camera; showing you useful content like strategies that make you a better nail professional. We always ask if this is a topic that’s going help someone. We brainstorm. What does our community want to know? It’s important to note. It’s actually not what WE THINK you want to know. We put out content in response to what YOU ARE direct messaging us about. If we’re doing it right, we are listening as much as we are posting. That’s how we put out content that is of value.
NOTHING BUT A NUMBER
There is a quote about friendship from @dulceruby from @thegoodquote, “Sometimes your circle decreases in size but increases in value.” So let’s take a look at this example. What if you have 200 followers on social media who are listening to you as a nail pro. What kind of content is important to them? How do they want to be educated about nails? It might feel awkward at first until you start asking yourself, why am I posting? One answer might be, you post to Instagram or Facebook to work like a portfolio. Another answer might be, you post to social media so my current clients/potential clients have a look book, a menu of service options. The point is not to grow a huge following. The goal is for current followers to learn and be inspired by your talents. (Think of it like following a foodie on social media. Would you like to just see what they're eating or learn how they make it and any meal planning hacks they have discovered? It’s not just that I did it. This is how I did it.) Then start educating them about your services, what you do and how you do it. Share your expertise so they can get excited about their nail tech; who has great style, technique, customer service, and really knows their stuff. Your page becomes a place where your client gets bragging rights, this is why I pay her a lot of money. It’s a showcase.
POOR LITTLE BIZ TALK
We joke around here that the BIZ TALK on our YouTube channel is the least watched playlist.
There are not a ton of views and at first we wondered if we should bother. When it started, it lived a less than existence. You know what? We didn’t take it personally. We didn’t care that it got such slow action compared to other content like technique and nail art designs. I felt it was so important to go over business related issues for nail pros. We were completely caught off guard when we went to a nail trade show and all we heard was positive feedback. It didn’t get a lot of hits but to a very narrow audience, it was the talk of the town. We accomplished what we set out to do, be useful to our nail pro community. When you look at the comments, they are deep and the rate of interaction is higher. These are what really matters. It's really the most important.
EXCLAMATION POINT
The whole point of marketing yourself on social media is to earn quality followers and quality views. We’d rather have 5K followers with a ton of engagement than 10K followers and crickets. Let this be the mantra for your social media goals: high quality views, high quality content, and high quality interaction. We use it as a guide. What got the most hits? What got the most looks? The likes and the engagement will literally tell us what the followers want more of. Then respond to that and do a tutorial. Value based content is the goal of social media marketing. So many businesses miss the mark. They are only into it for the vanity metrics and not the quality stuff. It doesn’t have to be over produced with an insane soundtrack. It's the real raw stuff that’s relatable. How did you help someone out today? Were you able to give someone a piece of advice or information to move easier through their day? Through the engagement, we really acknowledge that we don’t know anything. Putting out content keeps you mentally nimble. It makes us willing to keep the community conversation in balance and always listen to learn more of what our community of nail professionals want.
**This is an adaptation from our YN Biz Talk playlist on YouTube,
“BIZ TALK: DOES FOLLOWER COUNT MATTER?”
***Follow our YN YouTube Channel and click here to watch the full discussion:
12 August 2020