Last week I attended a networking event (there was wine involved, but it was work, honest) to listen to Vickie from inpolife.com, a graphic designer who built her Instagram following from 0 to 20K in the past year.
It was a thought-provoking night, because despite those numbers, she admitted that she didn’t really have a strategy. Vickie doesn’t plan or schedule her posts, she doesn’t have an over-arching content calendar that shapes her year, she had built those numbers simply by being friendly.
Part of my job is helping businesses with their content marketing, but now I wondered if I’m doing it all wrong? Having thought more about it I realised that while her approach might seem haphazard, her underlying business strategy was sound, and while apparently simple, not necessarily easy:
- As a sole trader Vickie chose to present herself as her brand.
- She takes that role seriously, posting consistently
- She stays true to her brand position of being inspirational and honest
- Her goals are to connect with people, and make a living while doing it.
Being your own brand ambassador can work for anyone confident enough to represent their brand on any platform: show your face, be the person people associate with your product. Clickthrough rate for links/ads with a face on them is much higher than any other image, there’s a reason for that, we are human and we engage with human faces. Put a genuine personality behind that face and we get a real connection.
Take socialising seriously. Vickie realised she could reach real people when she posted, so she posts regularly, and makes a consistent effort to respond. This is the key to marketing on social media, you have to nurture your audience, communicate and respond to comments, because we are all human. It’s fine to mention your product, we’re all entitled to make a living, but if you ONLY talk about what you do, and what you sell, then you’ve started broadcasting, and stopped socialising.
I take socialising very seriously.
Maintain your brand voice. You’re lucky if that’s your own voice: Vickie sells inspirational and honest prints, and by being an excellent human being with everyday ups and downs, her representation directly reflects her product, and speaks to her customers.
Don’t chase vanity metrics. Your goals should not be to “get 10,000 followers”. If your crowd is not following you honestly, then they won’t be interested in your product or service. Much better to have a smaller, engaged following who share your work because you inspire them, you make them laugh, and they appreciate your skills. Sure, pay attention to the metrics, know your audience, and do more of what leads to actual sales, but don’t just do it for clicks.
This approach can work particularly well if you’re a service provider who makes personal connections with your clients, or a designer/maker whose product reflects your personality, but the key takeaways can be embraced by any business, and even – shock horror – be incorporated into a content marketing schedule!
Find me on Instagram at @wildflowerdgtl. Say hi, let’s be friends 🙂
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