Welcome to Episode 347 of Hit The Mic with The Stacey Harris.
It’s a new month and that’s means today we’re talking about three things you need to know right now. Often these are network updates and things like that. But, this month I actually want to talk about some more strategy stuff, because there are a lot of questions coming up in some one-on-one calls I’ve had and in Backstage about when to do these things or if an idea is crazy. I want to just dispel all of that right up front, all right?
Running Ads to Content
Three things you must know right now in May. First things first, the idea of running ads to content. This is a really great brand awareness goal, because again, you can lead with value by leading with your content. Often times, we think an ad can only be run if it’s immediately going to pay off in an opt-in or immediately going to pay off in a purchase. That’s not the case.
In fact, I often run ads that really have no larger goal in the immediate future than getting my page, my content, my face in front of my target audience. That’s often the only immediate goal I have, so sometimes that will mean driving traffic to a video that’s around Facebook. I’m not even driving traffic away from Facebook. I’m just driving them to value or driving them to a text only post or an image post. Again, right on Facebook that I want them to engage with. Or run an ad to a piece of content like this episode.
It really is just about putting the content and the value in front of my target audience, so that when I follow that up with a pitch for a webinar or an opt-in of some kind of a membership trial or just straight up Backstage or whatever it is the next step is for that person. It’s not the first time they’ve seen me. It really is that simple guys. So, your immediate goal to not have to be, “I’m going to get an opt-in. I’m going to make a sale.” Your immediate goal can simply be brand awareness and the best, best, best way to establish brand awareness. The best way to build credibility and get those good feels from the people who are seeing your content. Give them value.
We talk about value a lot. We talk about content and focusing on giving. But, this is a prime example of where that may cost you a little. That’s okay.
Honestly, I love running small budget ads to a look-a-like audience for content. I’ll run an ad for an episode of Hit the Mike TV. We do weekly Facebook lives and we call it into my TV and I’ll actually boost that post and target that to a look-a-like audience. Especially with the new custom audiences. Based on the people who watched a certain percentage of the video originally. Yeah. You can do that. It’s a really, really powerful way for me to get the exact same people who are already enjoying content … More people like them. So, I can actually drive views to a video.
Often my videos will have some kind of call to action, so that may net me an opt-in to something or a purchase or something. But, more often than not. You know what it does definitely net me? A like on the page, a comment I can engage with, and touch point. Those touch points are valuable. We’ve talked a lot about touch points and the process of sales and it takes seven touches for somebody to really respond to something. In the land of the two second attention spans that touch point has increased, so find ways you can interact with people. You could have those touch points that are filled with value and ads to content, ads to value, ads for the sake of brand recognition are a powerful first step. Okay.
Maintaining Your Organic Content
Number two, don’t forget to support any ads you’re running, that are for something that’s got an immediate goal of an opt-in or a purchase. Be sure you’re supporting that with really good solid organic content. Now, when I say organic content I mean content you are not paying to get in front of somebody. I don’t mean, “Oh, I need to have six pieces of my blog content go out today, because I’m running an ad for this challenge.” That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying a good mixture … Yeah, some of it’s also going to be promo for that challenge, especially if you’re running those ads as dark posts. Well, double especially if you’re just boosting post.
If you’re running an ad campaign, I’m hoping some of them are dark posts, but promo posts, content posts, your content strategy that you usually have for your Facebook page needs to still be executing. Don’t say, “Oh, I’m running this ad campaign, so I either need to do one of two things.” These are the two major mistakes I see people make. They go to one way, which is, “I’m not going to post anything on page, because I’m spending time creating my ads and I forget about it,” in most cases. Or they go the other way and it’s, “Oh, I need to sale, sale, sale, sale, sale to support the ad campaign.” No, keep it business as usual with a little extra. Meaning a little extra may be some of that promo stuff. A little extra maybe an extra push to content, because your content has an opt-in on it for that same challenge, because remember these pieces of our digital marketing plan they all work together, so our content is supporting whatever ad campaign we’re running. Make sure those things are all supporting each other.
Now, some of you are going, “Well, obviously because I run ads all the time. I couldn’t just turn my page off.” But, there’s some of you who only run ads from time to time and what I’m seeing a lot and what I’m having in conversations with some of these people are they’re forgetting the organic side of things. So, do not leave that real estate abandoned. Keep it business as usual. You got to be providing the content. You got to be sharing the other people’s content. You got to be doing the promo. You got to, got to, got to support that foundation. Because here’s the thing, if you’re running an ad to a cold audience they may take a step before they click the link and go over to your landing page. What they may do is actually click on your name or your page name and go check out who you are on Facebook. They may want to see some credibility factor right there on Facebook before they click this link into lala land. How many times have you done that? I do a lot when I get an ad to a company I’ve never heard of before, because I want to know what their vibe it. Is this legit?
Make sure you’re taking some time to reassure that that credibility is going to be there. Okay?
Short-Term Social Media
Number three, this month inside of Hit the Mic Backstage if you haven’t yet checked this out we’ve got the short-term social media strategy training. This is all about adding to your strategy or building your strategy for those short-term pieces of social now. We’ve got Facebook stories. We’ve got Instagram stories. We’ve got Snapchat stories. It means looking at how those fit into your social. One of things I really like about this and we talk about this in the Backstage training, so again, check that out because it’s really cool. This is your chance to connect as a person. By as a person, I don’t mean you have to be a personal brand for this to be well executed. In fact, I really encourage you to look at some of the massive brand stories that happen on Snapchat and happen on Instagram because they’re executing at a really high level telling some really cool stories in a way that allows us to actually … Ready for this? Connect with them. There’s a personality even if it’s not a person.
Back to my rant here. This short-term stuff really allows us to connect with that personality. See those behind the scenes, invest in the experience that’s happening in this business and in this company. It allows us to really get connected with the message, with the brand, with the soul of what’s going on in a really tactical connected, shifting into that community mindset kind of way. That’s why I love this short-term social stuff.
Now, if you are somebody who’s a personal brand. I know a lot of you are. Maybe you’re an info entrepreneur where you’re talking about health coaching or business coaching or life coaching or relationship coaching or career coaching and it’s your name on the letterhead in the sense that you are a personal brand. A lot like I am here at The Stacey Harris. Those stories become exponentially more valuable, because guess what? Your community they don’t want your brand personality. They straight up want you. They want to see what you’re doing, how you’re running your business, how you’re executing that new health routine. They want to see what’s going on.
You know? Recently, there’s a really great example of this happening in a long-term strategy way, but also in a short-term strategy. There’s a personal trainer named Michael Canty who is on YouTube. He has a brand called On the Regimen. He’s fantastic at executing this kind of thing. He, right now, is working on a cut situation meaning he’s cutting calories. He’s at a deficit. He’s trimming up further for summer, because he wanted to.
Not only did he make a YouTube video about this he’s been sharing it on his YouTube channel. If you follow him on Snapchat you’ll actually see kind of like what’s he’s eating, what he’s doing. He is showing that he’s living this. He’s showing the good, the bad, and the ugly. He’s showing the, “I’m hungry and being on a deficit sucks.” He’s showing the, “This is fantastic I cut and I feel good.” Whatever. He’s actually making his community a part of that experience, which not only connects you with him as a person. Not only reminds you, “Hey, he knows what he’s doing, because he’s telling me all of these things. He’s establishing his expertise.” But, he’s also connecting with you. “He gets what I’m trying to do. He gets what I want to do. He gets how this feels. He get when this sucks. I’m going to be able to say, “This sucks,” and I’ll know that he understands that.” That is valuable. Stories allow you to do that in a really cool way.
Don’t forget your voice. Stories, whether it’s Facebook, Snapchat, or Instagram, they allow you to connect in a way we’re not seeing in a whole lot of other places. So,if that’s a fit for your brand and I’m guessing it is, it just might be about changing how you execute it. Watch that training inside of Hit the Mic Backstage.
That’s it. That’s our three things for this month. If you have any questions, any time at all, head over to the website, TheStaceyHarris.com. Ask them there. Even better, come check out the private community inside of Hit the Mike Backstage. Because of course, you can ask questions there anytime. All right. I will see you very soon.
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