5 reasons to up your visibility game on social media (especially if you don’t love selling)
Sara Dalrymple is a sales and visibility expert helping female creative business owners find the confidence to become more visible and to sell online. But in a way that feels good and matches their personality, allowing them to generate more leads in less time and make more impact in the world.
Being visible on social media is essential for any brand wanting to attract customers and connect with their audience. But what does visibility mean in business and what are the best ways in increasing your online presence?
Sara’s got you covered in her brilliant guest blog post where she shares her expertise and top tips.
Written by Sara Dalrymple.
If you’re on social media for business, it’s highly likely that one of your main goals in doing so is to use your chosen platform to generate a steady stream of leads and sales. But if you don’t have clarity over what you should be doing there, it can quickly turn into a huge time-drain with no actual clients booking in with you in return.
Being visible is all about positioning yourself in the right way to the people you want to work with, and it’s never been easier to find and nurture common ground with your audience.
Every time you get visible you make yourself available to your audience, allowing them to connect with you as a person and the work that you do.
If you are a business owner who would like the time you spend on social media to start getting you leads and interest from the kind of people you really want to work with, then here are my five top reasons to make sure you are using visibility to achieve this aim.
1. Visibility is the fastest way to give your clients what they are looking for
Before any client will decide to buy from your business, there are three key things they want to see from you, and being more visible online accelerates our clients' ability to absorb all three:
Connection: This is important because often as consumers, we aren't only interested in the end product or service, we want to work with people we know, like and trust.
Confidence: i.e. examples of expertise and how you can help your clients. Social media provides multiple ways we can show client feedback and share good news stories about how our work has helped them
Clarity: What do you do for your clients, how can people work with you and what is your area of expertise? Spelling this out so your audience doesn’t have to figure it out on their own speeds up their decision making process about whether to work with you.
2. Being visible will allow you to get to know your existing audience better as well as improving your engagement
Humanising your brand and telling the stories about your business by showing your audience your face and allowing them to hear your voice will have a huge impact on the way your audience engages with you. Helping people connect with you on a personal level: delivering personal stories, sharing your values and the experiences you’ve had so far all set you apart online because not everybody is doing so.
@stalf.studio
“Helping people connect with you on a personal level: delivering personal stories, sharing your values and the experiences you’ve had so far all set you apart online because not everybody is doing so. ”
@wowsancho
Features like Instagram Stories are a brilliant way to create opportunities for conversation, which in turn allows you to get to know the wants and needs of the people who follow you.
3. Visibility allows your clients to self-select into your offers and services
Making a point of showing up and talking about how your customers or clients can work with you is arguably one of the biggest differences you can make to how you generate leads online. All too often, businesses don’t do this and become the world’s best kept secret. Don’t leave all of this information lurking on your website: if your customers are on social media, then your job as a business owner is to bring the information they need to social media and not leave their chosen platform to do so. Do it often so that over time your followers become clear on what your range of offerings are.
@beijalondon
Doing this allows your customers to self-select without you having to ask for the sale, simply because they know what you do and they buy in to you as a person in business. In addition, another great side effect of being more visible is your audience becomes more ready to refer you on to their network, invite you to speak in their communities and generally spread the word about what you do, without you even having to ask.
4. Being visible has never been easier, more fun or as varied in approach as it is today
Not so long ago we were limited to blog posts or YouTube, and now look! The opportunities to introduce context and relevance have never been more plentiful, and even within a single platform like Instagram you can have a lot of fun using the variety of options from GIFs to Boomerangs to polls to keep your content dynamic and varied for your clients.
Using calls to action gets people used to having chats with you, and every conversation is an opportunity to build relationships and spread the word about your business organically through word of mouth. So, find what feels fun for you and experiment until you’re happy!
5. The difference showing up will make to the leads and sales you generate will blow your mind
As we all know, people buy from people, and that’s really why I’m so passionate about helping my clients become more visible online.
Having a simple but intentional strategy around the way you present yourself online has never been more important BECAUSE there are so many options and ways to find those perfect clients and to attract more customers – my goal is to help business owners like you feel confident in the online space so that the clients and customers who are looking for you can find you, connect with you and book you with ease on both sides.
I have grown my business using the simple strategies I teach and I want to help you do the same.
Top tips for getting started:
Start with baby steps and making the commitment to being more visible. What matters is that you are consistent, whether that means once a week, three times a week or every day (we’re all different so whatever is realistic and feels good for you).
Making the decision to be more visible doesn’t mean you have to spend hours per day on social media, or even that you have to talk to camera if you don’t want to – there are many different ways you can show up more for your business and I’ve summarised them in this downloadable checklist, which you can get HERE.
Think about how you can help people - can you provide useful tips or tell stories about how your business came to be?
Your social media profile is an opportunity for you to create whatever atmosphere you want for your audience, and it's worth thinking about this. Often this will match up with elements of your personality, for example it might be calm, lifestyle focussed, a place to escape to, or it might be high energy, inspiring and informative. What do you want your customers to FEEL when they arrive on your page?
@kankan_london
Visibility confidence boosters:
- Practice on your phone first
- Start by not talking to camera and sharing polls or photos with text on, and then build up to it (if you want to)
- Recommend accounts that you love and ask your audience to tell you what they would like to see more of from yours
- Collaborate with other like minded business owners via IG Live on topics you think your customers will enjoy and that are a good fit for your business
The beauty of Instagram Stories especially is that they only last 24 hours, so they're a brilliant way for you to let your customers see more of your process and into your world. Your customers don't want perfect, they want REAL, so have fun with it!
Sara’s aim is to bring simple, feel-good sales strategies to every business owner fighting for success on their own terms, and to give her clients the confidence that allows them to show up for their businesses.
Learn more about Sara and what she does here.