Ok, I'm going to assume you took my advice and now it's time to consider how you're going to present yourself to the world and stand out from the crowd - otherwise known as...

Take if from Steve Jobs, who said:

Ok, now that you've nailed down your branding identity you're ready to move on to the full time part of your new job - and that's

For those of you who might be new to this terminology, 'Content Creation' means creating any type of content - lol - obvious right?! But in this case we're talking about Organic Social Media Marketing Content, which, is often just referred to as 'content.'

In this context 'organic' means posting marketing content on your business' social media profile, which you can do for free! So it's playing in the space just like anyone else, except that you're going to focus on your business vs posting pictures of your killer outfit when you went out to dinner last night. BTW - this blog doesn't cover paid advertising - which is another way to generate leads, it just isn't free and in my opinion shouldn't be the only way you drive traffic to your offers, especially if you have a new business.

Then there's the content itself, which can be written / text, videos, pictures, etc... but the type of content you create is going to be largely dictated by WHERE you're putting said content.

I'll explain...

Let's focus first on the most common place you see marketing every single day -

There are so many platforms now, and each one has its own algorithm and favors certain types of content (which is constantly changing based on the algorithm).

For instance...

Threads and X (formerly Twitter) used to be primarily text / written content, but now they also have some pictures and videos sprinkled into their posts,

YouTube is obviously videos (mostly landscape, but now they also have 'shorts' in portrait),

Facebook and Instagram (Meta) have a little of everything - text only posts, graphic text posts, picture posts, video posts, plus Reels and Stories,

TikTok has short videos in portrait (like Reels & Stories on Meta),

And LinkedIn has a little bit of everything, but is still text heavy.

Pinterest is highly visual, so everything is either a graphic or a video.

All of these platforms also have a comments section - where things get really interesting... anyway...

There's no possible way to teach you everything you need to know about how to be successful on any one of these platforms (let alone all of them) in a short blog post.

Check out the link below and get a head start on your content creation!

Another super tricky part of marketing on social media is having an actual strategy for what you post and in what order - the all important captions, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and frequency (to keep the algorithm happy and to stay in front of your audience.

This can be extremely overwhelming for beginners and even seasoned marketers who are trying a new platform.

If you know your target audience is on Instagram, then The Content Lab is an incredible resource because it has 90+ days of content that's been drafted for you to customize into your own posts!

It was carefully curated by a professional IG content creator and can even be cross posted to FB if you choose to connect your accounts. It's definitely worth checking out - it has saved me a lot of time and given me confidence in my strategy & approach.

If your target audience is on Meta (Facebook and/or Instagram) then you're also going to need a way to follow up with your prospective leads when they're HOT so you can turn them into customers!

Both platforms monitor your response time to comments and DM's and they want to see that you're attentive to people who interact with your content, so this is where automation is going to be your best friend!

Unless of course you want to be glued to your phone ALL DAY EVERYDAY - which just isn't reasonable, OR more importantly... scalable!

Manychat is a Meta approved tool where you can create flows that automate your responses to just about every type of interaction with your posts...

Like:

- Comments and likes on Stories

- Comments on Posts & Reels

- and DM's in Messenger, IG and WhatsApp (also Meta)

Meta does NOT like external links, because they want people to stay on their platform, so the way marketers navigate this is by sending people their links via DMs... which can be automated with Manychat!!

Trust me, you're going to want to get this set up quickly because what good is it to reach a customer if you can't drive them to your offer???

The Mastering Manychat mini-course below also comes with lots of pre-made flows that you can customize for your business, so it's a huge time saver and will get you up and running faster than trying to learn it yourself, so it's definitely worth checking out!

OK, so we covered the very basics of organic social media marketing and automation for the Meta platforms, but you have other options as well.

I'm not covering paid ads in this post, but you can buy ads on all of the social media platforms if you choose to do so. You can also buy ads (and ad words) on any of the search engines - like google, safari, etc...

But wherever you market (organic or paid) ultimately you're trying to find your target audience, so you can turn them into leads with your marketing, and then convert those leads into customers / sales via the sales pages on your...

Now don't let the thought of creating a website scare you! Seriously. Check out this post to learn more about how to approach this and why it's a great idea to learn this invaluable skill, because it will make your life easier in the end, and it will also help you stand out from your competitors because...

You can tie in your branding so that your marketing blends seamlessly with it, which creates a cohesive experience for your customers - that's your branding at work and not everyone leverages this opportunity to stand out!

Ultimately, you're going to put a lot of work into your marketing, and you want that hard work to pay off! One way to help with that is to make sure that when people see your content they can easily recognize it's you!

THAT's what builds the ever important Know, Like and Trust component that gets people to hit your 'buy' buttons!

If you're overwhelmed with the idea of creating a website and sales funnels then check out the customizable template I created below.

It comes with free training and it will save you a ton of time vs starting from scratch. You can easily apply your branding and it's responsive - which means it looks great both on mobile devices and desktops/laptops - unlike many others I've seen!

Finally - wherever you market, and whatever form you use, you absolutely 100% NEED TO BE COMPLIANT with the FCC or else you're putting your entire business at risk!

You are never too small for the FTC to find you - all they have to do is see one of your posts and they will evaluate your compliance against their rules, so you better make sure you know what they are and you're following them!

It's a pretty complex subject, but the 'Don't Say That' book spells it out. You can check it out at the link below, or in the next post... because this topic definitely warrants its own post!!

So keep reading 😊