Hello Empire Builders!
I'm not sure about you but I can tell you I always want more. More of everything…more visibility, more social media, a bigger following, more likes, more comments, more shares, more, more, more. Does that sound like you too?
I recently posted on Instagram and my notifications were blowing up a little bit more than usual. I am going to share what I did and why you need to start incorporating this into your business! If you’re thinking that I am always changing something or trying new things it‘s because in my eyes, everything is a work in progress. Nothing is ever finished. Nothing is ever complete.
There are always finishing touches, little tweaks or pivots that can be made into something better and better every time. We're constantly asking ourselves where can we improve. If you haven’t started this with your social media and other content you are putting out, you need to start ASAP!
How do I know what my audience likes?
If you are thinking you don’t know where to start, how to make it better or how to connect with your audience, I’ve got you covered! If you ever want to know more about what your community wants to hear from you the best place to find out is by what you are already putting out there. If you aren't putting any content out there yet, you've just got to get started! Start an experiment. Go look at your likes, your comments and your shares.
You have to understand that not everything works for everybody. You have to test everything for your business and your audience before you make a final decision of what works. I know you always hear people say if you want engagement just ask a question and they'll respond. Well, not always. I can ask a question and it might be crickets…
You've gotta find something that resonates with your community and find what makes them want to jump in the conversation and share. I recently got back from two mastermind events (I'm in James Wedmore’s mastermind as well as Lewis Howes’). Between those two events we had five speakers and every one of them mentioned story in their talk. They came out and none of them knew what the others were going to say and none of them had the same background of expertise. None of them were storytellers and I thought that was more than just a coincidence.
They are all really successful people talking about the importance of storytelling and I won't forget what they said because that's what stories do. They help you remember the message. I don't share a lot about myself personally, but I do now more than I ever have. A year ago I really shared nothing but business tips and wondered, why? Why would I share personal things when you're coming to me for business strategy?
- Why do you need to know that I have two sisters.
- Why do you care that I'm from Wisconsin and I practically shop at Nordstrom.
- I originally went to school to be a high school math teacher before I changed to business and marketing.
Why did I start sharing things about myself?
Here's the thing, when I follow somebody and I resonate with them I kind of like to see what their house looks like if they're on a Facebook live, where their shirt might be from or what their must have skincare regimen is. At first I thought it was just me being weird or nosy and that no one really cared or wanted to know more besides me. But then my friends came over to swim in my pool over Memorial Day weekend and before they left one of them wrote down all of these things that I recommended from talking by the pool.
The thing is the people that follow you, listen to you and watch you really do feel like your real friends. And if you don't share things like you would with your real friends you will never go to that next level. And that was a big, big eye opener for me. We need to start writing to our friends who want to know more, who want go deeper and just learn every aspect about you.
The post with the most engagement
In this recent post I shared five things that you probably don't know about me:
- I grew up in an entrepreneurial family with a construction business. It is still going strong after 45 years when my grandfather started it about 45 years ago!
- My first job was at the age of 14 and I started working as soon as I could at McDonald's. I worked there for two years and then slightly upgraded to Walgreens for about another two years.Besides those two jobs the only other real jobs I've ever had was waitressing and bartending. I really started my first business which is the dance studios right out of high school when I turned 18.
- Even though I have two dance studios, the first time I ever stepped foot in a real dance studio was at the age of 15, which is so crazy late!! I always say that I was super late to the game and if you think you’re late to the game, you’re not! If I can do what I did with my studios, trust me there's nobody else that is late to the game. You can figure it out and anything is possible!
- My family is extremely close. I have two sisters and they both live next to my parents. My parents lived right next door to my grandparents so I grew up with my grandma and grandpa right next door to me and across the street my grandparents were my great grandparents. I never got to meet my great grandfather but my great grandmother lived there from the time I was born until just a few years ago. I am the rebel that moved 12 minutes away from everybody and my mom was not that happy about it!! Generations ago we had family that owned a ton of farmland and that's how we all have land by each other. There was a piece of land with my name on it and I kind of turned it down…so I'm still close but just not right there.
- I went gluten free in January and I joke that my stomach has never looked less pregnant!
So here's why I think I always would get it wrong. Before I would barely go into detail, barely scratched the surface and then I would ask my community to tell me all of their life goals. If I don't come clean about what I’m thinking about why would I expect them to? But, since this was the first time I really went a little deeper than normal, I feel like people wanted to share back. People started to direct message me and that's why I say it's my most engaged post.
I don't know that it's the most likes or comments I've ever had but I will tell you it is the most amount that people messaged me more than ever! So people were direct messaging me saying what we have in common and tell me part of their story and people were surprised by what I shared. The entire point of this is that I was able to make a deeper and definitely a different type of connection.
I do think just like anything else there is a balance here. If I go to your page and I don't know what you do or what you sell that's not good. Think of the 80/20 rule. You want people to look at your brand and know what it’s about. Make some of the personal things you share tie back into what your business is about.
The big question is…how can you go deeper today with your audience? I'm going to challenge you to post on social media (whatever platform is your go-to!) and share something you normally wouldn't share or haven't shared with your audience before. Let's just see what happens as again, it's all a test. We don't know what's going to work for you, the next person, me or whoever else. Do something that's a little bit more out of your comfort zone. Have fun with your business. Have fun with your social media. Don't make it feel like this big chore!
I want you to tag me @stacytuschl and use #StandOutEmpire because that's what we're doing. We're not just building our empire but we want to stand out amongst the other people in our industry. We don't have competitors because we want to be so different that you wouldn't compare me to the next female entrepreneur business coach. Just like I'm not going to compare you to someone else. How do we stand out at the same time we build our empire? When you stand out, your empire is going to be built so much faster.
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