What makes a social media presence successful and fruitful lies in engaging with your audience and responding to people who have replied to your content, as well as having good content alone.
Building up your social media presence consistently raises the likeliness to receive more content engagement. Engagements come in all kinds of forms, including comments, direct messages, new subscribers and new followers.
Gaining new likes, comments, and direct messages gives us that instant rush of excitement. It's a fantastic feeling BUT be aware of the types of replies you receive because not all responses may sound as promising and genuine as you think.
The world of social media is enormous, and thousands of users worldwide use it every day, so, at times, you will have to watch out for WHO responds to your content.
Many people are promoting themselves and using social media for many reasons, from advertising to sharing stories to even setting up a scam! Yes, I said that word, SCAM.
I had a small business client who received a comment from one of her postings. The comment is from a regular Instagram user featuring business owners the one-off opportunity to gain maximum exposure in front of her 10k followers to guarantee 500-1000 new followers for her business for just $35!
It sounded like a fabulous bargain deal to pay only $35.00 to guarantee at least 500-1000 followers.
You reply to the person, and she directs message you the offer. She asks for your email address to send a proposal. Then in the email, she mentions the proposal with 3 of her packages:
1 Shoutout - $36 for 500-1000 followers 2 Shoutouts - $60 for 1100-2100 followers. 3 Shoutouts - $76 for 2200-3000 followers
Then she sends an invoice after she acknowledges your interest. Though the way this lady has crafted up the proposal sounded very straightforward and automated. There is no REAL personal feeling from the email. Do you need 500-3000 followers to move your business forward? Who are you trying to convince to work with you if you have a high following? Are we winning numbers OR winning real people? Think about this.
I have looked up these types of 'collaborations', and many businesses do not reach 500 followers and never get refunded. The person has no other existing online presence but solely an Instagram page consisting of just business page shoutouts from businesses who have brought into her offers, but not her genuine content. That's an alarm bell right there! You don't know who this person really is? Is she a legitimate business?
Remember, please don't be attached by the numbers your presence generates as the quality of connections & conversations is the accurate indicator for success instead of quantity.
Scoring in 3-5 new potential clients plus a podcast opportunity from an organic following of 350 followers in one month for instance sounds more successful compared to scoring in 5000 new followers and no opportunity or connection won.
Overall, the lesson is to be aware and do your research on who is reaching out to you, if they are a genuine person or a business or not. If you are in doubt about a person, LOOK THEM UP. Do they have an actual website? Is their social media presence real? Do they have any images of themselves or any work they have done?
Be sure to only respond to truly genuine replies that do not sound very sales-like or automated, for instance: if they are giving you an offer or a collaboration that is too good to be true or at a mind-blowing bargain.
Plenty of new entrepreneurs fall under this trap, so we must be aware of the types of people we come across and connect with and keep a watch out for these types of conversations.
Be sure to look out for the following replies:
-Spam
-Promotion products that are entirely out of your interests
-Personal stories that are not in connection with your niche
-Too good to be true offers
-Getting automated messages about getting featured on social pages that are out of your niche
Have you been caught in a 'too good to be true' deal or almost caught yourself buying from crafty money-making schemes? you are welcome to share in the comments below so that we share the knowledge to raise awareness and help each other build thriving and fruitful businesses smartly.
Want to make the most out of your following and network smartly on your social media to score in those meaningful opportunities & new clients? Connect with me over a one-to-one strategy session and let's give your business the best presence it needs.
Connect with me on my website or reach out to me on LinkedIn at Namita Kabilas.
Let's grow your brand to great success!
To your success & growth!