I hope you’re doing well through this Covid 19 shutdown locally and throughout the world right now. I want to remind you to continue to keep the momentum going no matter what, and just because we’re going to be shut down for a period of time We have to remember that to continue pushing forward and remain progressive in our businesses.
I actually noticed that a majority of my clients and majority of the people in my network are starting to think differently. They’re starting to really push their minds and ask themselves questions such as “how can I take my business online?” “How can I still stay productive and how can I generate sales?” “How can I still generate revenue? “What new ways do I have to think in order to provide for my family?” “How will I still be able to live the same lifestyle that I was living previously after this is all over?”.
This message is especially for Small Business Owners, Solopreneurs, Salespeople and Marketers alike. Just because the world is at a momentary pause, the compounding effects, of you building your business, whether it be for a couple months, 1 year, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, it doesn’t matter. You still have the momentum working for you, on your side.
It is more important now more than ever to capitalize on that momentum. You’ve been busting your butt, going out meeting people, having lunches, and really investing into relationships but what happens is most people forget to do these three things. And the three things I’m going to talk about, Must to exist altogether and you should work on them simultaneously .
#1 Networking
Networking is something that we all do a little bit different, right?
If you’re like me, then you love going out meeting people. Personally, I enjoy having cigars, drinking wine, and having nice dinners with potential prospects or people in my network. I love getting dressed up, putting on a suit, or even just getting dressed down and hanging out. I can talk about business pretty much anywhere. It’s, it’s really a part of my DNA. It’s something that I’m extremely passionate about, but for me, networking in that sense works really well.
For others it may be a different story, I have a commercial real estate client who believes that the best kind of networking for him is making cold calls day in and day out to his target market. For him that method works well. And you should know by now what is the best form of networking that works for you. Regardless of the method you need to be constantly adding new people into your sphere of influence that can benefit you for business reasons.
#2 Social Media
Most people forget to add, or simply have not developed the habit of adding the people they network with onto Social Media. For some Small Business Owners such as Realtors or Insurance Agencies, it can be a little bit tricky, especially for people who are extremely “by the book” and want to follow every single guideline as if they were simply black and white. Top performers who are generating business from social media choose to see this as a grey area in their business. I have personally spoken to Top Real Estate Producers who claim to generate at least 33% of their business from social media. If you do that math, 40- \50 transactions a year It’s a pretty high number, it’s actually more than what 95% of most Real Estate Agents generate working their business as whole.
The way that these top producers see this guideline is that Real Estate is a personal business, one that is lived as a lifestyle and they should be able to share their Real Estate Victories on their Social Media Along with other aspects of their personal lives.
If you are only considering posting to Facebook Pages and expecting to generate anything Organically, then you will have to rethink that strategy as Facebook is very much “Pay to Play” right now. When you do not have a marketing budget yet, you will get more traction on your personal Facebook page vs. your business page. You’re lucky to get 2% – 4% engagement on a business page organically.
I want to help you understand how social media works with this very quick real life scenario
Let’s say I had a big birthday party. You ended up meeting my cousin Pedro at my birthday party, you two became really good friends, but not once did you speak about your profession or that fact that you are a realtor. You add him on Facebook and over the next few months you share your day to day life as a realtor, you’ve just marketed to him with a no pressure tactic and you’ve stayed on the top of his mind as the expert realtor. Now because you’ve earned Pedros trust and friendship he is going to be likely to refer you the next time a Real Estate conversation pops up.
This is just one example of Networking and adding people you meet onto your social media channels. I myself have developed a habit of doing this everywhere I go, I would say 80% of the people that are on my Facebook right now I met you somewhere very random.
Let’s use another scenario, maybe the connection was not very personal. Maybe, it was in a business setting and you are never going to add them on Facebook or even Instagram or any other platform that highlights your personal life, then Linkedin would be the perfect place to connect with this person online!
LinkedIn is a great way to track people on a professional level, and you can still post all of your content here. As I am writing this article, LinkedIn is rewarding content creators on their platform, they are giving the most free traction for organic content on LinkedIn right now over any platform.
If you’re currently not posting to LinkedIn whether it be videos, photos, articles, or simple posts you’re seriously missing out on a really big opportunity. Instagram and Facebook used to give out tons of organic traffic, now they don’t have to because they have proven that their traffic is extremely valuable and must be paid for.
Instagram is another platform that is great for adding people if you feel a personal connection with them, or they may even have a business page. Liking photos and responding to stories is one of the best ways to stay on the top of mind of prospects, it’s also free. We just want to make sure that if you made a connection with someone that they are added on whatever social media is most relevant for them.
Right before Covid 19 lockdowns went into place I had the opportunity to go to South Beach Miami. While there I was able to connect with 5 different people on Social Media, all from different walks of life, different backgrounds and all headed in different directions. Will these connections end up turning out to be revenue producers for my company? Who knows! The most important thing is that now they will all be on my radar and vice versa.
#3 Content Creating
There’s many formats you can put out content! Videos, photos, Graphics, infographics, short posts, full articles, live streams, stories. You can pay tons of money for huge productions or simply pull out your cellphone and start creating! It does not matter if you are an Entrepreneur, Soloprenuer, Salesman, Marketer, etc. I highly recommend you start creating as much content as you can so that you can start getting exposure to the network that you’ve added on social media.
It’s okay to mix personal and business especially on platforms like Facebook and Instagram! We see it happening all the time from some of the biggest influencers in the world. Just live your life! People love seeing behind the scenes.
We naturally give our business to people who we know, LIKE & TRUST. Video in my opinion is the best way to help people see how genuine you are, also they can get a better understanding of your ideology as well as standards and it also helps weed out the people who may not click with your personality as well.
Whenever I am out in public and see people who I have not seen in person for a while and we’ve only seen each other on social media, it brings me so much pride when they say things like “Hey I love the videos you’ve been making!” or “Man, you’ve videos are great, business must be going well!” This is one of my favorite results and I would even say rewards is knowing that the community that i’ve built perceives me as successful
Gary Vee says it best, “Became the mayor of video in your industry on Social Media.” or in other words. Whenever someone thinks about your industry, you are on the top of their minds as the expert. PERIOD.
Video has the potential to become your biggest lead generator in your business, not only does it work around the clock, the amount of attention you can get is simply insane. As a professional salesman, I used to have to make 100+ phone calls a day and I was lucky to have conversations with 15% of those people in an 8 hours period. Now, I put out one video and get hundreds of views and interactions around the clock. The video does not stop working just because you put the phone down.
I hope this article has brought tons of value to you!
Leave a Comment