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Of all the consultations, workshops, and group coaching I lead, a good 95% of them can easily boil down to this one fundamental, personal brand-boosting concept.
The fundamental concept
When people reach out to me to audit their social media, they’re frustrated because they feel they put out a ton of content and see very little return.
I get it. Social media and content creation can feel incredibly overwhelming. It can seem like an energy-sucking endeavor, and for what? A few likes and comments?
If you find yourself feeling this way about your social strategy, all the content in the world isn’t going to help you.
No, content is not the answer; context is the answer.
Why does context matter?
The default way of being for most humans is to be self-centered. It’s important to distinguish that I didn’t say, “The default way of being for most humans is to be selfish.” That is not what I’m asserting here. But, if we are being really honest, we can take a close look and admit that we live in the world from the lens of what is going on with us.
Even if we help others—our friends, our family members, our clients—we are doing so because they matter to us.
Once we can get straight with ourselves and acknowledge that we are designed to process the world from the context of “Why does this matter to me?” we can step outside ourselves and choose a different approach—“Why does this matter to you? What matters to them?”
When we listen, hear, and speak from that angle--that rare perspective of really understanding and connecting to another human’s motivations, story, and desires — we are free to bring real value and solutions to people.
Why this matters for social media
If you dedicate your social media as a vehicle to educate and inspire your audience with content that will make a real difference in your readers’ lives, you’ll begin to realize the true power of these platforms.
It is an impactful tool to drive business to you.
I love this quote, and I think it does a brilliant job of illustrating this very point:
“The goal is not to be successful. The goal is to be valuable. Once you’re valuable, instead of chasing success, it will attract itself to you.” –Source Unknown
Comments and likes will begin to shift into offline conversations where the value you offer makes an impact.
How to incorporate this into your social strategy
When posting to social media, whether it is for personal reasons or for business reasons, keep in mind that no one reading lives your life, is in your profession, or has quite the experience you’ve had.
Duh.
But I think we often forget this. We unintentionally post from the perspective that everyone has traveled down our path and will understand what we are about to say. Because of that, we assume people will know why we are sharing certain things.
Our job is not to share or to produce content; our job is to use our unique experience and skill sets to translate a message that will educate, motivate, or inspire the reader.
The question shifts from “What can I share?” to “Why will the reader care about what I’m about to post?”
Really. What matters to them? What lights them up? Does the article, picture, or sentiment you’re about to share speak to that?
If it doesn’t, go back and get really intentional with your messaging.
Set the stage for why you are sharing this and why you think they should care about it. As evident as it may seem, readers won’t “get” what you’re putting out there unless you preface it.
Notice the difference between these two posts:
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