36 | How to Grow an Engaged Community of Ideal Clients for Your Business
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How To Grow an Engaged Community of Ideal Clients
If you’ve ever wondered how you can grow your audience with an engaged community of ideal clients, you’re not alone! This is one of the top discussion points I regularly have with new clients. And in this episode, I’m going to walk you through exactly how you can build an engaged, loyal community of ideal clients and move them through your customer journey to the point of conversion.
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The 2 biggest misconceptions about building an audience that may be holding you back from growth.
Before we get into how to build an engaged community of ideal clients, it’s important that you go into this with a clear understanding of what it truly means to grow your audience and cultivate an engaged community.
So let’s talk about two of the most common misconceptions that might be holding you back from growth.
MYTH #1: THE MORE FOLLOWERS YOU HAVE, THE MORE MONEY YOU’LL MAKE
You cannot deposit follower count, likes or comments into the bank. They’re just vanity metrics. When it comes to marketing your business on social media, your follower count Does. Not. Matter.
What does matter is the QUALITY of your followers and the RELATIONSHIPS you create with them. If you can't sell to a small audience of 100 people, selling to an audience of 1,000 people won’t be any easier.
MYTH #2: YOUR MAIN FOCUS SHOULD BE ON BRINGING IN NEW AUDIENCE MEMBERS
This is a really common belief amongst Instagram users, especially. A lot of people think that once you’ve enticed people to follow you, you don’t have to do anything for them other than create content - and let me tell you just how damaging that belief can be!
Back in the days before I was a Marketing Mentor, I was a content creator and made most of my income through brand deals facilitated through Instagram. I grew my Instagram to 10,000 followers in less than a year, which may be impressive to some… however, I made a huge mistake.
I was so concerned with gaining followers, and hitting the big 10k, that I neglected the community I already had, and my engagement suffered as a result. I had no connection with my followers because they didn’t know me and that was because I hadn’t continued to build that relationship after they came across my profile.
Social Media gets its name for a reason. It’s about relationship building and connection! Building meaningful relationships with your audience is instrumental in growing your reach, engagement, and above all: growing your business and making sales.
How to attract the right people into your audience.
Attracting new people into your audience can be a challenging task for a lot of business owners. However, it doesn’t have to be as hard as you might think. I’m going to share a few of my favourite ways to grow my audience with you now, so make sure to grab a pen, grab a notebook and get ready to write these down!
1. KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
The first step in attracting new people into your audience is to understand who you want to reach. This means that you need to know your ideal client inside and out.
Ask yourself questions like:
Who are they?
What are their interests?
What problems do they face?
What kind of content do they like to consume?
By understanding your target audience, you can tailor your content to their interests, needs and wants, and increase the chances of attracting new followers.
2. OFFER VALUE
Make sure you’re creating valuable content. Whether you’re creating blog posts, videos, podcasts, or social media posts, make sure that you are providing your followers with information that they will find useful, interesting, and engaging. Offer tips, insights, and advice that will help solve their problems and make their lives easier.
When you create great content, new people stumbling across you are more likely to stick around, especially when they can see that the content you’re creating is being directly targeted to them.
3. COLLABORATE WITH OTHERS
Collaborating with other business owners will give you the opportunity to expand your reach and leverage new audiences.
Here are a few ways you could collaborate with others:
Blog guest posting
Podcast guesting
Instagram live collaborations
Instagram Story swaps
Hosting a joint webinar or event
Participating in bundles & summits
Recently, I was able to double the email list I’ve been growing for 3 years, in just 3 months, and I did this through collaboration and seizing opportunities when they come my way! Never underestimate the value of the connections you make in the online space.
How to nurture your existing community
It’s all well and good attracting these new audience members, but the work doesn’t stop there! In fact, I’d argue that it’s the work you do next that matters more than anything.
Although your ideal client is already following you, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll pay attention. They’ll be following hundreds - if not thousands - of other accounts on Instagram and if you don’t do a good job at standing out amongst the crowd then you’ll likely just fade into the background and have another ghost follower on your hands.
In order to ensure this doesn’t happen, you need to nurture your community in order to keep yourself top of mind. Make it a priority to build genuine connections with the individual members of your audience. Connecting with your audience on a deep level is one of the best things you can do for your business, and it all goes back to that know, like and trust factor!
1. BE AUTHENTIC
The best way to create that connection is to be authentic. People can tell when you’re not being yourself, and they’re less likely to connect with you if they feel like you’re putting on an act. Be yourself, be honest, and be open. Your audience will appreciate it, and you’ll be able to build stronger relationships with them.
And on that note, remember that people connect with stories. Don’t be afraid to share your experiences and why you’re passionate about what you do. When you share your story, you’re giving your audience a glimpse into your life, and they’re more likely to connect with you on a deeper level.
2. ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
Take the time to get to know the people in your audience. Watch their Stories, engage with their content, and start genuine conversations!
So much of the time, the only reason someone will send you a message on Instagram, or any form of social media, is with the intention of selling. And this is one of the most inauthentic ways to engage with your audience.
Instead, prioritise building real relationships and having genuine conversations - not conversations that’s only purpose is to somehow switch the topic onto their offers and services. People can smell that a mile off! And even if they don’t straight away, it can leave them with a bad taste in their mouth if they think you’re showing a genuine interest and you’re having a nice conversation and then suddenly they’re being sold to.
I always recommend that my clients build relationships and go into every conversation without the intention of getting anything out of it. Because if you come away from that conversation simply knowing that you’ve made a new connection and that person is going to be paying more attention to you from there on out then that’s a huge win!
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Hey! I’m Tish!
I'm a marketing mentor for ambitious entrepreneurs who want to create more time, freedom & profit in their online business, in a way that feels good to them!
If you’re ready to build your business on your own terms, so that you can live the life you desire… grab a cuppa, get comfy & stay for a while ☕️ ✨
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