Social media is so incredibly powerful. At any given moment, you have the ability to reach out to hundreds, thousands, or if you’re really fortunate, millions of people.
In the fitness world, the people with the most followers have at least one of the following things in common:
1. They have a ridiculous figure and they gain millions of followers because people want to ogle at their photos.
2. They’re posting intriguing, helpful, and selfless content.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that because you’re reading this post, you don’t fall into the first category. I’m sure you look fantastic, don’t get me wrong. But if you had millions of followers, you probably wouldn’t be here.
If you want people to buy into you, then you need to stop shoving your products down people’s throats.
Social media is not the place to sell. If you’re trying to use Instagram or Facebook or Snapchat to sell your product, then you’re doing it all wrong.
Yes, the women who post booty photos or the men who post ripped ab shots every day are the exception…their millions of followers can ignore whatever they’re selling to continue to stare at their bodies.
Social media can be an amazing networking tool, but let’s be real, most people just want to have fun with social media. People use apps like Instagram or Snapchat to share about their lives, interact with friends and family, and follow people who they consider to be interesting for one reason or another.
I’ll ask you this: how many accounts do you follow on social media that are constantly trying to sell you something? I bet that number is really close to zero.
I’m going to use Jen Jewell as an example. Jen is absolutely amazing, and she offers online training to clients all over the world through her website. She utilizes social media very well, and not once does she try to force her training onto her followers.
[instagram-feed]
Click around to her various posts and see for yourself. Everything is a combination of fun quotes, workout tips, recipes, etc. You do not see an “email me for training plans!” or “buy this product now!” post. All of her posts are fun an engaging, and clearly her 125,000 followers agree.
Remember shopping malls? Do those things even still exist? Who knows. Either way, stick with me.
When you walk around a mall, you come across tons of those little kiosks. As you walk by, the candle kiosk employee jumps in front of you, shoves a candle in your face, and says “don’t you want your house to smell like this?”
Yeah, no thanks.
You keep walking and you notice a kiosk with 5 little puppies running around. Nobody attacks you, but you sure as hell want to go see the puppies. While you’re there, you explore their products.
Nobody had to force you to buy anything. All they did was create something compelling enough to draw you in, and you had total freedom to choose whether or not you wanted to shop.
Okay, that example is extreme, but you get the point.
If you create compelling content on social media, people will follow you. That’s a guarantee. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen.
Your followers will follow you because they enjoy YOU, not what you’re selling.
The longer they stick around, the more likely they will be to convert into customers.
Everybody wants instant gratification. But with social media, you need to play the long-game.
Continue to produce appealing content, and empower your followers to have the choice whether or not to buy from you.
The second you force your product onto a potential customer, they’re going to be instantly turned away.
Before anyone attacks my stupidity here, let me clear one thing up. It is more than acceptable to announce the launch of a new product on social media. The occasional post is not only acceptable, but encouraged if done correctly.
If you’re a trainer who sells online programs, and you launch a brand new program, by all means announce it to your followers! Just don’t do it every single day after the program is live. Post about it, then go back to posting interesting content.
Disagree? Let me know below!
