OK – first of all a caveat.  I am obviously VERY active on social media, this whole blog in fact has been created on the back of my success online (relative) and my opinion that in business if you want to get more (success), you have to give more (content)……
BUT
I am no social media expert.  I am learning, I am trialling and I am occasionally failing.
If you want a social media expert – there are hundreds of them offering their services, most of them have considerably less followers and engagement than you
(I never get this, if you are offering your services to improve someones social media please make sure yours is shit hot.  Nobody wants an overweight personal trainer for example)

Anyway, I digress.
Putting it very simply Social Media for business, in 2019, is EVERYTHING.
I genuinely do not see a quicker and more effective way to market to an audience, that can be very specifically targeted based on your offering.
I also genuinely believe that if you do not embrace Social media for your business very quickly, you will get left behind, and that your level of growth will be very restricted.

So in this particular blog, I am going to talk about the learnings that I have taken, posting several times a day, analysing the results, and now having seen significant financial gain as a property investor, and actually in many other ways, through the use of Social Media.  And believe me, as far as social media usage goes, I am still very much in first gear…….I have so much more planned now that I have seen the success………

This is my instagram – please follow https://www.instagram.com/dannyinmanproperty/

OK – so let me give you some very basic tips on social media, what I have done, and some of the successes (and failures) that I have had.

1. GARY VAYNERCHUK.

If you research him I won’t need to elaborate, but because I know people are often far too f**king lazy – I will.  A straight talking, self admitting marmite style, absolute legend in digital marketing and social media.  Gary Vee called the huge power of online personal branding years in advance of most others with his first book – Crush It, and is still, in my opinion miles ahead with his updated book – Crushing It.  I would love to meet this bloke and thank him for the online inspiration he gave me, to give more content in my world of property, and the fact that the business is reaping benefits as a result.  I also like that he doesn’t really give a sh1t – he gives regardless, if you like it and implement it you will go far, if you don’t you are missing out.  PS you don’t have to like someone to know they are talking sense.  Look him up.                                                                

2. KNOW YOUR MARKET. 

What is your intention? A lot of people go into “social media”  ( I would change this to business people to “business media”) without any form of plan.  Someone else is doing it, so I think that I should.  What do you want to achieve?  What message do you want your business to share?  HOW CAN YOU ADD VALUE?  Have a strategy.  Mine is as follows, in a typical of 5/6 posts :

CONTENT – something about your market of value to other people, statistics, strategies, a new learning, documenting your findings etc.
PROPERTY – this is my industry – be specific about a property transactions, a deal you have agreed, the numbers, show refurbishment progress, offer figures etc.  Be transparent and honest.
LIFESTYLE –  people still need and want social proof.  If you say you have the great life (what even is that?) people want to see proof.  They also want to see that you are human, and not too different to them.  We are all people, and principals all have the same needs at our core.
MOTIVATION –  good and bad.  Post the shit as well as the successes.  People love that you have struggled too, and the learnings that you have taken from it.  As a property investing, social media lover, my struggles get the most engagement, because people will have previously looked at me and thought “he makes this look easy.”  It isn’t, and I don’t.  Also people love a quote, and your interpretation of it.
OFFERING – WHAT CAN YOU OFFER PEOPLE?  Ultimately, people need to know what business you are in, and how you can help them.  Are you selling deals?  Are you offering mortgages?  Do you own a fish and chip shop.  Share what you can offer.

3. ENGAGEMENT!!!!!!!!!!

People buy from people that they like, and from people that they feel have given them value in some way.  Reply and like comments, stand up to anyone hating with a reasoned point, reply to messages, watch stories, GIVE PEOPLE YOUR TIME.  Now this is without a doubt the most time consuming part of social media for business, but without a doubt the most rewarding in the long term.  More than ever, especially in my industry, people need you to give them more before they are interested in your offering.  More content and more proof.  I love that.  This is how it should be.  If you want my money, then prove you know what you say you do.
And if you can’t even be bothered replying to a point, then how good will we work together.
Now this is a contradiction.
You can’t reply to every message (for everyone offering me bitcoin investments I am sorry, I ignore you), but you can be gracious enough to reply to those who show a genuine interest in what you do and are following and liking your stuff.
Now it may take me a week to catch up (I have actually blocked an hour a week in my diary to reply to any messages I may have missed) because of the volume that come through.
I will reply eventually, if I don’t you have gone to spam, or please send one saying “Oi”.

 4. DO NOT BE OBSESSED WITH THE NUMBERS.

Obviously we all want more GENUINE followers – as that means we can share our message further, and the odds of us reaching more opportunity is scaled hugely.  But obsess over content and percentages, and not the gross number.
What do I mean?
Well, I would much rather have a 1000 followers with 10% of them liking each post, and engaging with my content and through messages, than 10,000 followers with 1% engagement.  The number is the same, but the noise is less.  You are serving a true and genuinely interested audience.  The engagement percentage is key.  It tells you how much the audience that you have, likes what you post.  This matters most.
DO NOT BUY FOLLOWERS – the singlehandedly most egotistical and ridiculous move I see people make.  They buy fake followers so that they look popular.  It is obvious.  Your engagement will be low, the followers will be fake, and Instagram knows.  And soon those followers will disappear, and you will be blackballed.  Get your ego in check, and offer value, if its good your audience will grow anyway.  For those with 10,000 followers getting few likes and even less comments, I see you ……….

5. EACH PLATFORM IS DIFFERENT.

 Master one, and then the next, but aim to be on them all.  Visibility is everything.  I gave up on Facebook because my mentality was “I have had 5000 friends for years, and been banging on about property forever on here.  If they don’t know what I am doing by now they never will.”  I was completely wrong but still glad I thought like that (because it pushed me to start on Insta which is where my focus is currently).  Peoples situations change, and people think of you when you are fresh in their mind.  All platforms work with consistency.  It is a case of timing.
What I have found is that each platform, and its algorithms (I genuinely have no idea how these work) are very different.  What I post on Insta and is a huge hit, will flop on LinkedIn, and vice versa.  The audience, and their mindset and reason for being on the platform at any one time are entirely different.
To prove this theory and my comment on numbers obsession:

•   I have 28,000 followers on LinkedIn – my last post (which was quite impacting I thought) – got 14 likes and 4 comments.  On Insta I had 10,000 followers, with a very similar post, it got 564 likes and 21 comments, and over 1000 blog visits.  Engagement over gross numbers and the difference in each platform evidenced.

my LinkedIn Post with limited engagement

So by every platform I mean Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Blogging, YouTube, Snapchat and Gary Vee talks about others still………
Treat them all differently and find what works with each.

 6. IT IS A GAME OF TRIAL AND ERROR.

On each platform you will learn that certain topics will be a hit, or if you post at a certain time of day it will be much better received than others (1-4pm for me).  Some hashtags will get you seen.  If something you post flops, don’t worry about it, just review it and maybe change something for next time.  Do not try and make every post the most inspirational thing anyone has ever seen – this is why most struggle.  They want every post to be life changing and motivational, and that will see their inbox light up (I have felt this way), but some of my best successes have come from a post that I thought was average.                                                                                                                                      BE CONSISTENT.  When you have started stay consistent.  I post daily, sometimes multiple times, offering (or trying to) value in every post.  I know I will be one of the first people my audience thinks of when they hear the word property investor, and one of the first they consider if they want to be in business in this world (plus I have been clear on my offerings remember).  If you genuinely do not know what to post then Gary Vee talks about documenting.  What are you doing today?  Why?  What are your key learnings?  What will you do differently next time?  Content content content – with consistency – brings results.

Hmmm a 7th tip.  1-6 are my main ones, but I feel like there should be a 7th, like one of those blokes selling you the next incredible strategy, everything (especially the price) should end with a 7

So I am going to go with this:

7. TAKE ADVICE FROM THOSE WHO ARE DOING WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.  

This is more life advice, than social media, but is relevant here.  I have already mentioned the social media experts with no following of their own, or the fake following brigade.  Stay away from them.
There are many in every industry having success, so follow them, and to put it bluntly – copy.  Now don’t take this literally, if I start seeing my pictures and exact words on other property investors Insta I am going to have some questions, but copy the theme, the approach, the system and their activity.  I genuinely don’t mind, we will reach different audiences at different times, already know different people, and I believe in abundance – we can all make it work.

I recently hit 10K followers on insta whilst in Dubai (lifestyle post)

Now go get started, no excuses.
You are not too old, too cool, too rich or too clever to improve your personal brand online, especially if you are a business owner.
Don’t get left behind.

See you on social

Danny x