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Business Owners and Entrepreneurs This Thursday – Newsletter, October 2019

October 16, 2019

 

Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
This Thursday, 17th October 2019

The Inspire Collective: Wellington Launch!

Sponsored by BNI Wellington and Wairarapa, and Urban Hub, The Inspire Collective is hosting an evening featuring four of Wellington’s top business thinkers sharing their stories and wisdom:

Anthony Lummis, Neos Systems – “How Will Technology Affect my Business?”

Kat Soper, Owner of The Helpful Company Brand – “Benefits / Tips for Being Part of a Community”

Samantha Gadd, Owner of Human Kind – “The Impact Brand Can Have”

Jo Jensen, Owner of Strictly Savvy – “Managing the Ups and Downs of Business Evolution”

Spaces are limited, so book now by clicking here.

I publish additional information over on my Facebook page and also on my LinkedIn – so make sure you are “following” me on Facebook and connected with me on LinkedIn. Instructions on how to do this are in my March 2019 newsletter, here.

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Why Building Your Business Community
is So Important

Growing a business can be tough. However, word-of-mouth is still the most effective way to raise awareness and grow a business. When referrals come from friends and family, people are much more likely to trust the referral. It is therefore important to raise awareness through systems, such as having brand ambassadors.

But growth is not the only target for a business; successful businesses are part of creative and supportive communities. Communities add value when they support members, make strategic connections, and act as a source of advice that members can apply to their own lives. Community members often share a passion for personal improvement and continued learning.

Keeping current customers engaged is just as important, if not more, as gaining new first-time users. The more time or effort that an individual invests into a product or service, the more they’ll end up valuing it.  Whether it’s through in-person events or online forums, communities are key to brand loyalty, awareness, and overall success. A strong and engaged community will lead to improved products, learning, and innovation, as well as company growth.

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Tips on How to Build Your Online
Social Media Community

Growing your social media community can be tough. How do you get more Twitter “followers”, or “Likes” for your Facebook page? It’s easy to get frustrated when starting, as it takes time to build an audience and, at first, it can seem as though you’re never going to have a sizable and engaged social audience.

Instead of simply “buying an audience”, below I have included a number of alternative ways to grow an engaged social media community for your business.

First and foremost – Lead with your passion. It is really important that you lead your social media community by connecting them with your passion, experiences and ideas. Letting your community in on your plans for the future is a great way for your business to include your community in the process and help build trust. Don’t you love it when someone asks your opinion and truly listens to your response? Do the same for your community.

Sure, your brand and logo are important — but what really connects people to you are shared beliefs and ideas. Talking openly about what you are thinking and where you want to head will help unite your followers and grow a stronger, more passionate community.

Another great tip is to tell your story and help others connect it to their own. Storytelling offers your business a great opportunity to emotionally connect with your audience.
What makes your business unique? Why should someone choose your product or service? What’s so special about you? And what’s the STORY behind that?

Here is a question for you – are you on LinkedIn? If not, why not!
It is such a great tool to build your online community. If you are on LinkedIn, take time to do the following if you are serious about growing your community online:

  • Participate in (or start) a LinkedIn group discussion regularly
  • Follow influencers, and ask or answer questions on their posts
  • Join relevant LinkedIn groups and focus on 3-5 of these and stay active on each one
  • Send 5-10 new invites weekly and customise each message. Don’t use the standard default invite request – it doesn’t make you stand out and, in all honesty, it is a bit lazy
  • Prominently display your contact information so you make it easy for people to contact you
  • Endorse people you know for their skills with no expectation of reciprocation
  • Promote your LinkedIn profile. Include it on your card, place it in your email signature, and on your website/blog
  • Tweet your LinkedIn updates to Twitter
  • Include links to your blog and website in your LinkedIn profile. This will help you build credibility by displaying your full online presence.

Another really basic, but crucial, way to build your online community is for your business to be easy to find and simple to join. Tactics like these can help make sure you are found and accessible:

  • Place social sharing icons on your website
  • Insert your website URL on your social media channel descriptions
  • Include your website URL and contact info on your business cards
  • Join social media groups in your niche and enter the conversation
  • Track mentions and associated hashtags to identify who is talking about you and your work
  • Make sure your business can respond to social mentions and inquiries FAST
  • Give email responses a personal touch – don’t automate your service help desk.

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Learn How Strategic Partners Can Be
Your Secret to Building More Referrals

Getting referrals is one of the main key ingredients to securing your business’s long-term success. For some, it feels like a big undertaking. One way to lighten the load and help you to create a more sustainable stream of referrals is to build strategic partnerships aka business communities.

Why go it alone, when you could instead join forces with other business owners and make the referral process easier for both of you?

So, how do you identify who you should build close partnerships with?

  1. Start by sitting down and talking to your clients.
    Who else do they love? Who else are they referring? Who else do they think should be a strategic partner? If you go and ask your best clients these questions and you start hearing names over and over again from them, then those people should be on your list. First off, somebody else has already recommended them, and secondly, you have got that shared connection already, so there is a really high chance that you could have a conversation from that.There are lots of other places to look as well. You may know people in your networking groups like BNI or other groups. You may know people by their reputation, or perhaps you have worked with them in the past. These are all great ways to start your brainstorming.
  2. The next step is educating your “team”.
    You have to educate your team and teach them about your referral process. Teach them how to spot your ideal client and partner and make sure what they’re keeping their eye out for is specific, not just “they need X type of business.” They should know what makes them tick, and what pain points they need solved.
  3. Another really important thing to do is let your team know WHAT makes you different.
    You have to be able to tell somebody, “Here’s how you would spot my ideal client. Here’s how to talk about our business in a way that presents how we’re different. Here are some of the things that an ideal client might actually say that if you hear them, you know that we’d be a great referral source.”

 

This process isn’t something that you can spend two minutes on and it’ll be done. Take each of these steps, break them down, and make it a goal for this quarter to get some part of this process started.

Even if you implement a third of what I just outlined today, I can guarantee you it will benefit your business.

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How can I help you, the business owner, be the best leader and version of yourself?

Book your first FREE consultation with me, where we will focus on:

Discussing your business
Reviewing your goals
Giving you ideas, and
Discussing your options

To take advantage of this offer you can give me a call on 027 447 7577.

I look forward to helping you succeed!

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Copyright © 2019 Steve Hockley Business Coach, All rights reserved.

My mailing address is: Steve Hockley Business Coach, 194 Waterloo Road, Lower Hutt, Wellington 6010, New Zealand


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