Today I am writing about whether you are using your business social media to impress people or impact people.

Depending on your business model, both ways can work for you and work to build a sustainable and profitable business. So, I guess before you jump to whether you should be using your social media to impress people or impact people, think about your business model.

The reality is that it’s probably not either or – but both.

When you think about using your social media to impress people, you might, like me, think back to high school and trying to impress people!  But that’s not the “impress people” that I am talking about!  It’s not about impressing people with your looks or fancy clothing or your professionalism (unless your brand style is professional), it’s about impressing people with your knowledge, how well you know them and their problems, their pain points, their delightfulness points, and then on the other side of impressing people, you should be impressing people with feedback from past customers or clients, showcasing your problem solving skills and showcasing what you have done to help make other people’s lives more simple, easy, fun – whatever it is that you do!

So, when I talk about using your social media to impress people, it’s not about popularity but perhaps more about thinking strategically about using your social media strategies like engagement and brand awareness to impress people.

But if all you are doing is using social media to impress people, then it’s time you thought about using it to also impact people. Most of us, if not all of us, want to impact the people we work with or sell to.

We want to impact the way they see their “castles” (homes) by selling them beautiful homewares that help them have the home they want. We want to impact them to build a sustainable and profitable business. We want to impact them by bringing them joy by coaching them through their lives.

How you want to impact your customer/client depends on your business model, obviously!

But when you look at your social media or your marketing in general really, how are you impacting your clients/customers and potential clients or customers? What part of your marketing strategy is about impact?

Out of the 5 marketing strategies that I talk about – engagement, lead generation, sales, growth and brand awareness – using social media or marketing to impact people probably falls into an engagement strategy, lead generation and brand awareness strategies.

You can have an impact on a prospect or a client by sharing your knowledge, and remember, never underestimate what you know that others would like to know!

Sharing tips, tricks, hacks, busting myths and sharing your experiences – all these things can have an impact.

For example, creating and sharing lead magnets as part of your lead generation strategy, can help solve a problem that your prospect has, therefore having an impact on them and their business. The size of that impact depends on the quality of the lead magnet but also how that advice is implemented by the people who downloads it or watches it etc!

Have a look at your social media from the last month or so, and ask yourself this question:

Are you using it to impress or to impact – or a strategic mix of both?

Have a look at your past posts from a strategic point of view and especially taking into account the pillars of a good strategy I noted earlier – engagement, lead generation, sales, growth and brand awareness strategies.  (If you need help figuring all this out – get in touch!)

And finally, whilst we are talking about social media, – stop comparing yourself to others!

We need to stop comparing our social media to other business owners on social media, because we are all aware that (a) most people only post the highlights of business and life and (b) they aren’t where you are right now.  It’s great to aspire to be like someone, but if you are comparing your 12 month business journey with their 15 year business journey, it’s not a fair comparison and you aren’t being fair to yourself.

Share your knowledge, your resources, and your stories and have an impact on your audience and impress the hell out of them as to what you can do for them to make their lives or businesses simpler, easier, more profitable or just more delightful!

Get in touch, let me know your thoughts around using social media to impress or impact.  I believe the right strategy is a little of both – what do you think? Let me know by heading over to my Facebook group – Like Minded Business Owners and share with everyone over there. Email me jenn@jenndonovan.com.au or DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn – I would love to hear from you!

Or if you are needing to sort your socials strategy, head to https://calendly.com/jenn-smm/discovery to book a call with me, and we can have a chat and get you some clarity in how your are using your business social media.

CONTACT JENN:

Don’t forget, you can book a free discovery call with me to talk about how I can help your nail your business goals, planning, strategy and marketing! Simply click the link and grab a spot!

My Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group is also a great community to join – full of awesome people in small business!

Or you can DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn, or send me an email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au

I wish to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Yorta Yorta People, on which I conduct my business today and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reading this blog post today.

About the Author:

Jenn Donovan of Social Media & Marketing Australia.  Jenn’s an expert marketing coach and mentor from rural NSW. She is all about empowering business owners to earn what they’re worth so they can make a bigger difference in the world.  Not only is she a sought after expert on all things marketing for Small Business, she is a keynote speaker, author, was the Founder of Buy From a Bush Business and a Co-Founder of Spend With Us e-commerce marketplace, and is the host of the very popular podcast Small Business Made Simple and Stories from the Bush. Jenn is all about community and humans interacting with humans!  H2H Marketing – human to human marketing. Jenn talks the talk but importantly walks the walk!

Get in touch – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au

On Instagram – @jenndonovan_

On Facebook – Jenn Donovan

Or on LinkedIn as Jenn Donovan