Heroes in Business - Social Media on Steroids with Dan Shinder

Episode Date: February 28, 2021

01 Five to Keep Your Brand Alive! I share with you FIVE CRITICAL ELEMENTS to include in your content marketing on social and anywhere to help create more avid followers, more engagement, and drive more traffic for sales! Apply exactly what I teach, I guarantee you'll get better results.  

Hi, and welcome to the Social Media on Steroids podcast. I'm Dan Schindler, and I created the Social Media on Steroids brand of education, training, consulting, and services to help others learn from my experience of achieving extraordinary results with content marketing on social. I attracted a following of over 1 million people and reach millions more online each month, 100% organically. In this series, I share the strategies that helped me cross all the milestones it took to get there and that we still use. And please, before we dive in, take down my email address in case you have questions. I answer all questions and I take suggestions for topics to be

covered in this series you can reach me directly at Dan at advanced social marketing dot-com and of course the website is the same URL follow the blog there and the advanced social marketing YouTube channel okay let's jump in all right so how you doing I hope you're well where you are. This is really exciting. This is episode one of this podcast series, and I hope you'll tell your friends, and I hope you'll still be with me when I'm celebrating episode 1000. All right, I'm going to cover something really, really, really important in this episode. I call it the five to keep your brand alive.

But first, I want to remind you, there is so much. I'm always astounded by how much bunk information there is out there regarding social media marketing. And, you know, no offense to anybody, but when I see on just about, well, almost everybody's about section on LinkedIn or skills, they put social media. Like just because they have a keyboard and they're on social media, they put it as a skill. That's like me putting pro tennis player just because I wear tennis shoes. So I think people need to back off a little bit with all due respect. And actually, this is funny. Listen to this.

I had somebody tell me once who denied taking one of my courses about social media marketing. I did an assessment. I looked at their stuff. And their practices weren't up to snuff, let's just say, to put it nicely. And so went round and round, told them all about my course, gave them all the details, how it's going to help, what they're going to learn. They said, no, they don't need that. They don't need that for the new guy that they hired. Do you know why?

Because they said that social media marketing should be instinctive. What? Instinctive? Seriously. I fell over. I didn't know whether to cramp up, cry or laugh. That's like saying being a dentist is instinctive. Being an auto mechanic is instinctive. Being a dog obedience trainer is instinctive.

So we go from that extreme all the way to people like PR companies saying, hey, now we do SEO and we offer social media too. And they don't know what they're doing. But here's the conundrum. Many people in business, whether it's a big corporation or a solopreneur, entrepreneurs, a nonprofit, whatever it is, a lot of people don't know enough to vet a service provider. So that's one of the many things that will help you by following my podcast series here is getting enough information. If you don't want to hire us, that's totally fine. If you want,

if you don't want to take one of my courses, that's totally fine. But at least learn a few things that you can implement yourself to help you get better results right away. And I guarantee you will. There's no way it doesn't work if you implement exactly what I teach or at least learn enough to vet a few different service providers so that you know enough to call bunk when there's bunk and there will be bunk so five to keep your brand alive these are elements that will help you to mastering good content to use on any social media platform for any purpose regardless to the industry you're in even if it's a non-profit or for

business-to-business B2B and I wanna remind you that your email list your own audience your email list is a social media platform as well. It's part of your marketing, really. So consider that. YouTube, of course, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Knickknack, Paddywhack. There's dozens, and you don't need to be on a dozen. We'll get into that, and I'll expand on that in many more episodes as well. But for now, let's talk about five to keep your brand alive. First of all, you should always be marketing in one way or another. You do not have to be promoting something to market,

let alone be salesy in order to be marketing. Marketing is a foundation that should always be going on, not just when you have a new product or service or location or special pricing to promote. Marketing gives people a reason to answer to those things. So if ever there's a time to stay present and relevant, it's now. This is especially so if what you do typically involves being out in front of people in person and you can't be right now. We're on Zoom, a lot of us. A lot of us are doing business on Zoom when we used to be more in person and there's a lot of in-person stuff still going on. But either way, have you heard of out of sight, out of mind? Don't let that happen to you. That's why you always need to be marketing and why you always need to stay present. So this

five to keep your brand alive nugget is something so easy to do even in the best of times. And it's also key to how I built a following of over 1 million people around a lifestyle brand, Trump Talk TV, and it works the same for any business, and how I reach millions more each month 100% organically without ever boosting posts and without ever running ads. In eight years, we still have not done that. So again, regardless of what your business or industry is, this works. It really works. So from music to real estate, from dentistry to cars, truck sales, from coaching, consulting, just fill in the blank with whatever you do, this works. And I didn't make these steps up, but I'll tell you how I applied them to make them work for me and my brand and many, many clients and how I've been teaching this to clients over the years of doing this.

So years ago, and this is like 2007, someone was trying to explain to me what blogging was. And I didn't buy into it. I didn't understand just giving stuff away, giving stuff away. Now, I want to inspire you to give, give, give, give, give. It's all about value. But at the time, I really didn't get it. And then a little while after that, I read what the experts were saying the purpose of blogging was. And that was five things that I've renamed for my purposes and yours, five to keep your brand alive. Those are to stay present, to stay relevant, to be helpful to others,

to be inclusive, and to position yourself as an expert in your field. That's really what blogging was born out of to accomplish that. So when I wrapped my head around that, I realized, wow, that's kind of like really what we're doing on all our social media channels. We want to stay present. We want to stay relevant. We definitely want to help others. We want to make them part of it. That's being inclusive. And we want to be seen as an expert in our field. And hopefully you see the value in all those things as well. So here's the true, authentic, efficiently productive purpose to post. Because let's face it, most people, not you, but most people post by simply barfing out their thoughts or by talking at the consumer or their target market. Speaking with a megaphone, sometimes talking down to them, sometimes talking giraffe

talk way over their heads. And that just doesn't work. So anytime you let slip what I'm going to teach you right now, you lose momentum and you're practically starting over from scratch to gain the gains back that you got out of gaining traction so as you listen to this keep in mind that everything you post should include at least two of these following elements at least two if not all of them so let's take number one staying present present. You must regularly and frequently post content. Don't worry about the main objective I adhere to that is people are afraid they're going to wear out their audience. Well, I appreciate that consideration, but thanks to the platforms that we work with, they don't show everything to everybody who follows us. It just doesn't work like that.

So otherwise, you know, if you don't post frequently and regularly, you're going to be out of sight, out of mind. It's like stepping out of line and someone taking your place. Whatever your social media platforms are and in whatever preference you use them, you've got to use frequency. You've got to. I'll get into scheduling and frequency in another episode, but right now let's focus on five to keep your brand alive. Step one, stay present. And again, the algorithms will help you not wear people out. But I'll give you this nugget when it comes to frequency, at least twice a day, at least twice a day on every platform that you're on for lots of reasons.

One simple reason, not everyone's online at the same time. Don't think for a moment that if you do your one post on LinkedIn or Instagram or TikTok or Facebook or Twitter or whatever, Thursdays at four, don't think for a moment that people are waiting for bated breath like their favorite TV show for that post. And even if they are, that platform might not serve it to them. Okay, so you got to mix it up a little bit. So staying present, post regularly and frequently. And this isn't something to do when you have the time. This is something you must make time to do. Whether you're a huge corporation with a department that handles this, they've got to work it in. Whether you're a solopreneur working all by yourself, you've got to work it in. Here's a quick side note on time, and for those who think they don't have time, who think they're just too busy. When I started

Drum Talk TV, January of 2013, I knew that the content, no matter how good it was, didn't matter if there wasn't an audience, let alone an avid audience, in love with what we do. So what do we do? Just so you know, we do interviews with the biggest stars in music, in drumming and percussion all over the world, and educators, and up-and-coming people that no one's heard of, but they have a great story with manufacturers of instruments and great gear we post a lot of fun stuff and funny stuff funny memes that make fun of our own tribe and of course our fellow musicians and we do documentaries and we do event coverage pretty busy but i knew that no matter how big the stars were that i interviewed in the very beginning no matter how spectacular the videos no matter matter how good the production, no matter how educational or entertaining the content was, none of it mattered without the audience. Therefore, I spent 70% of my daily waking hours, which is about 18 hours a day on average, on marketing and building the Drum Talk TV audience.

We had 47,000 followers and reached a million people a week in our first seven weeks on Facebook without ever boosting a post, without ever creating an ad. And while there have been major algorithmic changes that came along over the years, we still managed to reach thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands of people a week and millions a month all organically and I still have never boosted a post or advertised there's a reason I'm telling you all this to inspire you and bust any myths that that's the only way it works with all these algorithms instead of having a herd mentality and following everybody else over

the cliff who who doesn't think there's any other way, learn how to do it. So I want to tell you also that I'm busy. I am a busy guy. I'm busier now than I was then, and I'm still making it happen. I have a bit of a team now, but it's still the first four years I was the only one that ran our social media marketing, and that's being married. the only one that ran our social media marketing and that's being married. Got to give my wife some time, right? We had two cats at the time. We have a different one now. We have 11 kids and 19 grandkids. And I was doing all the production. I wasn't behind the camera most of the time because I was in front of it, but I was doing the interviews. I was doing all the post-production. I probably made 400 memes in those first couple of years. So I get busy and I have two businesses because I started this

business, Advanced Social Marketing, in the first year of Drum Talk TV when I saw the success of it and realized I've got to teach other people how to do this and help them have success and flourish in business. And I helped my wife with her business and had Drum Talk TV. So last thing I want to hear from somebody is that they don't have time. If that's anybody's attitude, they just don't want it bad enough. So back to five to keep your brand alive. Sorry about the little tangent there, but I felt it was important. All right, number two, stay relevant.

Number one was staying present. Number two is to stay relevant. Number one was staying present. Number two is to stay relevant. Remember, the content you post is for them, your audience, not yourself. Don't judge things on whether or not you like it. Think of your target market. And we're talking way beyond what's for sale. We're talking way beyond what your offer is this week, this month. Whether you sell cars, whether you sell life coaching, whether you sell nutritional products, whether you're a musician, whatever it is you do, there are at least a dozen content category types that I teach outside of what's for sale. That will wear people out if all you're going to do is yell at them, what's for sale? We'll get into that in another

episode but by really drilling down and identifying the different personas in your target market this will help you come up with even more content as well as help you repurpose your content with a different voice and direction for different personas. Now, you don't want to change the brand's voice, but think about this. No matter what you do, you probably have different genders and age ranges, right? Who follow you and who you're targeting. I think that's fair to say. And you likely would not expect the same piece of content worded for a 70-year-old man who might be a customer to resonate the same way with a 24 year old woman, right? And so on. Your content has to speak to them. They have to literally see themselves in that message

or they're going to think, oh, this isn't for me. It's for that guy. Or this isn't for me. This is for college age females. So let's take hiking boots, for example. I'm 58. If I saw a hiking boot commercial and every commercial were teenagers and 22 year olds, if I didn't know better, I'm 58. If I saw a hiking boot commercial and every commercial were teenagers and 22 year olds, if I didn't know better, I think, oh, that's not for me. I'm in the senior citizen group. But if I saw someone my age or even older hiking, wearing these awesome hiking boots, that's me. I'm part of that group. But if that's all they did, maybe the younger people would think, oh, those are old people boots. I'm not buying those. So you've got to make varied content that's designed to speak to your different personas. Hopefully that makes sense so far.

Okay, great. Number three, be helpful. Don't just post to talk at your audience. Many of us even do this unintentionally, though some think that it's what posting or blogs or social media is all about. Offer value. Give solid advice. Share your wisdom. Be inspirational.

Light a fire under someone's bum. Even if it's just for a practical joke. Just kidding. It's these things that truly create a following because he or she really has something to use. Right. So provide valuable takeaways and they will always come back for more. I'm hoping that's what I'm doing here for you. And you're coming back for more and telling others. When I first heard this concept again, I just didn't get it. I was making videos for the charter yacht industry in Australia.

I was doing a lot of video production work for main street businesses. That was my business. I had a production company that made videos, marketing videos, training videos, how-to videos, product launch videos. I was living in the States, but I spent a couple years in Australia doing this with the Sydney to Hobart race and the charter yacht industry. And a friend of mine was trying to convince me again about making a blog about how to make videos. And I said, I get hired to make videos and you want me to teach others how to do what I do? And he said, yeah, basically. And it really took a while for me to really understand that. So now I'm a completely different person or at least have a different attitude. And I'm willing to teach you everything I know, even though I provide the service. If you'd rather

take my course or have me teach your team, I would love to do that. But for now, just enjoy the podcast and take what you can from it. Put it to work. You will get better results. So I had a big aha moment back then with my friend Mark and I did it and watched the magic as I built a following, a following that when others saw this following, it gave me more credibility. That's called social proof and people paid attention. People in my target market in a few weeks in Australia turned into six months of work there because of this. And I hope you're having an epiphany here that I had then. So awesome effective marketing is different from advertising and

promoting. Again, the marketing is why they answer to the promotion, why they answer to the advertising. So share your wealth. Don't just talk about what's for sale, okay? So that's what it's all about. Now, be inclusive. That's number four. Let them in. Let them be part of the experience. This concept was the most pivotal point in my Drum Talk TV brand. It also has been extremely successful with clients in speaking, coaching, consulting, real estate, dentistry, automotive dealerships, financial

planning, health and wellness. I could go on and on and on. It works for every industry. Please trust me on this. And again, even for house of worship, even for nonprofits, even for B2B businesses, this is all about letting your followers, your audience, your target market, your prospects be part of the experience that you're providing, which is exactly what it should be. Not just a constant hawk fest of what you're offering. In my mastery course, I go very in-depth regarding this element. We'll talk about it on the podcast as well. It's my favorite of the five and is a huge part of not only what Skyrocket and Drum Talk TV

passed all of our industry peers in numbers, but what set us apart from what any of them were doing. There are many ways to be inclusive with any post, even if it's in the category of promoting something you're offering. The way we have had huge success is also by curating videos from our fans that now spend over a hundred and thirty countries and of course I share a huge aha moment I had and it changed everything for us in that first year of the brand but basically here's the short of it so we didn't we weren't interested in an interest it's kind of a hard word but but we just did, it didn't occur to me,

there you go, it did not occur to me to publish videos from our fans. That wasn't on the radar. What did Drum Talk TV do? We covered events, we did documentaries, we did interviews with big artists, with makers of gear, and that was about it. So while we still had the messaging open for the Facebook page at the time, I would check those from time to time. And as we gained traction and a huge audience, people were saying, will you post my video? Will you share my video? Will you post my video? We had this auto response.

I admit that I crafted that was not intended to be this way, but I'm sure it came off as real snobby and put offish. That's not me, but I'm sure that's how it came off as real snobby and put off-ish. That's not me, but I'm sure that's how it came off. That said, the Drum Talk TV Facebook page is promoting our interviews and our event coverage and curating content from the artists that we work with. There are plenty of Facebook groups for you to share your video. That's not what we do. So one day, a couple months into this, I'm checking the messages and I, you know, something, I don't know why something said, watch this video. So I said, okay, I'm going to click on I you know something I don't know why something said watch this video so I said okay I'm gonna click on this one and just watch it and as I'm watching this guy play

my I felt my arms that were crossed loosen fall by my side as my face began to smile and at that moment a giant light bulb went on above my head, and I realized, oh my gosh, I'm part of this tribe as well that I'm catering to, and if I like this, other people will like that. I called our chief digital officer, and we completely rebooted the website. We created a portal for people to submit stuff. Amazing epiphany. So let them in. Make them part of the experience, okay? Number five, position yourself as an expert, all your varied content. And when you carry content from other experts that bolster what you're talking about, that puts you in a great light. This is a huge opportunity often missed by many people who are just selling,

selling, selling, selling with their content for the simple reason that people don't use any of the above four elements. Positioning yourself as an expert is not achieved by spouting and just barfing out everything you want people to know just to promote what you're doing or bragging about your certifications or your PhD or how great you say your training is. So that's for your fans and your clients to say. And by the way, never compliment yourself. Leave that to others to say how great you were or how great what you do is. If it's worthy, they will put it out there. Okay. One

simple way to position yourself as an expert is to curate content from other known experts. As I said, this is huge. Okay. And let them validate what you're telling people. As an example, if you're a life coach or a business coach, use something of Tony Robbins that echoes what you're saying is helpful thing for people to do that you provide. Does that make sense? Play that back if you need to. Almost sounds like a limerick. Many people understand that positioning is a no-brainer as far as a reason as to why one should post content. Though, as I mentioned, many are going about it in a completely defeating way by either constantly promoting what they do most of or even all their content. No, don't do that. Or they do this by going on and on about their own accomplishments.

No boasting, no bragging, no self-serving content or language. no bragging, no self-serving content or language. All right. Positioning yourself is important, more important than ever nowadays, because there are so many others who do what you do and there are, don't fool yourself and, or at least claim to. Okay. And it's so easy to make so much noise on social media and put messages out there because everybody has access to the tools, right? So a variety of content directed to a variety of personas who make up your target market is going to help. Remember the demographics we talked about. Shoe store example. If someone said, who do you sell shoes to if you own a shoe store? Well, your knee-jerk response might be, what do you mean? We sell shoes to people who

wear shoes, but who are they? Well, if you sell cowboy boots, work boots, hiking boots, women's flats, women's dress shoes, stilettos, men's dress shoes, flip flops, pool shoes, slippers. People are different personas when they're wearing those shoes and when you're marketing to them. So have different voices that represent different products to speak to the different personas representing your target market. to speak to the different personas representing your target market. Hopefully that makes sense. And remember, something else I'll cover a lot of in these podcast episodes is that various platforms differ from their parameters of how they work and also how people consume and interact with content on those platforms.

One-size-fits-all just doesn't work anymore. Look at Instagram versus YouTube videos. Instagram, people watch it, scroll past it. Oh, that's funny. Scroll past it. Oh, what's up with that guy? Scroll past. Oh, my niece, give her a heart. Scroll past it. Whereas on YouTube, people will watch a half hour, an hour documentary or have it playing in the background while they're doing something else. So we'll get into a lot of that. There you go. Five to keep your brand alive. Number one, stay present. Number two, stay relevant. Number three, be helpful to others. Number four, be inclusive. Make them part of it. Number five, position yourself as an expert. If you apply everything you learned in this podcast, I promise you'll begin getting better results. Much more to be covered in future episodes.

Please sign up for my newsletter and get my six steps to daily success PDF at advancedsocialmarketing.com. Oh, the music's coming. So remember, if you're serious about what you do, get serious about how you market it. You can reach me directly at dan at advanced social marketing comm and see how I can help you further at the same URL check out the blog there and follow the advanced social marketing YouTube channel as well you can also connect with me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com slash in slash Dan Schindler happy marketing