Innovation Doesn't Exist! There Is Nothing New Under The Sun
There is nothing new under the sun.
In terms of principles, and the fundamentals of living life as a human being, there is nothing new.
Yes, there is new technology and other things. But in essence… most of it is not new.
Today I’m going to give you one of the best-kept secrets of growing online followings. Well, I’ll give you two. These are secrets but not because nobody knows them, they are because they seem so simple that most people don’t use them. And these have been available for many years.
The first is that nobody cares about you. Once you get over that, you are on your way to being able to apply the second.
In short, the second one is that door to door sales are not dead and there is a virtual way of doing so that you can apply to grow your social media followings, and then leverage those followings to grow revenues.
Let’s get to it.
How Can We Make People Care About Us?
In essence, this is what everyone is trying to do in their lives.
For others to care about us, we first need to care about them. In fact, this is one of the biggest and easiest ways to influence people. It’s a Jedi mind-trick. And these Jedi mind-tricks will work even if you know they are coming your way.
What you need to do, to make people care, is to find “the weird thing” that you have in common. It doesn’t necessarily have to be something really weird, it just has to be weird in the context you and the other person are in.
For example, if I’m at the University of Houston campus and I’m wearing a UH pin or a UH shirt it’s not a weird thing. Most likely, 99% of the people will have something UH-related.
If I’m wearing a UH pin at a networking event in Houston it might stand out, yet it’s not weird. There are many UH alumni in this city. It will help me make some people care, but it won’t be as strong as something really weird.
But if I go to China or Argentina wearing a UH pin and I run into a UH alumni, most likely a strong connection will be developed. Keep in mind that we might have never developed a connection in another context. Maybe we have different values or worldviews. But because it is a very “weird thing” to be a UH alumni in those contexts (China or Argentina), a strong bond will be developed in that situation.
How do we find that “weird thing”? Simple, by asking good questions and then listening. Especially, listening with our eyes.
How Can We Do Digital Door to Door Sales?
Again, nothing new under the sun.
People do door to door sales because it works. It helps put the salesperson in front of people who might want what they are selling. Once the door is opened is the salesperson job to make the most of every second and develop a connection.
And we can do the same thing online.
People’s social media profiles are their “digital homes”, and you can knock on their digital doors just by interacting with them. Likes, Comments, or Follows, are ways to knock on their digital doors.
Now let’s put these two concepts together. This is the “innovation” part.
Opening The Door To Digital Growth
First, make a list of all the things that make you different (you can do so for businesses too). After that, think about the accounts that you follow because of all those things that make you different. Most likely, the followers of those accounts will have something in common with you. Then, go knock on their digital doors.
It is that simple.
Some of them will open their doors and welcome you (they will interact with you or even follow you), and some won’t. Just like the door to door salesman, it’s your job to improve your skills and use the time they give you to make the connection.
In the digital world, that time is short. So how can you make the most out of it?
The caption/description/copy of your profile has to speak directly to the “weird thing” you have in common while also delivering a clear message of the value you can give them if they become part of your audience.
So, for BizLatte, when I’m engaging people from the University of Houston I put #GoCoogs in the description of our account’s profile. If later I’m engaging with people from Venezuela, I would delete the #GoCoogs and put something related to Venezuela. Then, you just keep making changes depending on the audience you want to connect with.
At BizLatte, we help people define and achieve success on their own terms. I’m sure there are some people at the University of Houston that want to do so. What about Venezuelans that want to do so? There are some as well! And people who lift or play basketball like I do/did? Sure, some of them also want to challenge the status quo and advance their careers.
So what I need to do is to adjust my messaging when targeting different accounts. By the way, on Instagram is even easier because you can see the followers of each account.
Say your audience is similar than a big company’s audience but your product/service is different because of “x” and some segments of their audience will be interested in what you have to offer. All you have to do is go and interact with the audience of that big company. They basically did the work, and segmenting, for you. All you have to do, like the door to door salesperson, is to have a clear message to create the connection.
I guarantee that if you do so, you can grow your Instagram account to at least 10,000 followers in a year.
I also guarantee that in a year most of you won’t have close to 10,000 followers on Instagram.
I know so because the real secret to online growth is that you have to put in the hours and do the work.
You have to create a strategy to develop a clear message of your value proposition and understand who might be interested in it. Then you have to execute with commitment and discipline. And you have to keep track of the data, analyze it, and adjust accordingly. All of this takes time!
Maybe one or two of the people that read this article will actually implement this and will grow. That is great! Please let me know when you do so that we can talk about collaborating and being part of some engagement groups.
Also, I know some of you see the value of this information and want to grow but you might not have the time to do so. I get it and I have a solution for you. Contact us and we will do the work for you.
For the rest of you… I'm already at 42,000 and plan on being close to 100,000 followers on Instagram in a year and leveraging that audience to grow our revenues… where will you be?
If you would like to do the same, leave us a message to see how we can help you.
