You’ve likely heard me say that the best way to monetize your social media accounts is simply by making genuine friendships first that will later turn into your best loyal customers, but that’s not necessarily easy for everyone. If you’re introverted (like myself), the thought of sending a message to a stranger on the internet can be intimidating. It takes courage and there might be the fear of, “What if they hate me?” or “What if they respond with something hurtful?” While we all hope that our followers are kind humans, that’s not always the case.
To start, we have to overcome the fear. After all, fear doesn’t benefit any area of our lives so this is a great opportunity to work on it. Personal development has helped me improve in this area. Some enjoy reading books, but I prefer listening to podcasts. For business, I listen to The Chalene Show, Build Your Tribe, The Goal Digger Podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy, and The Angie Lee Show. They all touch on the personal development side of business. For personal growth, which always somehow affects my business anyway, I listen to Elevation Church and Joyce Meyer.
Another key way to overcome fear is by simply doing it, even if that means you send a message and throw your phone across the room after. Yes, I used to do that too! When you have a new follower, start by sending them a simple greeting! It can be a voice message for a personal touch or a written message like, “Hi (name)- thank you for the follow! I wanted to introduce myself. I’m Lindsay, a social media manager and consultant. Curious, how did you find my page?”
Notice how I didn’t try to offer my services, tell them about a promo happening, or anything like that. It was a simple “hello” that asked a question to open up the door for further conversation. Please never feel like you have to try to add a sale to an introductory message! That’s a bad idea.
Starting new social media accounts with the goal of monetizing can be overwhelming. Just start with these two steps and I promise you will get better and more comfortable with practice.
Cheering you on from afar! — Lindsay