Building a brand online is by far one of the most important things you can do for your business. A strong brand builds relationships, genuinely connects people with your product/service, and creates a group of passionate followers.
But if you want people to start listening to you, you have to be consistent, and you have to make it easy to find you. You have to create a lot of content. Like…A lot! You have to produce enough articles, videos, pieces of content consistently to build your influence.
I know what you’re thinking, “how am I going to produce that much content and run a business at the same time?” We all ask ourselves this question, and it’s a valid question to ask. But here’s the thing: people feel they have to make that one, most beautifully created video or image on Facebook that’s going to get a bazillion likes. A video that will go viral overnight which will launch them into internet stardom.
People feel that they have to “move” people with every social interaction online, that each post needs to match the graces of esteemed spiritual leaders, that this post could help me get noticed on Deepak’s forum, or that this image will be shared by Ellen.
We all have dreams. And it’s important to dream. But dreaming and doing are two different things. Because of this hunger to reach for the stars, people don’t realize that their hunger to make the perfect piece of content is what’s actually hindering them from creating at all.
It’s true that you have to put out valuable content on a regular basis. You should be doing a YouTube vlog or podcast or some sort of long-form audio/video series at least once a week. You should be posting on Instagram and/or Snapchat stories several times a day. I know, I know, it sounds overwhelming. But here’s a tip to help you overcome that feeling of overwhelm that I learned from one of my favorite people, Gary Vaynerchuk. And it’s really simple.
Document. Don’t Create.
Yes, It’s really that easy.
Don’t worry about writing something poetic. Every image you post online doesn’t have to be perfect. People are over perfection. In a world where everything is mechanized, photoshopped, airbrushed, and processed, people are overwhelmed with perfection. What we want is REAL! We want to see the real you! What real struggles are you dealing with? What real success are you experiencing? That’s what people want. We’ve all heard that the journey is more important than the destination. And guess what? That’s EXACTLY how you should be creating your content.
One of the biggest mistakes people do is try to overly sell themselves because they think that’s going to get the attention of their audience. But who are you really trying to convince? Your audience or yourself?
MEDITATE ON THIS: you can endlessly think about the strategy behind every image, status update, or video and fabricate yourself into this “ideal influential person” you want to convince people that you are… or you can just be your true self.
When you’re documenting your journey, it allows people access to your personal keyhole. Documenting helps people relate to YOU, not your product or services. If you desire to create not just a following, but the RIGHT following, you have to share your truth honestly, openly, and bravely. You have to give others permission to share their truth by demonstrating how you share yours.
I try not ask for much but I really I want you to do something for me: Start documenting!
Create a facebook live video while you’re out on your morning walk, post a picture of a program you’re working on to Instagram, write an inspiring quote from a book you’re currently reading. You are surrounded by an endless sea of information called The NOW. Shift your perspective from ‘what am I going to create?’ to ‘what am I going to notice?’ and you’ll be surprised how much you’ll have to share.
