YOUR LISTENER QUESTIONS -ANSWERED!
The following questions came in response to listeners of my Content with Character podcast. We’re wading into topics around social media, various platforms, letting go and pivoting in your business with confidence, and more!
Question 1) Dear Emily, I’m in the throes of planning for 2025…
“I want to get more laser-focused on my ideal clients, how I can help them, and the different tiers I can include in my offers from free to higher tickets. I’ve been in business awhile now and I want to get more specific, more clear on my brand and map out systems I can easily follow and stick with.
- How do you recommend I cut through fear and overwhelm when revamping things?
- How do I know what to let go of and what to keep?”
Great question!
Let’s start with the second part… how do you know what to keep and what to let go of?
I do this in a couple ways.
- I ask myself a series of questions such as:
What went FABULOUSLY in your business this year?
- What just went OK?
What didn’t go well?
What went AWFUL!?
- What do you want to continue and keep doing?
What will you not be doing again?
- I review my clients, collaborations, services, projects, connections, and marketing efforts over the past year and look at where I can pull insights and information on how I felt, how it went, and more.
- I determine my “ROI” on various marketing efforts as well as services/offerings. And I don’t just mean financial ROI. Here’s what I mean:
I list out ALL the ways I market my business or create content – everything from the SEO on my website to this podcast to posting on Instagram. Every platform, networking avenue, and even Reels vs. Stories if I share differently on one platform.
Then, I give each one a happiness rating: on a scale of 1-10, how enjoyable is it?
From there, I give it an ROI. Sidebar: ROI is not always MONEY, sometimes it’s joy, sometimes it’s building credibility, sometimes it’s educating you, and sometimes it’s a new connection. Give each item an ROI of 1-10.
Now you can decide based on happiness and ROI what you want to keep and what you want to let go of.
Sometimes a thing will have great ROI but sucked the life out of you, and sometimes vicey versa. You can let it go either way, or not either way. The choice is yours and yours alone.
What this process allows you to do is let go and make pivots and decisions with more confidence and certainty.
You can stand behind your decision when announcing it and sharing with clients.
Question 2) How do I build know, like, and trust?
Short answer: lots and lots of time, consistency, and showing your true colors!
Long answer:
Building the Know: A lot of the “know” factor boils down to consistency. I spoke recently in my networking episode about connecting with people multiple times, being a regular at groups you’re a part of, and I’ll add to this that wherever you’re showing up digitally, you want to be consistent with it. You can’t, realistically, be ALL the places, so choose the ones you can be with consistency. Another piece of building the know is sharing your story, your expertise, your processes, and participating and engaging with others – remember, getting to know you isn’t just a one-way street, you also need to get to know them!
Building the Like: You’ve probably heard me say about a zillion times how important it is to show up and be YOU. That’s the best way to build the like factor (and sometimes the dislike – and that’s ok too!). Humans buy from humans so be relatable, and genuine, and be YOU.
Building the Trust: This will look different from business to business, but I find that trust is built brick by brick. The more people I help, the more people trust me to help, the more I provide information and resources, the more people trust my knowledge and expertise. The more I deliver on my promises, and offer an impeccable experience, the more people know I’m the kind of person who delivers on my promises and provides a great experience. Building trust starts deep down inside with YOU. Being a person that others can trust to guide them, support them, and give them what they’re looking for. And being honest when you can’t help!
Question 3) Is LinkedIn Dead? Is Blogging Still a Thing? What’s Better Instagram or Facebook, should I share Reels vs. Stories or TikTok or or or…
Let’s take a deep breath together.
Ah, that was nice, wasn’t it?
Now, let’s tackle some of these…
Is LinkedIn dead? No. It’s alive and well. There are many ways to use LinkedIn effectively and well, and many of them, I’m not an expert in. If you DO want an expert, check out this episode with Marietta Gentles Crawford
Linkedin, like every other platform is unique. What I’m seeing work well on LinkedIn right now:
- Thought leadership articles and posts
- Well-thought ideas and unique perspectives
- Engaging in conversations with in-depth, real, comments. I find Linkedin is almost always about depth and not something I can just hop into and hop out of.
- Newsletters
Blogging? Is that still a thing? YES, I mean. You’re reading one right now. Blogging is still a thing, and… there is a lot to blogging. You can’t just post and the readers come flooding in. Blogging takes time, consistency, repurposing, SEO research, and more.
Is Facebook still cool? It depends. Apparently, ye olde’ Facebook is becoming less popular with younger folks. It’s also becoming harder for business pages and businesses to get their content seen – specifically promotional content. But, don’t be discouraged. There are a lot of us still using it. Personally, it’s one of my favorite (going strong since 2007)! For me, the value of Facebook is a lot of collaboration with others, engaging and commenting, sharing the personal side of business, participating in groups, and sharing occasionally about my business.
Should you bother with Instagram? Again, it depends. It depends on the type of business you have, where your clients tend to be, where you like posting and showing up, and how you like sharing. Someone asked me recently if they should do stories vs. reels and my answer is that you should do what you have capacity to do consistently and also what you enjoy consuming and creating because you’re more likely to stick with it.
As you may have gathered…
My answer to all of these is it depends on who your client is, where they spend their time on social media, IF they’re even on social media, and how they’re using the individual platform.
All content we create is a bridge between us and the person on the other side.
All of these marketing tools are just that -tools. I encourage you not to put weight into any one thing for your marketing.
Got more questions!?
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I’m Emily Aborn, I’m a Copywriter, Speaker, and host of Content with Character. I’m a dog mom to Mr. Clyde and wife to Jason (aka my favorite person in the whole world). Our little family lives in the backwoods of New Hampshire where we spend time hiking, reading, and playing Crib Wars (IYKYK).
Email: emily@emilyaborn.com
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