Crafting an Effective Multi-Platform Social Media Strategy

How you can still utilize a multiplatform social media strategy to your advantage. Welcome to Cash In On Camera. Today, my special guest is Esty Starr from Strand Consulting and the Better Business School. And excited to get into this topic. Do you believe that opening statement that I just gave, that social media has changed so much in the last few years?

Yes, it has.

Yeah, it's kind of a loaded— it's kind of a loaded statement because We have seen so many different changes. I think it's left a lot of business owners, coaches, consultants a little bit confused about how best to utilize it. Esty, I know that your experience and expertise lies in the organic marketing. So I would love to be able to dive in and get, first of all, your take on the current status, if you will, of organic marketing on social media. Still alive, dying a slow death, changing? Like, where, where do we stand with it all?

It's very much alive. I think that the biggest change we see is in the pressure and in the glut of people on it. And then everyone tries to just mimic what they see. But by the time you're mimicking it, it's old, right? So if you ever read Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point, you've got that trend. So we're in like late adopter stragglers for people coming onto social at this point. In the early days, you had a handful of influencers. Yeah, they ruled the place. And everyone was like, "Oh, I wanna be like them." And then some people could and some people couldn't. Some people just tagged along on their tailwind. And now you have this pressure where more than ever, every business owner I meet either says, "I have to get good at social," or, "Is there any way for me to succeed without social?" Like these are, you know, there's a handful of people who are making it And even that handful, I'll tell you the calls I get from them. It's, "Esti, I'm succeeding on social, but I'm not getting clients. I got 20,000, 100,000, 300,000 followers and I can't turn it into money." So you've got kind of those 3 groups. Those are the groups I deal with the most. I need to make it, I don't know how. I don't wanna make it, can I do something else? And I'm making it, but where's my money?

Well, which leads to an interesting conversation around what is success on social media? Now, as far as I'm concerned, if you are a business owner, it really comes down to more on the client side. I'm not necessarily a proponent anymore of vanity metrics, so to speak. Like, I'm not interested in having a million faceless people following me who are not my target audience or my ideal audience on Instagram. I'm just not interested in it, right? So I wonder what your thought is about that. Is that your definition of success? For businesses, small businesses that you work with?

So I wanna say success is always subjective because it always depends on your goal. And so if your goal is ad revenue and becoming an influencer and that's your business model, then a million followers will get you that. Exactly. But if your goal is clients for your own personal coaching or consulting practice or your fitness center or your chiropractic practice or your new educational tool or whatever it is you're trying to sell, You need to define what are you using social media for. I put it into two buckets. Social media can be used, number one, as an evaluation tool or as a promotional strategy. And one is a lot more effort than the other. If it's just an evaluation tool, you do not expect for people to discover you through your social media. They're gonna discover you some other way. You're using other promotional methods. When I say promotion, I mean the means of getting attention from people who may want to buy your product or offer. You're going to use other promotional methods to get people's attention, and then they will likely check out your social media as a form of evaluating you. They might also get on a call with you. They might also come to a class with you. They might also check out your website. They will look into you in a number of different ways. Social media is just one tool. To set up your social media in that way, pretty simple. Get all your platforms set up, get your profile Updated. Again, profile photos differ across platforms. LinkedIn, more professional. AI is doing a great job on those right now.

No doubt.

But oh my, people are gorgeous. My gosh. Not human, but absolutely stunning. Instagram is more fun. Facebook is more intimate in terms of a like, homie, here's my family and my pet dog kind of way. You know, every platform has its different thing. TikTok is a little more wild, a little more slumber party. Every social media platform is a party. Your website, that's your store, your house, people come to you. Social media, you're at a party. These parties are going 24/7 and they've all got their own vibe. So you gotta join that vibe. So you have a profile set up, it's good. You've got some basic content on your page. And again, every platform has a different type of page. At LinkedIn, you've got your whole resume page and your feed is like one little section of your page. Instagram, you got one line about you, if you even put that in, and then it's all pictures and videos. Every platform— Facebook, it's the scroll, everything looks different. You set up your page and it's there for people to check you out and evaluate you. That's what they're gonna come for. And then it really depends what you do. Are you a designer? Are you posting work? Are you a healer? Are you posting testimonial stories, tips, advice, guidance to position yourself as an expert? What's your goal here? How are people going to evaluate you on social media as part of their evaluation process once you've gotten their attention to then convert into paying clients and customers? And then we use the tool in a specific way.

So, Esti, I just want to stop there because I love what you're saying here. I do understand this idea of evaluation. People are going to check you out after you have garnered their attention and they're coming back to check you out. So am I hearing you say that the best strategy, multi-platform social media strategy, is not to necessarily use it as the means to get the attention so much as it is about the positioning yourself as a preeminent authority once they have gotten your— you've gotten their attention and they're checking you out.

So there's no one better than the other. This is an option depending on your full path. Yeah, I've been doing this for 15 years. I've clocked 12,500 hours of one-on-one business coaching in the last 15 years. And I have built hundreds of custom business and marketing strategies for my clients to get them to their stable 5, 6, and 7 figures profit. And I have never built the same strategy twice. There is no cookie cutter on my planet. Yeah. And so I cannot tell you if this is better or worse for you. I can tell you if you don't like social media, you don't take to it naturally, you don't have the funds to hire full-time social media management company, this is probably better for you, right? Because this is baseline. This is something everyone should have at some level on at least one or two platforms. So you have basic web presence and basic positioning as an expert authority. That's just basic. This is foundational.

One of the things that I have found to be a challenge when I'm working with people is this foundational piece that you're talking about, which is the who you are, what you do, who you do it for. It seems to me that on the surface that sounds like it should be easy to answer. But yet when you start digging in and you start actually doing the work with people, it's a challenging thing for people to even decide. In many cases, it's about deciding who they want to attract, deciding how they want to position themselves, deciding what they want their business model to be. Do you find the same challenge in all of the, the clients that you've worked with? And if so, how do you help them so that we can build that social media strategy properly?

So I would say when I have someone whose marketing isn't working, we always start there, and that's typically the first sticking point. Yeah, occasionally people are getting stuck, they're not getting out there as much, or they're not getting the right conversions, but most of the time this is the place it got stuck. And the reasons for it vary. Sometimes it's because they're just clueless, right? They listen to Shopify as point-click website business, ta-da, it's going to be amazing. Oh my God, you're a millionaire. It's so cool. Passive income, quit your job tomorrow. It's going to be fabulous. And they're just like, okay. And there's just no education on this. Sometimes they know it, but they have so much resistance. I actually have a student right now who came in with so much resistance and I called her out on it, right? I've been doing this for a long time. I was like, okay, I see your resistance. Here it is. Number 1, you're afraid you're gonna lose people if you focus in on any one group. Number 2, you're afraid you're gonna be bored. She's like, oh my God, you see me. I'm like, honey, not the first, not the second, not the third, not the last. Yeah, and so I find that sometimes it's people who just don't even know that this is what they should do. Sometimes and oftentimes they're afraid, right? There's a lot of FOMO. I'm gonna lose out if I focus on one group that are my ideal clients that will buy from me easily, pay me a lot of money, love me and send me referrals. If I do that, I might lose. No, you won't. Okay, but there's a fear because there's a lack of education and information around it. And because most small business owners try to model big business, they look at big business, they say, look, successful business, they target everyone. Yeah, honey, they start that way.

Yeah, it's a totally different model.

It's a totally different model and they have totally different budgets and they micro-target also. A large business doesn't mass target, they multiple micro target. Pay attention, you will see that. And the third thing is people are afraid to be bored sometimes. But I like doing different things. I love working with different people. I love this one and I love that thing and I love that thing. And so one, two, or three of those will get people totally stuck out the door. And I find that to overturn it, number one is just information and education. This is actually how business works.

Here are—

I got dozens of stories for you of unlocking just this piece and turning $2,000 a month businesses into $12,000 a month businesses in 6 months or less.

Right, you have to, you have to unlock that really foundational piece, otherwise you'll never see success in business, on social media. Like, it's a foundational part that really needs to be dialed in. And so I love your point about using it for the evaluation part, right? People are going to come and check you out and foundation. Yeah, you're gonna get it, you're gonna— you need to have that. When we want to talk about like getting leads and getting clients, right, promotion. So this is the thing that I see a lot of people doing wrong, and then like, I love the idea of certainly promotion, but it has to be in a balance. What I'm seeing sometimes a lot of people do is like they only do promotion. That's it. It's only promotion. So guess what people do? They tune out. They are not tuned in because you've taught them that every single time you post, it's promotional. It's something about— it's for you. And social media, people care about themselves. So I want to ask you, what do you feel is the right balance if you indeed believe that there ought to be a better balance between promotion and non-promotional material?

Absolutely. So when I say promotion, I actually am referring to a system of promoting yourself and your services on social media, which at a maximum has 10% of promotional content. And that's a maximum. I just had one of my students on today's call. We have our cohort of the marketing program running in the business school right now. And one of the students was like, okay, so I'm trying to use social media to promote. I'm like, let's redefine terms. All right. When I talk about using social media to promote, I am saying that you are making connections, building relationships, offering value. At a maximum, 1 in 5 shares can include seeding a promotion. And that would sound something like, hey, I totally hear that struggle. You've got this. I just worked through something like this with a client. Here's a tip. And if you want to chat, we can. I call that promotion. You wanna post, hey everybody, take my course program, it's amazing, only $605, $607. That is 1 in 10 to 1 in 20 of your shares at any given time. If you're on social media, remember it's a party. Okay, so this is my favorite analogy. You are joining the party. Now, if you are a stranger to the party, nobody knows you, nobody sees you, there are millions of people at this party, literally hundreds of millions of people at this party. You are invisible when you first show up. You can get visible quickly by saying interesting things, joining groups that are talking about things and joining those conversations, right? We call that groups. We call it comments. People will start to notice you. And if you are valuable, they will start to follow you, which means they will start to listen to what you're saying at the party. And if they like you a lot and they listen to you a lot, cause you're always saying cool things that they're interested in, you can become an influencer. Now, still none of that sells. That's still just attention. When I talk about using social media for promotion, that is the beginning. That is actually the beginning, middle, and most of the end. Social media for promotion is using this party, this incredible 24/7 party that you can join from anywhere in the world at any time using almost any electronic internet-connected device to meet and connect with people all over the world who you can provide value to. And Foundational piece is who do I provide value to? What am I doing? Now let me provide value, value, value, value. Build what we call KLT, know, like, and trust factor. Build brand equity. Let people get to know who I am, what I'm about, what I help them with. And then when someone has a problem, I can offer help. And once in a while, once in a while, not once a day, I can be like, hey everybody, I got a cool— and this is why when people try to copy other people's social media, they're like, oh my God, my competitor does this, it's great. So they see their competitor post like a 20% off discount. They're like, I can do that, 'cause my competitor did. And they're like, 20% off sale. I was like, oh my God, I'm coming, it's amazing, I'm so excited. Like, oh, well this clearly works. So they post 20% off discount and they get crickets. Why? Because your competitor has been hanging out at this party for years. They're besties with thousands of people. They've been talking, chatting, connecting, befriending, sharing.

They're besties. And, and those activities are often happening outside or behind closed doors of social media. So that person who's trying to emulate that doesn't see all of those conversations.

They're missing so much of the value. They're missing the messaging, the embedded— they're missing so much. But even just on the surface, They're missing the fact that this person is talking to their besties. You're talking to strangers. So this person says to their besties, they're like, hey everybody, I got a 20% off sale. And their besties are like, yay, I'm so excited, I'm coming. You come in, you're like, hey strangers, I got a 20% off sale too. Everyone's like, why are you here? You're weird.

Yeah.

You said the same thing, but you don't have the same level of connection. Yeah.

And I think when I was, when I led you into that question, I was thinking more about overt. I would call it like overt promotion, meaning promotions obnoxious. Hey, I'm selling this and buy my thing and discounts and all that kind of thing. That's what I meant by promotion. To your point, those activities of connection, providing value, etc., I'm totally on board with that.

I am absolutely— to me, that is promotional. The other thing is paid ads. Yeah, and paid ads are an inherent interruption. You are busy, You're busy looking at your old friend from high school's new shoes and this one's vacation and that cute little baby panda eating a stick and you're busy. And then the ad comes in, it's like, hey, cool thing. Now that ad better be really good to interrupt your little emotional veg that's happening here while you're scrolling. If you are organically trying to do promotion, you better have a lot of social clout. To pull people out of what they're in the middle of to try to sell them a thing. And then you better be like grab and go.

So I want to ask you, and we're running short on time here, but I want to ask you about, since we're talking about a multiplatform social media strategy, we've really explained about promotion versus the effect of people checking you out. But what platforms or how many platforms ought should a small business or an entrepreneur really be focused on at any given time? Because multi-platform would imply potentially all of them. But is that what you subscribe to or teach, or do you suggest a smaller number or specific platforms?

So I would say the same way when people are like, what influencers should I use? What celebrities should I connect with? I say your celebrities are the people that your audience celebrates.. And so your social media platforms of choice should be the ones that your audience uses, right? If you're trying to sell to Gen Alpha, which you shouldn't, they don't have money yet. Okay. But even Gen Z, you're not on Facebook. They're not on Facebook. They don't care. And if you are trying to sell to the 40, 50+ market, you got a couple on TikTok, but that's not where the majority— they're on Facebook and on Instagram. Be at a minimum on the platforms where your audience is, even for evaluation, because that's where they're going to go check you out. People go to their home base. People who live on Instagram, when they're checking you out, they check out Instagram. And if you're not there, you're not one of them. Be where they are. So when you're setting up your baseline, your baseline is where's your audience. And if they're not on social, guess what? Doesn't matter that much, actually. Genuinely doesn't. I have people targeting septuagenarians, people 70+. Social media is really not your biggest strategy.

Print, mail, direct mail, in person. It's a great point because I think that we, we assume that, you know, we're trying to grow a business or whatever, and it's like, I have to be on social. But what you have to think about, what is your business model? Like, who is it that you're trying to attract and what are their behaviors? Where are they hanging out? Just because you think it's social media, it might not be. And you explore that and you find out, to your point, if it's certain people over a certain age, they might not even be on social media. They might not even have phones at this stage, right? So you have to kind of know that. Esty, I'd love for you to share about your— you have a challenge and I want to show it on the screen and have you tell us a little bit about this challenge that you do.

Sure. It is a 3-day marketing success challenge. Because I've been doing this for a long time, got a lot of information, and I want you to have marketing success. I really believe that everyone who wants to can and should be able to create their own salary. And so many people get stuck on marketing. So we created this 3-day marketing success challenge. It's not expensive, but it is temporarily available for free. And you go to estistar.com/freegift. If you had spelled my name right, E-S-T-I-E-S-T-A-R-R. Www.annemariebae.com/freegift, you can get free access for a limited time to the Marketing Success Challenge and get the clarity and confidence to market yourself successfully. So we talk about some of the things we talked about today, including social media and a couple more steps to take to set up your multi-platform social media strategy. I talk about your brand, how you focus your people, how you refine your messaging with a really great shortcut that I picked up a couple years ago. And some other cool stuff. I highly recommend.

I love it. Thank you so much for being on the show today. This has been enlightening to hear someone else's perspective of— and somebody who's really boots on the ground and doing this for so many years as you have— about what you think, where you think social media is today. It is not dead. It is alive and well. But you do need to have a proper strategy on how you're actually going to execute whatever it is your goal is. And that might require you doing some internal work or working with a coach to help you uncover what those things are. So I love that. I think that social media, I mean, we cannot deny attention. There is attention on social media, therefore we can utilize it.

Yeah. Go where the eyeballs are, where the eyeballs are. Get in front of them in a way that works for your goals.

Esti, this has been a pleasure. Thank you for being on the show today. We really appreciate you, and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.