Content has literally built my business.
It’s what took me from a brand new entrepreneur with no network to a multiple six-figure earner in under two years. It’s what allowed me to fill my coaching practice within 6 months, and keep it booked ever since.
Sharing valuable content has allowed me to create relationships, build an engaged community of over 7000 women entrepreneurs, and ultimately, convert them into paying clients.
Here are 3 ways to effectively use your content to grow an engaged community and book more clients so you can get the results you want in your business.
1. Focus on starting a relationship
I see so many entrepreneurs that feel like content is ONLY for teaching, ONLY for showing expertise, or just something they HAVE to do in their business.
Rather than feeling as if you must create content as an expert, what if you started believing that the ENTIRE goal of your content was to create a relationship with your audience (i.e. START a conversation, not KNOW everything)?
When you flip the frame, and see content as your first and best way to build relationships, everything can change.
I have built my entire business on great content, and to be honest… I don’t see myself as a teacher first and foremost. I see myself as a coach and a facilitator. I use my content to mirror, reflect, offer guidance, and create relationships.
Now, it’s not WRONG to use your content for teaching as well, certainly I do that sometimes too. The point is simply this… Real human connection CAN occur through content, and when you use and create it for that purpose your content can transform.
If you start seeing your content as a way to create a relationship with your audience, rather than feeling like you can only create content as a bonafide expert, how would that shift things for you?
2. Be real in your content
When you can be real with your audience and really share YOU- the good, bad, ups, downs…. Then you are building a genuine relationship. When you’re only sharing the highlight reel, it’s harder for your audience to connect.
One of the ways I do this is to share what I believe works in business, what I’ve learned, what I know, etc. AND open up the conversation to ask other opinions. There is no one RIGHT way to do business, so I’m always willing to hear another angle, opinion, etc. This helps me get to know my audience even more and invite them to be in conversation and relationship with them rather than preaching from a stage. That can be as simple as saying at the end of a post “What’s your take on this? What has worked for you?”. This not only builds that relationship but fosters community because everyone has room for a say and opinion.
At the end of the day, people buy from people they know, like, and trust. By showing up as yourself, you open up the opportunity to build meaningful, genuine connections – and ultimately that’s what moves your business forward.
3. Serve first in order to receive
There’s a quote I love by Richard Branson that sums this up perfectly –
“Some entrepreneurs think, how can I make a lot of money? But the better way is to think, how can I make people’s lives a lot better? If you get it right, the money will come.”
Richard Branson is the absolute evidence that you can build a business off of wanting to give people a great life. You can also make a lot of money from that business. But it starts with asking the right question, not focusing on what you can get, but what you can give.
That’s why it’s so important to me to share valuable content consistently. I got into this business because it was a non-negotiable for me to support and serve others. This business has given me back 100x what I could have even imagined, and I truly believe it’s because what I got out of it was never my biggest concern.
Focus on serving first, and the results will follow.