Navigating Social Media Marketing: Tips, Trends, and Authenticity

Navigating Social Media Marketing: Tips, Trends, and Authenticity

Two business coaches, Sutton McCraney and Leah, discuss the intricacies of social media marketing and sales. They touch on several key topics including the oversaturation of sales pitches on social platforms, the importance of genuine interactions, and the pitfalls of traditional marketing strategies such as showcasing earnings without substance. They also share their personal backgrounds and business methodologies, emphasizing the importance of authenticity, knowing your 'why', and maintaining a clear vision for business success. The episode concludes with advice for service-based business owners on how to effectively engage their audience without falling into common marketing traps.

00:00 Introduction and Podcast Mission

00:37 Meet Sutton McCraney

02:49 Social Media Trends and Behaviors

06:09 The Commercialization of Social Media

13:37 The Importance of Knowing Your Why

15:32 Authenticity in Business

23:20 Concluding Thoughts and Community Invitation

Introducing: The "Scale Without Stress" Strategy Session

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Feel burnt out, overwhelmed, and unsure what to prioritize next.

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Transcript

0:00

Because. We are sold to constantly. I can turn on the TV right now and I'm going to be sold to why is it that when someone is not Nike not Coca Cola not Walmart, you have a problem with it. all you have to do is ignore it or say, you know, Jane Doe. No, thank you. I appreciate you for reaching out. The Making Business Effortless podcast mission is to support successful entrepreneurs by sharing the stories of high performing service based business owners while sharing tips and helpful resources so you can buy back time and make more wealth in your business and in your life. Okay, we've got our drinks, we got all nice and cozy in our little chairs because Sutton McCraney has joined me again. And for those of you who aren't familiar with Sutton, she's like me, we're both business coaches and she's on Facebook, but she's also over there on LinkedIn, getting her feet wet over there as well. And Sutton, why don't you go ahead and, Talk about yourself, but today's, content that we're going to talk about is some of the things we see out there in social media world and some of the things we see that possibly is going to be leaving or needs to go Hello, Leah. I'm happy to be here and I'm doing quite well. Thank you. hello everyone who will be listening, who's listening to this now, and we'll be listening in the future. I'm a time traveler, apparently. Yes, on this date, this is what we felt. I am A wife, a homeschool mom of four, and a veteran of the United States Air Force. I specialize in helping coaches, consultants, and online service providers leverage the power of messaging and strategy to elevate their visibility, their brand, and their revenue. So, yeah, that's me in a nutshell. Oh, and I'm an expat. Been living in Morocco since 2019. Sutton is such a low achiever. I need to get my life. I'm working on it. Go, let's go. Stop serving your country and raising children and running a bomb ass business. You're just, dragging ass. but I think it's good to recognize how you're genius. and what you've done because you are a mama and you're a damn good one and you also served our country. You were in the military. You're an expat. You've had to learn another language I mean, that's that all that stuff wraps into into your ability to run a business But I think where we fail ourselves is when we let reactionary behavior Control our business and I think that some of what we're seeing is that while others not so much Love bombing. I think that's going out of style. Okay. A little bit. I mean, well, I mean, the let's like every single solitary post in a very stalker way is going out of style. Okay. Like, it's okay to engage with people's content, right? It's okay to like it. But I'm talking about those 50 likes in a row in one day. Yeah, That's excessive. That's weird. And, you know, like, I have a different perspective now, like, spending a little bit of time on LinkedIn. Like, I notice the effort that people put into engaging on your stuff is different. Like, people want to have conversations. It's not just, oh, go girl. Yes, you know, or posting a name or something like that. So, I think it adds a different layer to this online space and what's possible. And I'm doing that a little bit more on Facebook actually. And I'm finding, I mean, most of the time, because everybody's a little trigger shy, they think I'm trying to coach or they'll say things like, well, if you wanted me to answer a certain way, perhaps you should have asked your question differently. I was like, no, I asked my question exactly the way I wanted it to. Why are you not open to talk about it? And I think we do have a lot of people that like to throw out. In the box comments, even if it's more than that, like when somebody talks about niche you get how many comments are gonna say Well, what you need to do is decide who your ideal person is and what your problem is and their transformation how many times do we have to have that kind of comment, so try to have conversations with people and I have noticed you can find people that really want to have a business conversation on Facebook. So for example, she wasn't a business coach or anything like that. I've had this with a couple people and I just genuinely talk to them about their topic. And suddenly we're having a really great conversation about business and their business, you know, it was on their post. And I think that's what we need to be mindful of. If we really want to create, I mean, LinkedIn should not be the only place where that can be possible. It should not be. Have you done the, where you do the, you know, the like the articles and people can comment on the articles and add to them? Yes. Yeah, that's, that I think is, you know, a great way with LinkedIn because LinkedIn has got that research mind oriented kind of feel to it. And you're really able, maybe I shouldn't say able, but you have a better opportunity to show your stuff. LinkedIn. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. You can put down your, your, your, basically case studies a little bit on there. Yeah. And people will comment, engage with it. I noticed that. and that's, you know, for me, I think that fits you. And I think that's the key is when we go through all these strategies of, you know, let's talk about a coffee chat. Let's talk about networking. Let's talk about all these keywords that we hear all the time. They are what they are. We all know they're sales oriented. We know that. So let's just call it that. I mean, in the real world, I think that's where the disconnect is, is because. All right, let me stop here. When I say the word commercialize it, commercialism, what comes to mind? I think of something that is sold and marketed on a broad scale. It's no longer a small market or demographic. We're going, you know, global here or to a mass market. That's what I think of when I think of commercialized and we're making a lot of it. So I feel like people on social media are trying to because it can lean that way because there's no real face to face on social media. So we're, we're leaning into the commercialization of social media. So now people, now it's just like, any other commercial that comes on, you know, when the commercial starts, you get an idea who it is, if it's memorable, they did something outlandish to make you remember them. You know, I mean, even it's gotten to the point where even, my first. job ever was in radio. So I'm very familiar with commercialism. we, we work with the commercialization of the situation because we worked with Chevy and Ford. I mean, come on, if you can't get more commercialized than that, I don't know what, but the thing is, is that the mom and pop shops still had that, mom and pop feel, but they were paying for ads on the radio station, right? But they were inviting people to come on down, check out our new assortment of blah, blah, blah, or we're holding a get together and you can try out our new services, you know? We have added, big time advertising, like Coca Cola into the mix. And I think it's getting all muddied and mixed up and we're losing the face to face aspect, the real social of social media marketing. And that's what you're finding on LinkedIn. Because LinkedIn has always been business minded, but don't get me wrong, you're still going to get hit up in the DMs. It's still going to happen, right? So what is your take? On have you know with people out there that complain I've started taking people out if you want to complain about how social media is i'm going to take you out of my feed but in this manner like Getting really mad So pointed that they lock their profiles or they say things like if you're going to dm me I'm going to unfriend you and block you right away and blah blah blah I mean i've said that before about tongue in cheek, but do you feel like that? I know that has validity, but don't you feel like that almost attracts more people like that to each other? I think it attracts more people like that to that individual. I will also say this, like, if you have that mentality, having an online business and, marketing it on social media is probably not for you, right? Because. We are sold to constantly. I can turn on the TV right now and I'm going to be sold to why is it that when someone is not Nike not Coca Cola not Walmart, you have a problem with it. all you have to do is ignore it or say, you know, Jane Doe. No, thank you. I appreciate you for reaching out. No, thank you. Like, I think there is the tendency, especially on social media to make things bigger. Then what they are and what they need to be. if you're having anxiety or, you know, triggering stuff going on, because someone is deeming you about something that you're not interested in. People that are complaining about that kind of stuff are not selling. Right. And they have, an aversion, if you will, to selling. So I think it's quite telling when you see that kind of stuff and people in the online space. And then you have another aspect of it is people using that angle in their marketing, which I find problematic because I don't think. From a longevity standpoint as a business owner, that gives you a legitimacy and a leg to stand on. I think that you can be a shock, you know, they're trying to be the rebel. But to be the rebel, you have to have a different mindset. That's not rebel. That's just bitching. Well, that, and if your whole shtick is, I'm going to crap on the way this person is marketing their stuff. Like for me personally, I'm giving you the side eye and then also what else are you bringing to the table? Because at the end of the day, like if people are cold beaming or people are, spamming your inbox or, love bombing your comments, trying to get you in the DMs or whatever, obviously it works because they wouldn't be doing it. Just like the Nigerian, email scams. People wouldn't do it. If it didn't work, yeah, but I just see this trend of, let me jump on this and use it in my marketing to patch on people. Well, have you ever, read Greg McEwen, essentialism. You ever read that book? No. Okay. So in essentialism, he talks about basically the same thing that you're talking about, except he takes it on a much bigger scale. He starts talking about, this book was written back when Southwest was really, really super popular until it became, the dumpster fire it is now. But what he was talking about, and this explains why it became the dumpster fire in a way, because what he was talking about is he was talking about, they came out with that new way of doing. You know, business and Southwest did have this great reputation because it was new, the way that they decided to do it was new and they do do things a little differently now. So anyway, he was talking about the way that they originally have done it. And then other airlines decided to try to copy theirs, but still keep some of the pieces. Whereas now you see Southwest doing that. They're taking from like what Delta does and adding it to theirs. But what happened was, is it fails every time because. American Airlines tried to do what Southwest did and it failed for them because they, and Eastern tried to do the same thing. And I don't think anybody's ever heard of Eastern, but they tried to do the same thing and they went out of business. Why? Because they didn't understand the vision of the person who was thinking of that process in the first place. So every time I see a coach get on there and say, this is how I built my business. I want to flip them the bird because one, it's, you're telling me your marketing strategy versus the strategy that can work for me. And that's why we get the sleazy feeling I quit doing strategy calls because I kept answering the same question over and over again. Not that I don't want to answer that question, but I feel like it's a waste of time for My clients to hop on a call with me if I'm just going to have a resource that's already available. In other words, they don't have to wait to, here's what you're going to ask me. This is my frequently asked questions. It saves us both time. Why the hell do you think they have those on so many websites? Frequently asked questions. If you have more questions, you know, I have an amazing program that can, I've pretty much covered the questions that I can answer without you jumping in on and paying for my services. Right. Have you ever had an issue with a freebie seeker? Yes. of course, right? There's always somebody that wants the samples when they go to Sam's or Costco. Why do you think they have people standing in the middle of the mall trying to hand you samples and tell you that you need these For your wrinkles around your eyes because it works like you said But if it makes you feel like that's not the way you want to do business, look at how people are doing business and ask yourself, what do I like about that? Now I wanna ask you this. Why do you wanna do what you do? Why did you start your business? What's your why? What is your why? My why is freedom and flexibility for myself. And to leave an example for my children, they don't have to be on this nine to five hustle, you know, to do something with themselves. And that's what I wanted to hear. That's the real answer. How many people do you get that you see that, I want to help people and blah, blah, blah. That's great. Help people, but you got to help yourself first. you got to create the life that you're trying to sell here. My why is I had an autoimmune disease. A disability that would not allow me to work in the corporate nine to five world. I needed a more flexible, schedule and I was a single mom who didn't want her son coming home to nobody. That's a big why. And yours is a big why, because I know it's deeper than that, than you just saying from my kids and myself and the freedom. I know what you're talking about, right? you gotta hold on to that why. Does that why still exist where my son and I, you know, I'm a single mom, me and him are struggling? No, he's off to college. He's about to graduate soon and start his own career. And I got a business I love, but I still hold on to that. Why? Because that's the re the why is where I gain my freedom. Like you said, we all want that. that why still brings you forward into different stages of your life. And that's how it spreads over into your clients as well. You've got to know what the core of your why is because it spreads into your message. If all you want to do is help everybody else, well, so does everybody else on social media. You're not sticking out by saying, I want people to live their dreams. What is your fucking dream and live it and share it. You know, your branding this. I want to help people. Okay, cool. Whatever. But like you said, like, what's your real why? And that's actually going to bring people to you. Like how many people are going to resonate with Leah? Because she was like, look, you know, I had some health situations. I was a single mom. This was a situation for me. Or like me, look, I spent, nearly 10 years in the military. I was over it. I don't want to be controlled like that again. I want to do something different. Like people are going to connect with that more and that's honest and that helps you get in alignment. So what you really want from your business and then your clients fall right in tow because they want the same thing. And that's what it's all about, about magnetizing yourself. And it takes a lot of confidence to put yourself out there, but it also takes that work that you need to do to figure out why the hell am I Against this or why the hell do I know what needs to be done, right? We don't want to do it. But why can't I get it done? You know, why am I freezing or why am I acting reactive or why am I not being deliberate and sometimes yes It can be because your logo looks like shit You don't like it. But other reasons it can be because you have some kind of money mind block. It's a belief that you were raised with. I have a lot of money mind blocks because of the way I was raised with a man who grew up during the great depression and it didn't have anything to do with trauma. I mean, imagine having the rug swept right out from underneath you And he was already poor, you know? I mean, that is a situation, you know, my mother's father was shot and killed when she was seven years old. So yeah, their mindset is going to be a little bit about money because back then women weren't allowed to work. I had older parents. Yeah. So their mindset about money, dad would sit and watch the stock market day in and day out every second of the day. And he finally sat down and looked at me and said, don't do that. It will drive you insane. You will have tiny heart attacks. Just check on it occasionally because every time it would drop, of course it triggered him because you know, great depression. Hello. Went off to World War II and, you know, fought the Nazis and all that happy stuff. But for us on social media, if you're constantly sitting there looking at your followers and not recognizing the real thing is half of my people, I don't have a lot of engagement. My people are stalkers. They come to me when they're ready. That's what I know about my audience. And the only way you can do that is by connecting genuinely with them, taking a hot second and looking at their profile and seeing if you can even have a conversation with that person in the feed. Because if you can't just talk to them, Why even have them in your feed? I don't know. There's like so much to get into here. There's so many things we're unpacking today. when we started you mentioned some things that need to go And I just happened to jump on Facebook. I think like last week and you know how the feed just kind of catches your eye Like I'm not a scroller I'm recovered from my scrolling, but this just caught my eye because it was at the top of the feed. And it's this whole, what was it like 72K month? I saw that. Ok. Go ahead. Tell me. Ok. I'm like, ok. I'm like, okay, that's cool, but I know this person. And then when I look at their feed, I'm like, this needs to go. Like, we're still in that. Oh, you mean, are you talking about the people that sit there and show how much money they have? How much money that they make, supposedly. She did the quote for boys and girls. Yeah. I mean, how much their clients make and everything. And I mean, I guess that works for them, but I'm just kind of like, this needs to be phased out, in my opinion, when it comes to that I think it will be though, because our audience is not stupid at all. That's why they're so distrusting because they've seen that and they're like, I call bullshit. That's why I say your next 10k month. Why? Because I've been able to do that and I've been able to do it with the bulk of my clients. Have I been able to make more for my clients? Yes. But 10k is what I've been able to get from my clients in 90 days The other coach said I could. It is possible, but do you know, are you willing to put in that kind of work and time? Can you? No, half, half of them out there have a job or they've like you, four kids. I mean the guy that, the seven figure business that I worked for that made 150k in one month He had a whole freaking damn staff of people working for him and they worked on Christmas Eve I didn't but they did and he I mean he had a staff of over 10 to make that happen. So do you want that lifestyle? That's what you have to ask yourself. You have to know what you're facing. If you want to wake 50k a month or even 10k a month, you have to know what you're up against if you want to reach that number. You have to have some clarity about the number that you need for your business to sustain itself and to sustain you. Yes. But if you focus on that, you won't get there. So, I think that is really old, that taking pictures. I've started seeing that come around. Again, it's still lurking around. when they show the pictures of how much money they've made, it's like, I can't even tell it's your account. I don't even know where he got it from. And I used to have people back in the day. I mean, years ago, they would ask me, they would go, show me your bank account. I was like, fuck you. I'm not showing my bank account on social media. You think I'm an idiot. Here's my bank account with its number. I mean, seriously, no. And where it's located. Right. It's just, yeah, it's really strange. I don't see any of the, I mean, you have to think to yourself, do lawyers, I love this, lawyers that are good lawyers, you don't see them talking money at all. They really don't talk money. The good ones don't. When they're talking about, serving people. They talk about what they can do for you and decide if they even want to mess with you. Cause they got to decide what's in it for us too. Right? but then there's the ones like Saul Goodman, this week only non contested 600. You know, I mean, those have to go, they have to go. And I think that because we see these people and they seem so, successful, those that are out there just trying to do it on their own. There's a lot of them just trying to do it on their own and they're doing that and they're probably getting results, but it probably still feels gross and they're probably still working up against the wall and probably still have no time to do anything else because they're not doing something that really they enjoy doing. You know, one of the most successful places that I've ever been at recently is a horse barn. And he said, I don't work. He's up at the crack of dawn. Doing his job, working those horses and training other people's horses and breaking horses and the whole nine yards, and then goes to bed at night going, I didn't do anything for work, but he's getting paid. So that's, you have to reach that space in your business where I did. I've done it. You finish the day and go, no, I'm done. So I think that if you have a topic for Sutton and I to talk about, we may talk about, you know, the whole filling time with, needless things to do in your business because you feel like you have to work to make it happen kind of mindset. You know, that the filling, even though you've done everything you need to do, let's do more. There's so many rabbit holes Sutton and I can journey down So if you have any questions for us, please send them our way Sutton's information is down in these show notes and that's her baby sitting in her lap So i'm going to let her get back with her family. Thank you for listening. Be sure to join the effortlessly book community on Facebook for more free resources and support. Simply check out the show notes. Please share this podcast with other online service providers in your circle. And by all means, leave a comment and let me know your biggest takeaway along with other topics you would like me to cover so you can continue to make business effortless.