Crush Your Social

I'mToniSemanskee, founder of Crush Your Social and host of this podcast. I work with high-level, service-based business owners like consultants, financial pros, and insurance experts, people who are exceptional at what they do, and they want an online presence to reflect that. If you're listening to this, there's a good chance you built your business through networking, and thorough groups, keynotes, and workshops, and are wondering if you really need social media.

The two areas I'd like to address that might change your mind are how social media can help you with your in-person business building and ways that social media can help you expand your business. So let's go back to the first one. I know how powerful in-person networking is. I've served on chamber boards. I'm currently serving as an ambassador chair for a chamber, and I attend business referral groups all the time, and I do a ton of networking. I'd like to share what I learned about networking and how social media has helped my business grow. The first area I'd like to talk about is the elevator pitch or tagline. What do you say when people ask, "What do you do?" I find that when I'm networking, oftentimes people say things like, "I'm a landscaper," or "I'm a realtor," or "I build roofs," or "I am a financial pro," and I can't do much with that because I don't know what problem they solve. If you have a clear social media strategy, it should include clear messaging about what you do, who you do it for, why you do it, and maybe even how you do what you do.

For an example of what I just talked about, I'll talk about Crust Your Social's tagline and elevator pitch. When I meet someone in person, I'll say, "Hi, I'mToniSemanskee. I'm the founder of Crust Your Social. We are social media disruptors for service-based businesses. We create a social media presence and content that builds trust so you attract clients online." An example of a realtor would be if you have a really clear idea of who you serve and why you might say, "I help empty nesters, clear out the clutter, and downsize to the next home of their dreams." The next thing I learned is what's the first thing people do when they take your card home? I started thinking about that. What do people do when they take my card home? Many people have actually reached out to me on social media or in an email that says, "Hey, I checked out your Instagram. I checked out your website. Your website showed what you do and kind of what your price range is. Then I checked out your socials, and you had a lot of value there, a lot of really good, valuable content, free advice, free resources.

I'd like to talk to you about how you can help me." This is what I do when I go home from a networking event. If I have someone's card, the first thing I do is look at their website because it's first thing on their page. Then I look and see if they have a blog. Do they have a podcast? Of course, I scroll down to the socials. If they have socials, I check them out. I look at what kind of content they're creating. Is it valuable to me? I want to understand what they do and why because I do a lot of referrals and networking. I look for their expertise. If I can't find it, I usually throw the business card away because I can't figure out what they do and I can't figure out what their value is. I don't know if you do that, but I think most people do. The third area is what happens to you if you can't network in person? Can anyone say pandemic? Everyone freaked out during that time. I was one of them too and that's how I ended up starting this business. If you have a really solid dialed in social media presence, you'll have an online presence.

We talked about how social media can help you with your in-person business building. Now let's talk about the ways social media can help you expand your business. We're going to use an acronym called SAT. This is not the college prep test you had to take when you were a kid. The first letter S stands for sales. In sales, we have top of funnel, middle of funnel, and bottom of funnel.

For top of funnel, you're going to bring people in who don't know who you are. For middle of funnel, you're going to nurture them and build trust so that they see you as an expert. The bottom funnel, that's where they're making decisions and you're going to lead them to you as the go-to choice. The A stands for ads. Everybody places ads and ads work better if you have a dialed in online message. Super simple. The last part is touchpoints. Those are meaningful strategic interactions where your brand shows up, delivers value, and builds trust. The touchpoints help you to do that. It takes six to eight touchpoints or more to turn a lead into a customer. A dialed in social media message and dialed in social media content can keep your message in front of your target audience on a consistent basis. Remember SAT, sales, ads, and touchpoints, those are the ways social media can help you expand your business.

We've talked about why social media is still relevant even if you're networking in person. We talked about ways it can help you expand your business. Now let's talk about three easy ways to use social media with your in-person networking. Tip one, turn audience questions or questions people ask you at networking events into content. Here's how you do it. After an event, dot down one to two questions people asked and turn each one into a post that A, shows you understand what your prospect is thinking and B, shows that you know how to answer the question. B, or number two, share photos from live events with a point of view instead of just posting something like, "I had a great time speaking at this event. Talk about your insights." Say something like, "This group asked really great questions about whatever your topic is and here's what I told them." They get value from it. The third way would be to include a QR code on your event slides if you're doing a keynote or on your business card or other marketing materials that will link to your best content, maybe a podcast, if you have a lead magnet, maybe you have some dialed in social media content that is pertinent or if you have a start here page.

Now you know why you need to do it, you know how you need to do it, and you have three tips for using social media in your networking, so get out there and crush it.