#087 - To Be Successful On ANY Social Media Platform We Need To Ditch The Entitlement Mindset
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm your host, Gill Moakes, and thank you for joining me again this week. I'm saying it in a really nice voice, but actually I'm feeling a little bit ranty. It's gonna be one of those episodes. Yep. Strap in! Here we go. No, not really. That ranty, medium. Ranty. . This week I wanna talk about, it's kind of a pet peeve I guess, but it's marketing related and it's around this kind of entitlement mindset that we have when it comes to social media.
Now I'm not the biggest social media fan, but that said, I am going to share my thoughts with you around what you can and can't expect from social media and how to really leverage that and understand that and start [00:01:00] using social media in the way that will optimize what you can expect from it.
Okay, so yeah, this one won't necessarily be a popular opinion episode, but it is my opinion and you know, that's what you are always gonna get shared. So let's dive in. Okay, so what do I mean about this kind of entitlement mindset? Well, it's when I hear people. Complaining, complaining about the algorithm and complaining that you know, well, no one's getting to see my posts.
And just, there's no engagement on this platform and that platform's absolutely useless for me. No, don't get any results on that. You know, and there's, there's this real kind of disappointed or almost like disgruntled feeling about it. Right, [00:02:00] and I think we need to just clarify a few very, very basic things here.
And the first one is that social media platforms don't owe you success.
Social media platforms are a tool you can choose or not choose to use, but. . At the end of the day, they are businesses in their own right. They exist to make money for their shareholders. And so I think when we have this entitlement mindset where, you know, it's feeling almost like Facebook owes it to me to show my stuff to other people, well, it really doesn't.
Really doesn't, I mean, it kind of can do whatever. Facebook can do whatever it likes to optimize its own [00:03:00] investment into the platform. And it will do that by sharing the content that is most likely to keep more eyes and ears on that platform. And that is the same for every single platform out there, right?
None of those platforms exist to make us rich. They exist to make their shareholders rich.
But let's just remember for a minute as well that social media is free advertising. There isn't that much that's free anymore. And so when people get very angry and say, well, you know, it's almost becoming a pay to play environment now. Yeah, like every other kind of advertising, right? So think we, we've gotta do a bit of a shift here and stop feeling like we are entitled to success on social media, [00:04:00] or we are entitled to social media delivering up to us on a plate what we want from it.
You know? So how do we do that? I think it's around. Adaptability, it's around understanding what each social media platform wants from us, not what we want from it. I think it's really about standing how to leverage social media and use it to get in front, front of your people. , because this is the other thing, you know, it, it's really our responsibility to find our own people on these social media platforms to whom we can expose our
So pause then to whom we can [00:05:00] expose ourselves. No, that is not what I meant. To whom we can expose our content. Right? So, . Let's run through some of the popular platforms, and I'm going to give you my take on what I think each platform wants from you. So the platform that probably my clients use the most is LinkedIn.
So this is a professional networking platform. That's how LinkedIn I. Believe describes itself. It's a professional networking platform, so what that means is that LinkedIn exists firstly to bring in ad revenue for itself. That's why it exists. Let's not get confused about that. But also it exists to [00:06:00] bring professionals together.
It wants to create a platform where professional people are connecting with each other and building relationships with each other, and then hopefully seeing the advantage of spending money on advertising on that platform. Okay. . So where people go wrong on LinkedIn, I think, is that they're kind of using it like any other social media platform.
So in other words, they are posting lots. So dropping lots of content into the platform and expecting instant results without actually doing the networking part. And can you see what a difference that is? If, if LinkedIn wants people to stay on the platform, to develop [00:07:00] relationships with each other and to interact with each other on the platform.
And yet you've got people who are just going in and rather than doing that, they are simply hitting, create post every day, dropping their content in there and then getting on with their day. That's not . Professional networking that is just social media for the sake of social media, and I don't believe that that's what LinkedIn wants or was in invented for, I guess.
So I think, you know, top tip really. So the first top tip with LinkedIn, focus on building the relationships and do it in a way that you want it done to you. So that doesn't mean going straight into someone's direct messaging and pitching to them. 'cause like, that's the biggest complaint that I hear about LinkedIn is that, but it all, all I get is message after message of people pitching.
Well, it doesn't take long to ignore those. [00:08:00] Just ignore them and . Do it your way. Use LinkedIn your way. In other words, share valuable content. Reshare probably even more important. Reshare with a thoughtful comment, content that someone else has posted who you would like to develop a relationship with. You know what a great way to start building a relationship is to be generous to that person.
. Recommend them. If this, if this is someone who you have experience of their work, recommend them. Write a recommendation on LinkedIn. It's a really generous act. It's a really great thing to do if you haven't worked with them, and it would feel disingenuous to write a recommendation. How about just endorsing them?
Really quick, easy thing to do. And you can do that just by really you, you know, consuming some of their content. And if you really like what that person's got to say, endorse them. It, it's those little things that contribute to relationship [00:09:00] building. If there's someone you really wanna genuinely build a relationship with.
Consistently engage on their content. Stop worrying so much about your own. Remember a few episodes back, I'll link to this in the show notes, but I did the episode about Lighthouse Marketing versus Searchlight Marketing. I. For me, LinkedIn is the perfect example of searchlight marketing. LinkedIn has a great search function where you can search you know, by industry, by location, by job title.
It's absolutely perfectly set up for this relationship building searchlight marketing. And that's how it should be used. Quick top tip for anyone who has LinkedIn Premium. If you are, if you have LinkedIn premium, one of the best searches you can do when you are looking to build up a pipeline of perhaps potential prospects that you may be able to turn into leads [00:10:00] is to use the search function that allows you to filter out anyone who hasn't been active on LinkedIn within the last month.
So you can see how that would be really powerful. So, you know, because you could easily build up a huge prospect list and actually half of those people aren't even posted on there for god knows how long. So yeah, top tip, useful search function in LinkedIn. So that's LinkedIn. So let's think about another platform.
Then let's think about Instagram. So Instagram is, . Really visually centric. I think we'd all agree with that. It started off as really just photograph sharing. And now it's lots of video content. So again, I hear complaints all the time. Well, I post to Instagram every day and I just get no reach whatsoever.
Well, Instagram has been pretty open [00:11:00] about the fact that they prioritize video content. So if like I do, you are still posting just photos sometimes to your LinkedIn profile. Why would you be surprised if they're not getting that much reach? That's, you know, you're not listening to what the platform is telling you.
It's going to optimize and. , you know, video content doesn't have to be the, the pointy reels and that kind of thing. You can, you know, none of you listening to this are silly. You can easily work out a form of video content if you want to use that platform, and you don't have to use that platform. But if all your ideal clients are definitely on Instagram, then you're probably gonna want to find a way to leverage it to use it, because it's free advertising, right.
I. So really maybe it is time to [00:12:00] work out what does Instagram want from me? Okay, it wants video content. What else does it want? Probably wants me to be sharing things, connecting with more people introducing people to other people and they follow you know, direct messages to people. Find out what Instagram wants from you and do that.
don't just complain that it's not playing the game as far as you are concerned, because you don't get to set the rules of the game for any of these platforms. LinkedIn not LinkedIn, sorry. Instagram. I read something the other day. That was the most common mistake businesses make using Instagram is expecting engagement without investing in high quality, consistent visual content.
Tailored to their audience. So that is in Instagram, tell you, they give you the answer. That's what they expect from you. If you wanna be able to take advantage of [00:13:00] their free advertising, that's what they expect from you.
Facebook. Facebook, the one that, this is the one that I hear the most complaints about, right most, and I get it. I get it, because for me, I think Facebook can be an extremely toxic place to be. If you feel that way about Facebook and yet you really believe that all your clients are on there, you know, that's the, that's the number one platform that you want to use for leveraging this free advertising.
Then you need to find a way of using it that feels okay for you. , and that might be that you create your own group and maybe that's all you do. Maybe you create this group and then one by one, you invite the right people to come into that group and you make it worth their wellbeing there. [00:14:00] And you forget all the vanity metrics around numbers, and you just serve the few people that join your group at the beginning in the best way you possibly can.
right? Maybe that's what using Facebook might like look like for your business, right. Facebook is quite clear about prioritizing authentic interactions and community involvement. . So, you know, Facebook groups are definitely something they're, they're, for me, they're the best part of Facebook because I think there are some really good groups.
And remember that you get to curate your feed on this. I do see a lot of people kind of joining so many groups and then complaining that the groups are rubbish. You know? No, just join one or two groups where you know your absolute ideal clients are, and really become someone useful in that group. [00:15:00] Right.
Really become someone noticeable and useful in that group. Gosh, Youma, imagine if that was all you did on social media, was make yourself very, very useful in one or two Facebook groups. I think that if you just did that without ever posting any of your own content. You would probably see better results than this kind of, I have to post five days a week.
And you know, and you just, you know, you're just running out of ideas of what to talk about and that kind of thing. I think genuine interaction on any platform is what's gonna get, get you the results. Posting 20 times a week and just dropping posts and going, isn't gonna get you the results you want.
I guarantee that. It just isn't, it's not enough. And I, and that, you know, as someone who helps people create fantastic [00:16:00] content plans, right. I am not someone who doesn't believe in social media. I think social media is brilliant. It's free advertising, as I keep saying, you know, why wouldn't you use free advertising?
It probably won't be free forever. Let's face it, that's the way it's going. But while it is, why wouldn't you? But it's about using it in a way that first of all feels good to you, but also plays the game that . It plays the rules of the game that each platform has set for itself. You know, TikTok is a really interesting one for me, so I think this is one where this entitlement mindset of people expecting to go viral without actually embracing TikTok kind of
Way of doing that because TikTok actually loves when people participate in the trends, [00:17:00] for example, and the humor and the lots of music in . The content. So , you know, if you are like if, if I were to go on TikTok and post an episode like this, yeah, maybe I would get a few people enjoying it. But number one, I don't believe that my ideal clients are scrolling, TikTok looking for a business coach because they're like me.
They're scrolling it, looking to watch cats fall off pianos and things like that. But also it. TikTok wouldn't prioritize my content because my content would not be viral worthy on TikTok. So again, so important to know your audience and match the platform. That's the most important thing. And then really going all in on one platform.
Make one [00:18:00] platform your priority. That doesn't mean that you can't only post to one platform. I post to Facebook and Instagram as well as LinkedIn. But generally the content is pretty much the same because I don't prioritize putting effort into creating distinct content for those two platforms. So I share about this podcast but that's about it.
you know, and on LinkedIn, people would probably look at my LinkedIn profile and think, oh, Jill doesn't, you know, she just puts on a couple of posts a week about her podcast. Oh, that's all she's doing on LinkedIn. But that isn't true. I use LinkedIn as searchlight marketing. So people who I believe could be potential clients.
Referral partners or collaborators. I'm building relationships with those people and it's authentic. It's not [00:19:00] me . It's not me trying to trick them into having a conversation with me. It's me actually deciding that they have something interesting to say that I would like to support and thinking that looks like someone I would quite like to be in my network.
You know, it's authentic. It's not that dance with insanity that the whole just posting and posting and posting and then liking, and liking and liking, and that's the whole extent of your engagement. You know, that's just, it's not really good enough anymore. Social media needs to be treated with a little bit more respect if you want to get genuine results from it.
So I guess the point I'm making is that once we drop the entitlement mindset and actually look at what these platforms want from us, we are really standing ourselves in much better stead to [00:20:00] be able to start getting results and start building momentum on a platform. You know, there are a few people I watch you do it really well.
You know, these people are really nailing their strategy. I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll drop a few LinkedIn profiles into the show notes. No, actually leader, I won't forget that. Can you go back and take out the bit about people doing it? Well, I don't wanna call anyone out actually. Sorry, just go back to that.
Okay, so a few things you can do then to, to really optimize the results you get from social media. First thing, make it your business to understand each platform's unique requirements. Yeah. So like I say, you know, if . If it's LinkedIn, if it's Instagram, if it's Facebook, if it's TikTok, if it's X or what used to [00:21:00] be Twitter, you know, make it your business to understand what they want from you, what they prioritize.
And if that doesn't fit with you, that's okay. It's not, it's not their problem. Right. You know, you don't have to use that platform. But if it's a platform where you know, your audience definitely are, you might consider that you could be the adaptable one and, and tweak your strategy accordingly. Right?
Another one that I would definitely do is probably ditch the one size fits all approach, which I take. So, and what I mean by that is I, I is if you know your audience is on more than one platform and you want to really optimize use of both platforms, don't just post the exact same content to both platforms without optimizing it.
You know, I see lots of times on Facebook where [00:22:00] the caption says linking bio. You know, and similarly. Sorry, ignore the similarly, and I think that is kind of, you know, that's not gonna mean your post is gonna do great if you're going to do that. And similarly, not resizing images. , depending on the platform as well, that's a, a bit of an error.
So again, if you, if you are like me and you only really post to Instagram and Facebook, just because, why not? And because it keeps your profiles looking fresh. That's really kind of the only reason that I post to those platforms. , then it doesn't matter. By all means, do what I do and just kind of post the same content.
But if you really want to leverage this free advertising and actually, you know, your, your ideal audience is on perhaps two platforms, then make sure you are a hundred percent [00:23:00] optimizing the content for each platform. Okay. That's, that's quite an important one I think actually. Top tip for LinkedIn as well.
You probably know this already, but don't put links in your posts because it, the algorithm really doesn't like that, so we just have to adapt and maybe put them in the in the comments below or something. Okay. So I hope this has helped. . You, I hope it's given you a little bit of a different lens on social media and on, you know, what you could do to educate yourself around getting really good on one platform if you see social media as being a good source of lead generation for you.
So for me, with social media, I just wanna drive traffic to this podcast. Because this podcast [00:24:00] and and my email list, of course, but this podcast is where I will often talk about things that I am doing, whether it's paid or free offers. And I'll put links in the podcast show notes, as you know. So that for me is lead generation by doing that.
And obviously I want people to opt in so that they're on my email list so that I can carry on nurturing them as leads and giving them really good value, hopefully getting them to understand my style, my way of doing things, the way I create content, the way I talk about things and share my opinions so that eventually they think actually she sounds like a good business coach.
I'm gonna hire her.
That's what I want you to think about. I want you to think about, oh, what if I get really good, really good on one platform? What is it I want from this platform? So do I wanna drive traffic to my blog or my YouTube channel or my podcast? 'cause that's what [00:25:00] I really recommend you use social media for. And also sharing your lead magnets.
You know, don't, don't just use social media as your . Kind of one and only platform where you're just putting all your valuable content out there. Because you know, even if you do drop the entitlement mindset, and even if you do go all in on trying to. Outmaneuver the algorithm if you like. You are never gonna have that control.
You're never gonna be able to do that. And social media changes a lot. We can't complain about it. It changes so that it's optimizing its own business. Right. You know, it's allowed to do that. And it's up to us to be adaptable and flexible, but it's also up to us to create our original content platforms off of social media.
So if you are listening to this and you don't yet have a podcast, a blog, or a YouTube channel, [00:26:00] really, those, those three are kind of the top ones for me. . I want you to really think about why not, and I want you to think about if the answer to that is, oh, it's a heavy lift, it feels like it's too consuming.
Then I want you to think about how much time you are spending creating content for social media. 'cause if you're using social media and you don't have your own original content platform, I really would question, which is the best strategy? Yeah, something to think about. Something to think about if you would like.
So here we go. , meta lead generation. If you listening to this podcast, would like to have a chat with me in person? No, not in person. over Zoom. We might be in person if you live near Es in Essex. Let's do it. But if you'd like to have a chat with me over Zoom and get my opinion on what your strategy could look like [00:27:00] for social media and or your own original content platform, then definitely head to the show notes and I will pop a link in where you can book a call with me.
It is Gill Moakes, G-I-L-L-M-O-A-K-E-S. Do com slash book. Okay, well I hope that's been helpful and yeah, let me know your thoughts. You know, I like to hear from you [email protected]. And in the meantime, have a really good week and I'll see you back here same time, simply next week. Bye for now.
