I think growing your influence is the biggest holdup for most educators. Today I’m hoping to shed some light on the influence piece because you can be incredibly talented, have the most beautiful Instagram, have so much to share…but it can all go unnoticed because you carry no influence.
To really live up to your biggest, wildest dreams either as an independent or brand educator, you need to:
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Get experience
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Find your superpower
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Network fiercely
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Find the gap
(I talk about these really important things more in this post and this post.)
Let’s pretend that you have found the gap. You have the experience, you have your superpower, you’re really well networked. Why is it not coming together?
You’ve heard me talk about the hairstylist marketing funnel. At the very top of that funnel is ‘awareness.’ This is where most people go sideways. They build a beautiful brand, do gorgeous social media, and have something amazing to offer, but then it’s crickets.
We are going to spend quite a bit of time focused on awareness because until you get that dialed in correctly, all of your best-laid plans will result in very minimal efforts. That’s where most educators get burnt out, frustrated, and feel like we’re spinning our wheels. They are talented, they found that sweet gap, but they’re trying to stand out in a sea of other incredibly brilliant, successful, and talented educators.
I have the three-part recipe that I want to share with you on how to make that happen.
Build Your Organic Reach
Think organic reach died back to 2012? It didn’t die; it just became harder to obtain, thanks to algorithms. Don’t hate me for saying it, but I really like algorithms: they let the cream rise to the top. Now it’s about the quality of what you post and showing up in the right places.
The biggest hack is to go for the easy target. Most of us try these really creative things to be the first one to carve out this new space where nobody’s at, but that means you’re going to be talking to an empty room for a while. Instead, go where everyone is already at. Think about where most of your audience hangs out.
There are two very obvious places where our industry is: Instagram and YouTube. Those are the easiest places to grow as an educator in our industry specifically because that’s where you’ll find the low hanging fruit.
The issue with Instagram is that a lot of educators are trying to make it big on there. It is arguably the most popular platform for the beauty industry to network on, so everybody’s already there. You’ve chosen the busiest, most crowded market our industry has to offer. How do you stand out?
You have to be different. You need to find your own brand of weird and double down on it. That’s how you’re going to stand out and make people say, “Are you listening to so-and-so? They talk about things that blow my mind.” Because if you’re not making people question everything about their belief system, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to stand out and grow in these crowded markets.
Let’s say you’ve decided how you’re going to stand out on Instagram. You have a message that’s a little bit different and found the gap, but you need to get people tagging their friends. You do a contest where, if your followers tag in their friends, you’ll send them a blow dryer. That’s not organic reach, that is forced paid reach. It is the fastest way to grow a following that does not care about what you’re saying. Instead, you need to create content that is so valuable that people want to share it with no bribe at all. That’s when you’re winning.
As an educator, you have to be multifaceted. How can you serve your students and make them fall in love with you and your brand? Let’s get beyond that and start showing up big, trust the process, and be patient.
Create Your Message
You have to hone in on what your audience wants to hear about, not what you want to talk about.
When you become an educator, it stops being about you really, really fast. It’s not about you sharing your message with the world: it’s about getting really clear on who your true audience is, how you serve them the best, what they react most too, and what they want to hear you talk about.
It’s not about what is fun, easy, or gets the most likes on Instagram. It’s about what truly adds value, so they tag in their friends, want to really invest in, and talk about you like crazy because your message hits them in a deep way that they’ve never been spoken to before.
If you have to convince somebody that what you offer is what they need, you’re force-feeding them, like when you’re trying to make your kids eat broccoli at the dinner table. If you’re trying to feed our industry broccoli when all they want is mac and cheese, it’s going to be incredibly difficult. Figure out how to talk to your audience and dial the message in. Don’t give them what they need, give them what they want. Make it very easy to consume and serve it up in abundance.
When we talk about getting the message clear, make your mac and cheese message or whatever it is, irresistible. It is impossible not to want to resonate with you because of the way you speak and because of what you do.
Now, I know some topics just aren’t that sexy. Really think about your message, your method, and what you do as an educator. Find the gap, make sure that your message isn’t duplicated elsewhere and then share it in abundance.
Invest in Your Frequency
This is the Achilles heel for most educators because they’re down to put in the work, but then they get overwhelmed and the frequency drops. They just take a B-word (break), and it crushes their business so fast because they stop showing up with that great messaging and their audience finds it somewhere else.
If your frequency drops, your business will as well. Figure out your message, and where your audience hangs out and be there consistently. If you often run out of things to talk about or stop feeling inspired, your message isn’t quite right yet. It needs to be tweaked. If you never run out of things to talk about and are dying to show up and serve your audience, that’s when you know you found a sweet spot.
There are two ways we can achieve frequency: money or time. You’re going to have to invest. If you don’t have (or want to spend) the money, double down on time right now. If you don’t have the time, double down on the money. Every business needs some kind of investment.
If you want to grow as an educator or whatever, get over the idea of doing it without spending a dime. It’s going to be tough. You better have a lot of time to spend because it can be done, but it’s going to cost you in time.
It’s really important to understand that, and if you want to get out in front of the people and be somebody that people are hooked on the message, the organic audience and that frequency are key. I hope this has brought some clarity as far as how to grow your influence as an educator.