How to Make Money With a Small Online Following on Social Media

It is a fallacy that you must create weekly viral videos and amass millions of followers in order to earn money online or in business. To be successful in business, you must cultivate a community of admirers that you can nurture to the point of sale. You must establish familiarity, likeability, and trust with your prospective customers.

Having millions of followers is certainly desirable. Each athlete, television personality, and beauty influencer on Instagram has one. However, you do not require it. You can achieve success without amassing a sizable following.

I’ve learnt over the years that it’s not about the size of your email list or Instagram followers. It’s how attuned you are to your consumers’ demands and how successfully you meet them. Here’s how to earn money even if you don’t have a large following on social media.

Related: 20 Best Website Monetization Platforms for Publishers to Make Money Online

1. Focus on your best customer

Rather than focusing on the number of followers you have, start with who your best customer is.

How does he or she appear? Consider that customer while you create your next email newsletter, blog post, or Instagram video. Consider who your best customer is and serve him or her whenever you create material.

There is tremendous value in being hyper-focused on your ideal consumer. You have an acute awareness of his or her requirements. You develop an excellent understanding of how he or she purchases, thinks, and desires to be served.

Another advantage? Oftentimes, comparable consumer types exist within similar company groupings and localities. They’ll immediately begin spreading the word about you.

2. Educate first

Before you solicit money from individuals, utilize your content to educate them. As you educate people, you begin to establish trust. By establishing trust, you establish a relationship.

Your prospective clients will regard you as the “go-to source” for knowledge that will help them solve their difficulties. You’ve earned the right to request the “sell” at that point. To request a sale initially is a natural reaction. Avoid doing so. To begin, educate. Prior to asking for a sale, solicit a smile.

If you take the initiative in educating your prospective and existing clients, you will remain top of mind. Possessing a strong personal brand carries weight. By remaining top-of-mind for clients and prospective customers who require your services, you become the “Celebrity CEO” of your industry. While you may not be as well-known as Beyonce or Jeff Bezos, you are quite well-known to potential clients in need of your products and services.

3. Capture contact information

Social networking is an excellent tool to generate interest in your business. However, this is insufficient.

Once you’ve piqued someone’s interest, you want him or her to provide their contact information with you so you can follow up. This follow-up should include a clear “call to action” designed to bring the prospective customer farther down the sales funnel — and ultimately to make a purchase from you.

Consider the following marketing automation solutions to assist you: Mailchimp, Keap, Aweber, Active Campaign, Kajabi, and Ontraport.

Related: How to Make Money With Your Personal Brand?

4. Wow your customer

After you’ve completed the transaction. Don’t stop there, though. Continue to educate the buyer now. Ask the customer how he or she enjoyed (or didn’t like) your product or service in the future. Look into what you can do to impress the customer and guarantee that he or she has a positive experience.

Clients will be customers for life if you focus on them as much after the sale as you did before the sale, and it’s much cheaper to have an existing customer buy from you than it is to attract a new customer.

4. Be the right kind of celebrity

The majority of us will never be as well-known as Michael Jackson, Bill Gates, or Oprah Winfrey.

To our customers, however, we can all be celebrities. We can all improve our visibility in the specific sectors and markets that matter. The only stage, or community, that matters is the one where your top consumers live. Make certain you’re well-known in the area.