Consistency : Needle Forward

 Consistency is a word that’s thrown around a lot these days, and it seems to be getting a bad rep. We’re constantly told that we need to show up consistently, create content consistently, sell consistently… But does it really mean what you think?

In this episode, we’re uncovering the truth about consistency and what it truly means to be consistent.

The biggest misconception about what it means to be consistent.

Consistency is a word that gets thrown around a lot in the online space and it seems to be getting a bit of a bad reputation. We hear people say that you need to show up consistently, post consistently, sell consistently, BE consistent… and I think that all of these things are true. You DO need to be consistent if you want to see progress and get great results.

However, there are a few common misconceptions that come up when we hear these things. A lot of people associate consistency with showing up and giving it 100% every single day, and that’s not what consistency is AT ALL.

Being consistent does NOT mean, that you have to do the same thing every day, that you have to hold yourself to some rigid system or structure for the sake of “consistency”, that you have to do things perfectly, or that you have to do something you don’t enjoy for the sake of your business’ growth.

None of these things is what it means to be consistent, yet this is what so many people think when they hear that word. I want to rewrite that belief.

What it really means to be consistent.

A lot of people interpret consistency as having to show up and go full force every day, but that is not the true meaning of consistency. That is what leads to burnout.

When I say that you need to be consistent, what I really mean is that you need to figure out what you need to do each day to move the needle forward. Even if it’s just something that will get you 1% closer to your goal. That’s consistency.

Some days you might have the energy to do more, and so you can make that choice if it feels good to you! Some days, you might not have the energy to do anything at all, and missing a day here and there is absolutely okay. Nothing catastrophic is going to happen. But the point is, the consistency you’ve built over the days, weeks, months before is going to carry that through and make it okay for you to miss a day or two!

And like I said, consistency isn’t about perfection. Showing up in the first place is so much more important than showing up perfectly. So have a think about the goals you have for your business and ask, “what can I do to move myself 1% closer to that goal?”

For example, if your goal for this month is to sign a new client, maybe the one thing you do today is write an email to your list, or maybe you craft a valuable Instagram caption, or show up on your Stories to talk about your offer. These are all small things that you can do that add up over the long run. It’s all part of a bigger strategy and what it means to be consistent.

And it’s okay if on the days where you’re just not feeling high-energy and you don’t feel like doing anything, it’s okay for you to just do one small thing. Because there will also be days where you feel unstoppable and you do 10 things that will move you closer to that goal. At the end of the day, consistency is all about balance.

How I’m able to stay consistent in my business

In my own business, I pride myself in being very consistent with my content. But that doesn’t mean that I’m creating and publishing content every single day. That would be far too much for me to handle, and far too much for my audience to consume as well! We often talk about the importance of being consistent with our content, but you can be consistent in a way that works for you.

For me, I consistently…

Release a podcast episode every single week

Write a blog post every week

Create 2-3 Instagram posts each week

Write 2 emails each week

Post to my Instagram Stories every day

Publish a Pinterest pin every day

And I do all of these things because I know that it’s going to move the needle forward. I know that it’s going to help me connect with my audience and that it’s going to help me sell my offers. That’s why I do these things consistently.

And yeah, there might be the odd day where I miss an Instagram Story, or a week where only one email goes out, and that’s okay. It’s okay to miss a day, you have to recognize when to give yourself some grace!

And I do just want to address the fact that I do create a lot of content. I haven’t always created this much content, but my business is almost 10 years old now and so over time, I’ve created a lot of systems and processes and hired team members to help me do this.

If you’re not at that stage right now, consistency might look like 2 Instagram posts and an email each week. The point is, you are being consistent in a way that works for you.

Steal this trick to be more consistent in your own business & commit to moving the needle forward each day

My favorite way to make sure that I am consistently showing up and moving the needle forward for my business is that each morning before I start on any client work or do any admin-related tasks, I always spend the first hour of my day working ON, not IN it.

I don’t do any client work for that first hour. It’s solely dedicated to doing something that is going to move the needle forward. That might be working on a sales page or recording a podcast episode, or creating social media content. Whatever it is, it’s 100% going to move me closer to my goal.

And then I also like to dedicate at least one complete day of the week to this as well. This is a day where I won’t take any calls, I won’t do any client work , and the entire day is just dedicated to moving my business forward.

If you aren’t already crafting out dedicated time to work ON your business and move the needle forward, I really recommend that you try this out. You don’t have to dedicate a full day to it, but if you can spend the first hour of each day just doing something that’s going to move you forward then you are going to see BIG results.

If there’s one thing that you take away from todays episode, let it be that you commit to taking messy, imperfect action and start showing up in a way that feels good to you.

Being consistent does NOT mean that you have to be perfect. In fact, it has less to do with the specific action we take and much more to do with the attitude we have towards doing the things that are necessary to our growth and how we act when things get tough.

HOW TO KEYWORD ON PINTEREST

 A question comes often is — how important is it to keyword on Pinterest? The answer — so important! But there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Pinterest is a search and discovery network. Pinners are searching for ideas, dreams, plans, goals, recipes and more. In order to find your content, they need to search for certain terms. We need to make sure your content has those terms so they can find you in a sea of pins. 

So here’s the skinny about keywording on Pinterest and the what, why, where and how. Alright, let’s dive in.

WHAT IS PINTEREST KEYWORDING?

Keywording is a process of adding specific words from your niche allowing Pinterest users to find the content they are searching for. Example, I search “modern farmhouse bathroom lights” I hope that Pinterest will return back all those results. Why? Because I really want to find an exact match to what I’m looking for.

Learn more about SEO and Pinterest here.

Keywording is a way to help organize content. For example, if I’m a user searching for DIY Floating Shelves, then Pinterest will pull all pins with those words in the pin description. They may pull other relevant content with DIY, Shelves, Floating, etc. Their platform is still evolving so you may get a few items that are not directly related but it’s going to get as close as it can.

Moral of the story? Be specific and strategic with keywords. 

Note that Pinterest keywording is very different than Google. At this time there is not keyword tool that will allow you to see the ranking of keywords on Pinterest. You can use the recently released Pinterest Trends tool which could turn into the main keyword tool for Pinterest.

WHAT KEYWORDING IS NOT!

It’s not a way to game the system. It’s a way to ensure the right people find your content. That’s where you get qualified leads and people added to your tribe. Let me say this as well, don’t sweep wide here. I’ve heard people say you should maximize for all areas — quotes, food, DIY, Style, Fashion, etc. However, if none of those areas have your target person, do not keyword for them. Be specific and strategic with keywords. If you don’t create content or sell products in the wedding space, don’t have a board for weddings.

WHY KEYWORD ON PINTEREST?

Let’s say you have a very niche business and you’re looking to target a specific person. You want to make sure a mom, early 20s, 3 kids and does not work outside the home, finds your content about being a stay at home mom. You would add specific keywords to help her find the articles you know will give her the tools to be effective in her daily life.

For me, I want to specifically target people interested in Pinterest marketing and management. Every board, board description and pin description should include those keywords in a natural-sounding way. I’ll explain more about how that looks below.

The other reason to keyword is to help the algorithm on Pinterest know how to categorize your content and share with those that may not follow you but are interested in the topic.

HOW TO KEYWORD ON PINTEREST

Use simple words that fit into your niche. I used to say break it into three parts and add personality, but now that Pinterest has dialed back what you see in descriptions, it’s best to be brief and straight to the point. You can use up to 500 characters in your pin description.

Here’s an example:

How to clean up Pinterest boards in five easy steps. Are you lost in how to make your boards look professional and engaging for your audience? Learn more tips about how to utilize Pinterest marketing in your business from the Simple Pin Podcast!

If you are using hashtags in your pin descriptions, stop. Adding hashtags is no longer valuable on Pinterest. 

The end-user is mainly looking at the image. If the image gives them all the information they need, they will look there first. If the image is blank they will look to the description. They don’t need fancy they just need informative.

WHERE TO KEYWORD ON PINTEREST

Okay, so the very first place we always optimize images is on your site. When you write a post, speaking specifically to those using WordPress, and you add an image, you will want to put your keywords into the Pinterest description box. Stay away from the alt-text. This is specifically for the visually impaired. See image below for an example.

So why do we want to keyword this first? Because when someone pins your pin, this specific description will be pulled up as the description that ‘travels’ with the pin.

For example, you’ve just created this amazing post about DIY Floating Shelves and spent hours on it and you’re so excited to have it rock Pinterest. You release your post and people start pinning it but the alt text says “image o8315”. Whoops! And if you don’t have Rich Pins, then people really can’t tell what it is beside the image. See where I’m going with this?

If you don’t know where to start in updating older posts with the Pinterest description, I suggest you use the search bar to see what keywords come up in relation to your post. You can also use the “More Like This” to see what content is coming up as related to your older pin.

PIN DESCRIPTIONS

If you’ve already filled in your Pinterest description, you won’t have to do anything when you pin a pin. However, if you want to upload a pin directly, you will need to add a pin description. 

I have a planner landing page for my Pinterest planner and have 3 different images that go to that landing page. I would like to pin all of them to my Simple Pin board, so I upload the first image, and THEN I’ll need to add a description to the pin. Once I do that I can add the pin and then edit it to add the URL to my landing page.

This is one of the only times you’ll need to add a pin description. Or you can edit them on existing pins. Note, when you edit it will not automatically update existing pins. It’s one at a time kind of thing. You can also add in the title here with 4-5 words.

PROFILE

Your profile is a great place to add keywords and it’s one that is often overlooked. There are two places you can add the keywords

First, your business name.

I have Simple Pin Media with the keyword Pinterest marketing next to my name.

Next is your profile description. Use this section to let them know how you’re going to serve them with the type of content or niche you are. You can use the same keywords you used in your business name.

BOARD TITLES

Use simple words but consider who your target person is. You are under no obligation here to sweep wide unless of course, your audience is wide (like in the case of a lifestyle blogger). But if you’re more targeted to the DIY home project crowd, be specific in the type of titles you use for your boards. Maybe every board title has DIY in it. Get creative but be consistent.

Key takeaway: the goal in keywording is to target your audience.

BOARD DESCRIPTIONS

This is a place where you will tell the user what you will pin on the board. Be smart about writing complete sentences. You can add several sentences here, but I wouldn’t spend too much time doing that. 2-3 is perfectly acceptable.

KNOW YOUR PINTEREST AUDIENCE

The goal in keywording is to target your audience. To attract the person you want to see your content. If you’re stuck on which keywords to use, start with a simple list. Or start with who that person is and make a quick story about them and their lifestyle. Then come up with a list of boards to create or update. 

30 Questions To Get To Know Yourself Better

 Do you know yourself?

That may seem like a silly question. How could we not know ourselves?

I can almost guarantee these 30 questions to get to know yourself better are going to challenge you. They are going to leave you stumped. They may even bring about some feelings that you did not know you had.

We are all guilty of just going through the motions of life sometimes. And I don’t even think we realize we are doing it. Not until we force ourselves to stop. 

Grab yourself a pen and paper. I really want you to write down the answers to these questions. Think of this as you are going on a date with yourself. And the conversation on this date is going to get deep.

The deeper the better.  

It is so crucial to take the time to learn about ourselves. And then take what we have learned and make some positive changes in our lives.

You have to take action. Do something. Do anything. 

Think of it like this. Don’t make a killer plate of nachos and then not eat them. Heck no. You need to dive right in. 

When it comes to these questions, there are no right or wrong answers. Write down the first thing that comes to your mind.

Here Are 30 Questions To Get To Know Yourself Better

1) What makes me happy?

2) What is one short term goal I have?

3) What is one long term goal I have?

4) What is one goal I have that is so big it scares me to even write it down?

Think big with this! 

5) Am I taking steps to achieve any of these goals?

Goal setting is great. But it’s all about taking some action. 

6) Is there an area of my life I want to improve in?

7) What brings me joy?

Don’t overthink this one. It can be something as small as a cup of coffee. Your favorite cozy sweater. Watching your favorite show cuddling someone you love.

The smell of your favorite candle filling your home. 

8) Where do I want to be a year from now?

Putting these ideas out on paper can be fun and exciting. 

9) What am I grateful for?

Gratitude will change your life. An attitude of gratitude. We have all seen this or read this somewhere. 

It is talked about so much for good reason! 

10) What do I love about myself?

Name at least 3 things. This is all about giving yourself some dang compliments. 

11) What is my dream job?

Name the first thing that pops in your head. 

12) Do I take care of myself?

13) How am I?

How are you? We ask other people all the time. And we usually hear an answer like “good” or “fine.”

Ask yourself this question. And you are not allowed to give a one-word answer. 

14) What am I worried about right now?

Now, I am all about being positive. But we have to acknowledge our worries or struggles. 

Just putting them out on paper can make them seem much more manageable. 

15) Am I doing my best?

This can relate to any and every area of your life. 

16) Do I spend too much time on my phone?

The point of this question is to really make you take a hard look at the time spent on your phone. You can even check on your phone and it will show you the amount of screen time for the week. 

17) What am I good at?

I guarantee you are good at something, friend! 

18) What is something I have been wanting to try but haven’t?

19) Do I have a personal mantra or positive affirmations I say to myself?

If you don’t, go find some right now. It will take less than five minutes. 

20) Do I feel fulfilled? 

I started this blog because I felt like something was missing. And it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. 

21) What is something that makes you feel better?

What helps pull you out of a funk? Think about small things that make you feel even a tiny bit better when things are not going your way.

My answer would be music. Music almost always has a positive impact on my mindset in a short amount of time. 

22) What have I accomplished?

It is so easy to focus on things we have yet to accomplish. We can point out failures in no time at all. 

How about pointing out your accomplishments instead? 

23) What is one thing I want to work on?

24) How do I spend my time?

This is an important one. Really take the time to dissect how you are spending your time.

I like to do this a lot because it is such an eye-opener. You can even choose a day and write down how ALL of your time is truly spent. 

25) How do I treat those closest to me?

26) What does an ideal life look like to you?

27) Do I compare myself to others?

For most of us, I think the answer is yes. It is hard to fully escape that comparison bug.

28) What do I want to learn?

This could be anything from a new language to how to communicate better with your partner. 

29) Do I say NO?

Think about the things in your life that you say “yes” or “no” to. And make sure to read this!

30) What am I going to do now?

This may seem like it was the hard part. But this was the easy part.

The hard part is using what you learned from these questions and working to make some positive changes. 

I hope this inspired you to start the never-ending journey of getting to know yourself better.

How To Manifest By Writing Things Down: 3 Step Formula

 Have you ever tried to manifest something so badly but still no matter the manifesting techniques you used nothing happened? No matter how hard you tried, visualized and persisted for days in your vision, never managed to attract it?

Are you too searching the secret of a dream life behind  The Secret Book?

Well it turns out there’s a solid way to get exactly what you want by using one simple formula!

In fact all you need to know are 3 easy to apply steps that have been proven to work and attract anything you want quickly.

And in today’s post I’m going to show you step by step how to actually manifest by writing on paper a manifestation list, how to instill new beliefs into your subconscious mind and also how to visualize effectively.

Finally you are going to learn how to disengage from what you want to allow it to realize.

If you‘re ready for a life changing lesson, let’s dive right in.

So What Actually Is Manifestation? Can It Actually work For You?

Well I have good news and bad news! To start with let me say this: The Law of Attraction is always working whether you believe it or not.

Manifestation is a “magic” process where you focus all your energy and intention to turn a goal or aspiration into reality.

And it actually works! It really does! And it’s magical!

According to The Law Of Attraction site, there are many different definitions of the word manifest, but the simplest would be that a manifestation is ‘something that is put into your physical reality through thought, feelings, and beliefs’.

Imagine having the power to turn everything you dream of into reality! To be able to manifest something or someone SPECIAL into your life by simply using your mind and energy!

It sounds simple right? Wrong!

To be able to manifest and attract your desires into your life, well it takes more than just thinking about them.

It takes energy, feelings, and of course beliefs! That’s why most people fail to attract their desire. Their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs are not in alignment.

In fact your beliefs are the deciding factor whether your thought manifests or not.

For example some goals, such as getting someone back into your life, are hard to manifest simply because of high-attachment, strong beliefs and lack of faith.

Fortunately, today you’re going to learn an easy, proven to work method, on how to manifest something by writing it down!

These are the exact 3 steps you need to follow to make manifestation work for you and attract everything you love into your life!

 How to Manifest By Writing Things Down Step-By Step

Step 1: Write Down Your Manifestation List and Your Exact Beliefs on Those Goals – Clear your Mind

how to manifest by writing things on paper

Goal Setting

Ok, so to manifest something, anything at all, you obviously need to know what you want to manifest.. makes sense right?

Goal setting is so important in our lives! It motivates us and gives meaning to our lives.

If you feel you don’t have any goals in your life i suggest practicing some self work.

Self work is an important step into recognizing your strengths in order to develop them, and  your weaknesses and vulnerabilities in order to improve them.

Self work will connect you to your inner self and will guide you through finding your passion in life, your desires and goals.

 Get a New Manifestation Journal

To start I recommend getting a new notebook to use as your manifestation journal.

I like to keep it separate from any other journal I may use. In fact i have a separate journal for my self love prompts, another one for my gratitude affirmations and a third one for my financial affirmations!!

But i use a special one for my manifestations as this one is dedicated exclusively to writing about the things I wish to attract in my life.

Keeping it separate, creates an important trigger in my mind that this is the time to work for myself and create my dream life.

It makes me excited and motivates me to put in the effort needed for my desires to fulfill.

How to Write A Manifestation List

Now that you have your new manifestation journal, start by writing down your manifestation list. Include every goal that you have in your mind and excites you.

But how do you write your manifestations? Well simply start by brainstorming desires you have in life. What do you wish to accomplish for your life to be fulfilled?

Let yourself free to brainstorm and write down everything. Even if a goal seems too “big” for you, make yourself a favor and WRITE IT DOWN.

Remember: there is no big or small for the universe! Anything is possible. You could even manifest something overnight by writing it down.

Some manifestation examples could be attracting love into your life, buying a new house, loosing weight etc. By writing manifestations on paper immediately gives you a clearer picture of what you want from your life and helps you prioritize your desires.

Choose a Goal to Manifest

Ok so now that you‘ve got your manifestations on paper, you might choose to start and manifest a single goal at a time or many of them.

I’d start with a single one, the one thing most important for me, just to test the “how to manifest by writing things down” formula!

But that’s just me!! You can do as you like!

Either way, make sure to follow the process step by step.

Write Your Goal and Beliefs About That Goal Down

Once you’ve written your goal down, go ahead and write next to it, your exact beliefs on that specific goal. For example let’s say your goal is to manifest love into your life. Read this goal and then write what you think and how you feel reading this.

You might think I’m not worthy of love, every person I love betrays me, I’m not pretty/interesting enough for the person I love to love me back etc..

Write everything down to clear your mind and soul. This loads off one’s mind and makes you feel relieved.

Now, you are ready to proceed to the most important step and instill new beliefs in your subconscious mind!

Step 2: Write and Instill a New Belief For Your Desired Goal – Time to Re-Program Your Mind

Question and Transform Your Negative Beliefs Into Positive Statements

What I want you to do next is go ahead and work on your manifesting blocks, question these negative beliefs that you’ve written before.

And then transform every one of those negative beliefs into positive statements.

In our example our negative belief was: I’m not worthy of love.

Let’s question this: Love isn’t something that depends on a measurement like worthiness. To connect with love, you must be willing to give love and receive love. It’s

willingness, not worthiness that controls love.

So now we’re going to transform this statement into: I’m willing, and happy to give and receive love.

Write down Your Positive Statement Many Times  – Experience the Feelings

Write on paper your new transformed affirmation many times and repeat it until you feel really comfortable with it. Feel the intensity, feel the energy this affirmation brings.

Every time you write your affirmation, visualize as if your desire has already manifested.

How would you feel if the desire you so longed for had finally manifested? Piece, fulfillment, happiness, excitement?

Actually there’s an easy method for you to apply when writing your manifestations  and I’m introducing it below.

369 Manifestation Writing

The 369 manifestation writing method is actually super popular. It all started with a TikTok video and soon after this manifestation formula is taking social media by storm.

But what actually is this method?  Well the 369 method is based on the magnificence of the numbers 3, 6 & 9 and is really simple to apply. According to the inventor Nikola Tesla “If you only knew the magnificence of the numbers 3, 6 and 9, then you have the key to the universe.”

The number three is a direct link to the universe, six is strength we have within, and nine helps let go of negativity and the past.

Here’s what the 369 manifestation writing suggests:

• As soon as you wake up write down what you ‘d like to manifest 3 times!
• Then, during the day write your manifestation 6 times
• Finally write your goal 9 more times in the evening.

Simple isn’t it? The method is definitely worth a try as it’s super easy to apply and it helps you remain consistent with writing your manifestations and changing your feelings and beliefs.

However you need to do a little bit more than just writing down your manifestation list. You need to feel the exact feelings of accomplishment. And to get those feelings you need to visualize!

Visualize

Visualize yourself accomplishing your goal! You are already there! Your desire is already yours. How does that feel?

Feel that exact feeling and keep visualizing images that produce this feeling. Try to vibrate with your vision. Vibrate with happiness, excitement, relief! Hold that feeling!

I recommend doing your visualizations mainly before sleep because then it’s easier to get your subconscious to accept your desire and accept that you have conquered your goal.

Continue with this process every day to ensure that your affirmation is part of your life and your subconscious mind doesn’t question it any more.

Write and repeat your affirmation daily without worrying about how it will happen.

With repetition and disciplined practice you will achieve a feeling of certainty for your desired result. That’s when you know that your subconscious has accepted your desire.

Step 3: Detach from your Desire To Allow It to Happen

Finally what you need to do is to detach.

Detachment is trusting the process and not trying to control how your desire will manifest. Stop worrying and stressing about your desire.

Just know it will happen.

Imagine ordering something online. You choose the product, fill in your info, pay for it and that’s it. You expect it to arrive!

You don’t doubt that you’ll receive it. You are certain you will.

When you detach, you do not detach from your desire. Instead you only detach from the HOW and WHEN, feeling certain that you’ll receive your desire.

When you can successfully detach, you will be able to overcome even the greatest doubts.

Detachment brings with it the peace, serenity, and confidence you need to let go and let the universe do what it needs to do to bring about your desires.

If you believe you can have something, your subconscious mind will show you how to change your actions and habits to become the kind of person who has those things.

This is the only How that is actually your job. You need to become the person that has already reached your BIG desire. To take action and – act as if – you already have what you want.

Why Do You Need To Write A Manifestation List

So a big part of manifesting is to create your manifestation list.

A lot of people ask me how I’ve been able to manifest so many things in my life.

The answer is simple: I have a manifestation list. A manifestation list is a list of all the things that you want to happen in your life.

It can be anything from getting a new job, to finding the love of your life, to traveling the world.

When you write down your goals and dreams, you are putting yourself in a position to make them happen!

Writing down your manifestations is the first step to making them happen.

It’s a way of putting your desires and intentions out there into the universe.

When you write down what you want, you’re also getting clear on what it is that you want.

And when you’re clear on what you want, the universe can help to make it happen for you.

Can you Manifest Without Writing It Down?

Sure you can! There’s only one problem: You need extra effort to control and direct your mind and your thoughts.

Manifesting on paper can be very helpful in the beginning because it helps you focus on your goals and desires. When writing your manifestations on paper, its easier to prioritize them and focus your energy and efforts.

However if you want to try and manifest without a paper, the most common ways are by meditating what you want, visualizing desires in detail, and of course repeating affirmations.

Either you choose manifesting by writing things down or without paper always remember: The real power behind the Law of Attraction is in the mind that believes in it.

Conclusion

Ok so now you know how to manifest things by writing them down! You are absolutely ready to apply the 3 step Manifestation formula and attract all you desire in life.

Believe me when i say: Manifesting is real, I’ve seen it happen. Write down your manifestation list, acknowledge and transform your negative beliefs.

And then work to instill those new positive beliefs into your subconscious mind! Be persistent, visualize and feel the exact feelings you’d feel if your desire realized.

Finally detach! Stop worrying about how your goal is going to manifest and when this is happening. Be certain it will come, feel the mazing feeling of expectation and act as is your dream goal has already been achieved!

That is a “magic” formula that always works!

Happy manifesting!!

Influencer Marketing Guide

Influencer marketing, also known as branded content or working with creators, is a surefire way to expand the reach of your brand on social media.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to making this strategy work, but with the right planning and research, just about every business can benefit. Let’s look at how to make a social media influencer program work for you.

How to Create an Influencer Marketing Strategy

1. Determine your goals

2. Know who you’re trying to influence

3. Understand the rules

4. Consider the three Rs of influence

5. Compile a short list of influencers

6. Do your research

7. Reach out privately, and personally

8. Collaborate with your influencer to develop effective content

9. Measure your results

What is influencer marketing?

At its simplest, an influencer is someone who can influence others. In influencer marketing, a form of social media marketing, brands pay that person to promote their product or service to their followers.

Celebrity endorsements were the original form of influencer marketing. But in today’s digital world, social content creators with niche audiences can often offer more value to brands. These smaller accounts often have very engaged followers on social media.

So, a social media influencer is someone who wields their influence through social media. When you hire an influencer to promote your products or services, that’s influencer marketing.

Not convinced that advertising with influencers can lead to real business results? Civic Science found that 14% of 18-to-24-year-olds and 11% of millennials had bought something within the last six months because a blogger or influencer recommended it.

For now, Instagram remains the platform of choice for social influencers. According to eMarketer’s estimates, 76.6% of U.S. marketers will use Instagram for their influencer campaigns in 2023. 

Types of social media influencers

When you think “influencer,” does the Kardashian-Jenner family pop immediately to mind?

While these famous sisters are certainly some of the top social media marketing influencers, not all influencers are celebrities.

In fact, for many brands, influencers with a smaller but dedicated or niche follower base might be more effective. Influencers with 15,000 followers have some of the highest engagement rates on all platforms*. The cost, of course, can also be much lower.

Let’s look at the different types of Instagram influencers based on audience size. There’s no strict cut-off for audience size, but generally the types of influencers are broken down as:

Nano-influencers

Nano-influencers have 10,000 followers or fewer

Micro-influencers

Micro-influencers have 10,000 to 100,000 followers

Macro-influencers

Macro-influencers have 100,000 to 1 million followers, like food and travel creator

Mega-influencers

Mega-influencers have 1 million+ followers

How much does social influencer marketing cost?

Influencers with extensive reach rightly expect to be paid for their work. Free product might work with nano-influencers, but a larger influencer campaign requires a budget.

For large brands working with celebrity influencers, that budget may be quite large. U.S. spending on influencer marketing.

Think about what kind of payment structure makes the most sense for your goals. But be willing to consider the influencer’s needs, too. For example, an affiliate or commission structure might be an option instead of a flat fee, or to reduce the flat fee.

In fact, 9.3% of U.S. influencers said affiliate marketing (through affiliate links and promo codes) was their top source of income.

That said, the most common baseline pricing formula for influencers’ Instagram posts is:

$100 x 10,000 followers + extras = total rate

What are the extras? Check out our post on influencer pricing for all the details.

Remember that micro-influencers and nano-influencers will have more flexible payment terms.

How to create an influencer marketing strategy

1. Determine your goals

The number-one goal for brands using influencer marketing is to reach new target customers. This makes sense, since an influencer campaign extends your reach to that person’s followers.

Notice that the goal is simply to reach new customers, not necessarily to make a sale right off the top. Driving sales is actually the third most common goal of influencer marketing campaigns, after increasing brand awareness and product consideration.

Think about how your influencer marketing plan will fit into your broader social media marketing strategy and create measurable goals you can report on and track.

2. Know who you’re trying to influence

An effective influencer marketing strategy requires you to speak to the right people using the right tools—and the right influencers.

The first step is to define who your audience will be for this specific campaign.

Developing audience personas is a great way to make sure you understand who you’re trying to reach. Maybe you’re trying to reach more of your current audience—or an entirely new audience.

Once you’ve decided, create a matching set of influencer personas. This will help you understand the qualities you’re looking for in your influencers.

3. Understand the rules

Before you dive into influencer marketing, it’s important to understand the rules. In the United States, those rules come from the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC takes disclosure very seriously. Make sure you build disclosure guidelines into your agreements with influencers.

Influencers must identify sponsored posts. However, they do not always do so. Or they might do so in such a subtle way that the disclosure is effectively hidden or incomprehensible.

In the UK, for example, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigated “hidden advertising” on Instagram and pressed parent company Facebook to commit to changes that make disclosure easier and more clear.

The specific rules vary slightly by country, so be sure to check the most current requirements in your jurisdiction. For the most part, you just need to be clear and upfront so viewers understand when a post is sponsored in any way.

Here are some key points from the FTC:

• Video reviews must include both written and verbal disclosure of the partnership. It must be within the video itself (not just the description).
• The built-in tools on social media platforms alone are not enough. However, you should still use them. Instagram itself now specifies that any branded content (aka influencer marketing) on the platform must use the Branded Content tag to identify the relationship. This adds the text “Paid partnership with [your brand name]” in the post header.
• #ad and #sponsored are great hashtags to use for disclosure. But make sure they’re highly visible and not just tacked on to the need of a long string of tags.

4. Consider the three Rs of influence

Influence is made up of three components:

• Relevance
• Reach
• Resonance

Relevance

A relevant influencer shares content relevant to your business and industry. They need to have an audience that aligns with your target audience.

Reach

Reach is the number of people you could potentially reach through the influencer’s follower base. Remember: a small audience can be effective, but you need to make sure there’s enough of a following to align with your goals.

Resonance

This is the potential level of engagement the influencer can create with an audience relevant to your brand.

Not to belabour the point, but bigger isn’t always better. As we said above, a huge follower count is meaningless if those followers aren’t interested in your offer. Niche influencers, on the other hand, can have very dedicated and engaged followers.

5. Compile a short list of influencers

When thinking about who you want to work with, the key is trust. Your audience must trust and respect the opinions of the influencers you partner with. Without the trust component, any results will be superficial. You’ll struggle to see a tangible business impact from your efforts.

How do you tell if your potential influencer is trusted? Engagement. You want to see plenty of views, likes, comments, and shares. Specifically, you want to see these from the precise follower segments you’re trying to reach.

A good engagement rate also means a loyal following, rather than an inflated follower count bolstered by bots and fraud accounts. You need to find someone who’s producing content with a look and feel that complements your own.

The tone must also be appropriate for the way you want to present your brand to potential customers. This will ensure things don’t feel disjointed in either party’s social media posts.

6. Do your research

Take a look at what your potential influencers are posting. How often are they sharing sponsored content?

If they’re already hitting followers with tons of paid posts, their engagement rate may not last. Look for plenty of organic, non-paid content to keep followers interested, enthusiastic, and engaged.

Keep this in mind when thinking about what you’ll ask the influencer to post, as well. Asking for too many posts in a short timeframe will make your offer hard for the influencer to accept, even if it comes with a large paycheck.

In-demand influencers get lots of offers. When you first approach an influencer, you’ll need to show that you’ve put in the time to learn what they do.

Make sure you know exactly what their channels are about and who their audience is.

7. Reach out privately, and personally

Start your communication with a new potential partner slowly by interacting organically with their posts. Like their content. Comment when appropriate. Be appreciative, not salesly.

When you’re ready to suggest a partnership, a direct message is a great place to start. If you can find an email address, try that too. But don’t send a mass email or generic DM.

It may take a little longer to write a personal message to each influencer. But, it will show you’re serious about the potential partnership. This will in turn increase your chances of striking a deal.

Provide as much information as you can about your brand. Tell them what you hope to accomplish with your Instagram campaign. Make it clear how the influencer will benefit, beyond the paycheck.

One key thing to keep in mind during this process: You may not actually want to use the word “influencer” when reaching out to potential partners. Content creators prefer to be called just that—creators—and may view “influencer” as a bit of an insult that belittles their work.

8. Collaborate with your influencer to develop effective content

A social media influencer who has worked hard to build a following will not accept a deal that makes their own personal brand seem inconsistent.

After all, influencers are content creation experts. This is why they prefer to be called creators. You’ll get the best value from their work by allowing them to showcase those skills.

It’s a good idea to provide some guidelines about what you’re looking for, of course. But don’t expect to stage-manage the entire campaign.

9. Measure your results

When you launch your influencer campaign, it can be tempting to focus on vanity metrics like likes and comments. If your influencer has a much larger following than you do, you might feel a little dazzled by the sheer number of likes that can rack up.

But to measure the effectiveness of a campaign, you have to understand its value in terms of return on investment. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to measure your campaign’s success.

UTM parameters are one way to track the visitors an influencer sends to your website. They can also help measure how much engagement the campaign receives.

When you assign each influencer their own unique links with UTM codes, you’ll get a clear picture of the results. That allows you to calculate the impact on your bottom line.

Giving influencers their own discount code is another easy way to track the sales they send your way.

If you use the branded content tools on Facebook and Instagram for your influencer campaigns, you’ll get access to insights for both feed and Stories posts. You can access these through Facebook Business Manager.

You could also request that the influencer send you detailed reports on the reach and engagement levels of their posts.

Amazon Service Provider Network

 With 18 marketplaces in 200+ countries and territories, Amazon Global Selling enables Indian sellers and exporters like you to expand their businesses across the world. While starting an export business from India is as easy as it can get with ecommerce, it is important to meet a few compliance requirements and obtain certain documents. To make your export journey simple and smooth, Amazon Global Selling offers third-party Service Provider Network.

With this, you can not just understand exports and related requirements, but also focus on your business while service providers assist you with everything from registration, tax, listing to product photography and marketing.

Amazon Service Provider Network

Amazon Service Provider Network or SPN is a community of qualified third-party service providers who assist Amazon global sellers to register, manage and grow their export businesses on Amazon international marketplaces.

With more than 850 service providers across 21 countries, you can access and get help for any of your export business queries and procedures. They not just help you achieve your business goals with their expertise, but also simplify complex processes related to compliance. 

Amazon SPN

Qualified third-party service providers

SPN is a group of third-party qualified service providers with expertise in various subjects. As local experts, they understand compliance and regulations of your region. For instance, if you need help for shipping documentation from Vishakhapatnam port, Amazon SPN with local knowledge can assist you. They offer reliable testing, certification, audit, labeling, and quality assurance services, making it simple to sell on international marketplaces.

Varied range of services

From imaging, editing, content, listing to shipping, returns and marketing, Amazon SPN offers support across your export journey from India. When you export to countries where you are not aware of the native language like Spanish in Spain or Japanese in Japan, you can get help from language experts registered as service providers with Amazon to understand and address your customers’ concerns easily.

Knowledge of Amazon guidelines

These service providers understand the guidelines and requirements specific to Amazon Global Selling. This will help you have all the necessary details and information in place without it impacting your export registration and business.

Easy registration with Amazon SPN

The process to register and get help from Amazon SPN is simple and quick. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Register with Amazon Global Selling on Seller Central.

2. Visit the SPN website. Enter the service you are looking for and select an Amazon third-party service provider according to your location, language, and seller reviews.

3. Raise a service request by clicking on “Contact Provider”. The service provider will call you back.

Services Amazon SPN offer

o Taxation & compliance solutions

o Imaging services

o Brand content & cataloging services

o Marketing & advertisement

o Logistics & international shipping

o International returns & customer services

o Account management

Dead End: Some Tough Time

I see this a lot.

On social media and specially currently In real life too. Conversations I overhear. People feel stuck in place. They don’t think they can make forward momentum in their lives.

It’s a tough position to be in. It can feel all-consuming, a heavy feeling that wraps around you like a wet blanket. There are many reasons why you might be feeling stuck or feeling trapped in life.

And there are also potential solutions.

There’s no overnight cure, but maybe you can feel better in three sleeps. Or four sleeps? Who knows?

But you’ll never know if you don’t continue the search for the right information.

Feeling Stuck in Life Reason 

1: You Think There’s No Hope for Any Change and You’re Feeling Lost 

Feeling stuck starts with your thoughts. If you think you’re stuck, you’re stuck. It’s as simple — and as complicated — as that.

Thoughts create your situation. They frame how you see the world. They are, in fact, the foundation of your current paradigm. It’s so easy to use your thoughts to create a convenient narrative about why you’re worthless and can’t go anywhere. I’ve done it all the time. But the problem with that is that it’s NOT true. There’s always something that you can do.

But you won’t be able to move forward unless you stop thinking thoughts like, “I feel stuck in life. I feel trapped in my life. I’m stuck.”

Negative thinking is a slippery slope.

In a way, it’s adaptive. It keeps you in place, in your perceived safety. When you think yourself into a corner, you don’t have to go anywhere. The ego wants that because your ego wants to keep you safe and secure. Every time that I’ve told myself that there’s no hope is because, deep down, I’m scared, and my silly brain thinks that moving through fear will lead to my destruction.

It’s simply not true.

Potential Solutions to Get Unstuck From Your Mindset and Stop Feeling Lost in Life

Here are a few things to try if you’re feeling trapped or lost and think that there’s no hope of any change in your life.

Realize that you are the one who created these thoughts, and you can be the one to create new thoughts. If you start thinking about possibilities, might you start to see possibilities?

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Talk to someone who you see as NOT stuck. What do they think that you don’t? How did they create so many opportunities in their life?

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Make sure you’re taking care of yourself. If you’re tired and dehydrated, it’s only natural to think negative thoughts and begin to feel so lost in life. The body and the mind are related, and your brain will pull from your physical state to think thoughts that it feels relate to your physical feelings.

Let’s move on to the next reason.

2: You’re Stuck in a Dead-End Job 

Maybe you hate your job. So many people do. They feel trapped.

What can you do if that’s the case?

It’s hopeless, right?

Wrong.

You have more power than you realize. Your life is not falling apart. You’re not stuck in a prison working for extremely low wages even though it might feel like it at times. There are probably small ways that you can create some opportunity for yourself.

But it’s totally understandable. You spend so much of your life at work that, if you hate what you do, it can have a profound negative impact on your life.

For many people, work becomes life. If you love what you do, this is fine. But if you hate your work, you hate your life.

It’s time to get your life back.

Potential Solutions to Get Unstuck at Work and Figure Out What You Want to Do With Your Life

1. Focus your thoughts on the tasks that you enjoy.

There has to be something about your job that brings you joy.

Even if it’s the small amounts of time that you get by yourself when you’re cleaning up.

Could you use that time to create a new future for yourself? Could that be your own private space to mentally create a new reality instead of repeating the ‘Im stuck” loop in your head? Likewise, focus your full attention on these joyful tasks. There are going to be times in your work that you hate. Thankfully, you get to choose your attitude during the times that you enjoy.

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2. Always look for other opportunities to figure out what to do with your life

This might be viewed as shady by some, but I think it’s realistic.

You are a valuable human being with real skills. You should always be scanning the horizon to see how you can best offer those skills.

You’re not required to be in one job until the end of time. You can go somewhere else. It’s often an outdated mental model, likely handed down to you when you were young, that is telling you that you can’t go anywhere. You can. It may not be a perfect opportunity, but you can make incremental moves in your life. Before you know it, you’re doing work you love.

You’re not always going to be saying, “I don’t know what to do with my life.”

And with a question like, “What do I do with my life?” it can be hard to even know where to begin.

And it’s so difficult to answer because what works for one person probably won’t work for you.

Plus, if you think about it, you’re most likely looking for answers to different questions.

In this article, we’re going to go over the questions behind the questions.

It’s time to figure out what you need to do to analyze your life and discover your purpose.

A lot of people start here because they think that the whole point of life is to figure out the career they’re supposed to be doing.

This is what society tells you–that once you’re old enough to begin your professional life, you just need to know what you’re supposed to be doing–and then go do it. But how often do you make decisions like that? Isn’t it the case that you learn about yourself through a slow process of discovery?

Think back to when you were a child.

Did you just pop out of bed, know what you wanted to do that day, write down a plan in your child-sized notebook, and then go about doing it? Of course not. You explored. You stumbled upon what you liked bit by bit. This is always how it works, but we get tricked by society and its famous “planning mindset.” The reality is this: a life plan doesn’t just magically materialize in the blink of an eye.

Your career path is a series of steps, a process of discovery.

But how do you start the process? You start with a question that’s easier to answer. How do I choose a job? A job is smaller than a career. That’s obvious. But how do you go about picking one? Well, what are your talents?

What do you enjoy doing? Going back to the child analogy, what made your eyes light up when you were a kid? Do you even remember?

If you’re stuck and can’t think of anything, talk to the people who know you best–your parents, your friends–or maybe your neighbors or even your current coworkers, if you’re working in a job that you’re trying to get away from.

The answer is always going to come from inside you, but you might need some help to drag it out.

If you’re a person who likes working with their hands, look for jobs that allow you to do that.If you’re a person who is more cerebral and in your head, then maybe you want a job that values your thinking skills.

If you know yourself, then the kinds of jobs you might enjoy will become obvious. But I’m guessing you didn’t really come here to know what kind of job you should apply for.

I’m guessing something deeper is going on.

Actually, I’m not guessing–I know this.

How?

Because all humans are meaning-making creatures. We’re not on this planet simply to get old enough to work, find a job to do for a few years, and then die.

We crave purpose. And in purpose there is meaning.

Purpose of Life?

You came here thinking, “I don’t know what to do with my life” and now you have to deal with your ultimate purpose?

I know. It seems like a lot to handle. And no one article will deliver your purpose to you in a neat package. But an article can get you thinking about what it means to live a purposeful life. There can be as many purposes in life as there are people on this planet, so it’s time to uncover another question you might actually be asking.

What is my purpose?

Your purpose is not my purpose, and it’s not your mother or father’s purpose. It’s your own. And it emerges from your day-to-day life. It’s in the everyday life that you find what you’re made of and then use those lessons to set your direction.

Here are two more sets of questions to ask yourself…

1) Start by asking yourself some basic questions:

What are your goals? Where do you want to go in the future? Who do you want to become? What kind of job would make you happy? What kind of relationship would make you happy?

2) Then, ask yourself these more specific questions:

Do you have any skills or talents that could help you get there? Are you willing to put in the time and effort to learn new things? Can you see yourself doing something else?

Questions upon questions.

It can make anyone’s head spin.

But how will you find answers if you’re not asking questions?

And the more questions you can ask yourself, the better.

Because that’s how you’ll stir up the greatest variety of answers.

And that’s what you’re here for, right? The answers to your brief time on this planet.