You Can’t Take Likes To the Bank

Blog 10 of my mini series…

……………………………………………

At the end of February (feels like a life time ago now) I traveled to Belfast to attend the Only Just media Summit. This was just as Corona Virus was starting to become a ‘thing’, before Social Distancing had become a ‘thing’ and the week that Northern Ireland had just had their first case.

The event was a full day of speakers, all experts in their fields, talking to a room full of bloggers, Vloggers, content creators and brands. My plan immediately after the event was to write some blogs on the speakers and my key takeouts. Life then got in the way, CoronaVirus exploded and took up all my time at work and this idea got left in the notes section of my phone. Until now.

Today is the final blog where I want to outline my key take outs for the day.

Why? To be honest it’s probably multipurpose (like that kind of cleaning product you but to clean the kitchen and bathroom if like me you are not a ‘Mrs. Hincher’. Partly I think it will help me solidify the key points I took away from the day, because although I’ve not written about them here until now I have started to take action. But also because I think you as the reader could also benefit from these takeouts. You might not be interested in branding or social media or content creation but some of the ideas I took away could just be useful for your approach to your job or you life in general.

So introductions over today’s blog will focus on the talk given by Alan Wallace, an account brand and project manager from Northern Ireland.

…………………………

‘You can’t take likes to the bank’ said Allan.

How many likes your photos on Instagram get or how many shares are not a metric to bank on.

I think whether you use your social media accounts for personal reasons, for business or both this can be easy to forget.

It’s easy to see someone else getting hundreds of likes or shares and compare yourself to them and wonder what you are doing wrong.

After writing nine previous blogs about social media in this series, how you can use it to aid your own personal brand (regardless whether you use that brand as part of a business or just for you) it feels right to finish on that thought, and it felt a good way for the summit itself to end.

A reminder that when we post content we want the content to matter to us and be true to our own personal beliefs and values. When it is, if it doesn’t get the kind of traction we had hoped we can still feel good about the content because we know it’s worthwhile.

Anyone can have a platform

Blog 8 of my mini series…

……………………………………………

Today is the blog eight of ten where I want to outline my key take outs for the day.

So introductions over today’s blog will focus on the talk given Melanie Murphy, a YouTube creator and best selling author from Ireland.

…………………………

Melanie talked about brand and how to make yourself a successful brand.

The thing I took from this talk that I want to share here is that anyone can have a platform. Whatever you do or are interested in or would like to talk about, you can create a platform that suits our personality and find an audience.

When we think of brand we think of business, logos and slogans. Of course big brands have all of those things but as I have mentioned repeatedly over this mini series in the current age of social media (and even more so during this lockdown period where life takes place online) we are all our own brand. Our beliefs, principles, ethos creates ‘us’ whether we are a business, self employed or not.

So if your interest is cats or books or Olympic weight lifting or Harry Potter or anything else, there will be people who are interested in what you have to say, so if you start a blog or podcast or youtube channel there will be people who will watch.

This brings me to the second point on this. If you start a platform to put content out on, every view counts. Whether you have an audience of 5 or 500 if you are talking about the things you are really passionate about you will find satisfaction from this. Ironically this is also the best way to grow over time.

Inevitably it can take time to build an audience and the key is not to be disheartened at the beginning when it feels like you are talking to yourself. When you care about your subject it’s a lot easier to keep pushing.

Right now if you’ve got a bit more time on your hands and a passion why not try and start a blog or podcast or something where you can develop your passion, it could be a brilliant Covid-19 legacy!

Putting Your Face Out There

Blog 7 of my mini series…

……………………………………………

Today is the blog seven of ten where I want to outline my key take outs for the day.

So introductions over today’s blog will focus on the talk given by Video Marketing Manager of Purple Dot Media, Niamh Macauley.

…………………………

Niamh focused on Linkedin, what we tend to see as the business world Facebook and I think for a lot of us a bit of a ‘little bit pointless’ platform. But as I mentioned in the second blog in this series it’s a potentially valuable source for those of us that want to promote ourselves online.

This talk focused on using videos on LinkedIn, something which I’m terrible at on almost all platforms to be honest. I have poor filming skills and am not overly keen on how I sound or look on camera.

But people prefer seeing faces, videos with your face in it will get more interaction so if we want to progress ourselves as a brand, whether that be for your business or your own personal brand for employment getting over the idea of putting ourselves online is something we need to do.

The second biggest tip I got from this talk was when you’re trying to provide value for people with your posts (which all posts should do, pointless posts are, well, pointless) don’t assume everyone knows what you know.

Videos or posts with 3-4 tips on a topic can be really useful to people. You may think well these tips are obvious so where’s the value. But if you are posting about your topic of expertise the tips might be obvious to you, that doesn’t mean they are to everyone else.

So as we all think more about our online branding as Lockdown progresses, seriously consider getting your face out there online more as a tool to allowing you to provide valuable content that gets people engaging with you and allows you to build authority within your field. I truly believe that this doesn’t just apply to self employed people or business owners right now, those of us that are employed can apply it also and show case our professional abilities and our company’s brand on sites such as Linkedin and increase our value to that company as we all quickly become more digital due to circumstances.

When Learning Is Pointless

Blog 6 of my mini series…

……………………………………………

Today is the blog five of ten where I want to outline my key take outs for the day.

So introductions over today’s blog will focus on the talk given by Creative Director for Ryan Serhant, Adrian Vasquez.

………………………

Adrian talked about brand and his experiences around this, something which I’ve mentioned lots over the last few mini blogs in this series.

Your brand is your reputation. If you can do things differently but also consistently you can help your brand thrive. Lot’s of ideas were cemented for me. Yell out your wins, enthusiasm/ passion for your product converts to sales, try things and see how they work out, trust what you are doing even if others don’t understand. These things allow you to build your reputation (your brand). These are useful lessons.

My biggest take out from his talk however –

Learning only matters if you put it into action.

I went to this summit and left planning to write these blogs. It took me a month to get started. I left with that take out ringing in my ear and ignored it.

Now to be fair – that’s mainly because as well as Covid-19 creating an immense amount of work for me soon after, I was starting to put into action actual products I wanted to create as a PT.

But the blog posts on this summit I wanted to produce were as part of my Virtual PA role. they were content that would be useful to that part of my brand. As much as the products I started to create were useful to my business (and I was acting) they were covering a different aspect of my brand (the fitness element) and I was leaving content for my VA branding hanging.

Coming back to the idea that learning is great but action is what matters has given me the kick up the bum needed to start taking that action.

This meant two things.

Firstly, planning my time better. I have several roles – fitness roles and Virtual Assistant roles and then roles which merge the two together and overlap. I know I can’t always focus on both equally – I’ll always need to be more focused on one to move something along but need better planning to know the others to continue ticking over whilst I do that. This week quite simply I wrote a list of things I need to do for all roles. Some things will take focus but nothing will be ignored. I took some action.

Secondly, for me it meant just jumping in and doing things, not waiting for the ideal circumstances and times, being willing to change my overall plans to react to circumstances better and to take advantage of opportunities rather than sticking to plans already in place at the risk of missing opportunities.

In the last few weeks I’ve done a lot of this. Everything I’m doing is still within my ethos, my brand, but what I thought I’d be working on at the start of Lockdown is not what I’m actually doing now. I’ll come back to those projects – but there are things that make more sense to do now – both in terms of short term and long term value to me and my business. From all the education and mentorship I’ve had in recent years I know this, even though I’m someone who doesn’t really like deviating from plans once set – If I don’t act on this knowledge, having attended all those seminars, days of learning etc will have been wasted.

The message that learning means little if you do nothing with the knowledge is universal to all of life. Putting ideas in practice, being a doer. Whether it’s your fitness, your job, your business, your relationships you want to apply it to – learning new skills is something we should all try to do but we must look to apply the learning to benefit from it. That might mean I have to do things right now that feel like a deviation from what I’d planned, and I might be uncomfortable with that but I’m applying what I’ve learnt to my situation right now.

Toxic?

Blog 5 of my mini series…

……………………………………………

Today is the blog five of ten where I want to outline my key take outs for the day.

So introductions over today’s blog will focus on the talk given by Gabriel Desanti, a content creator and influencer from New York.

………………………………………

Gabriel talked very honestly about his own experiences and Fulfillment versus Cost.

He spoke about how the concept of a toxic environment is very real and can have a negative effect on your whole well being. Your environment can both assist in making you feel happy and also unhappy. Now, perhaps surprisingly for a social media influencer, he stressed that isn’t to say corporate environments are always going to make you unhappy and working for yourself is the goal for everyone, rather its finding the environment and balance that works for you.

Initially this sounds like a weird topic to bring into a blog series about personal branding / social media branding. However if you recall my recent blogs have all focused on the goal that whether you are branding yourself or a business you need to be authentic and that is going to be very unique to you. If you find yourself funneling yourself into a particular environment because you think it’s the right one for where you ‘should’ be, and it makes you miserable then that will not benefit you’re professional progression.

Your happy place may not seem ‘right’ to other people, but that is ok if it suits you. A lot of people do not understand why my current working situation works for me, perhaps some people think I could earn more than I do. But I know that what I do suits my purpose, makes me happy and I enjoy the balance I have and the mix of ‘corporate’ and self employed. Removing toxicity isn’t always about removing people which is what we tend to automatically think about when we hear the word toxic, your environment is also important, potentially more so, not just the walls which you are within but the model you work within, so you need to find a way of working which works for you.

………

People Connect With People

Blog 4 of a ten blog mini series

…….

At the end of February (feels like a life time ago now) I travelled to Belfast to attend the Only Just media Summit. This was just as Corona Virus was starting to become a ‘thing’, before Social Distancing had become a ‘thing’ and the week that Northern Ireland had just had their first case.

Today is the blog four of ten where I want to outline my key take outs for the day.

So introductions over today’s blog will focus on the talk given by the creator of the Only Just Media Summit and CEO of OnlyJustMedia, Lucy (OnlyJustLucy).

………

Lucy put together this whole event. So to convey an idea of how valuable her advice is maybe I could explain the event itself. Held in the Odyssey, Belfast (if you aren’t from Belfast it’s a massive stadium type building with food outlets and a cinema within) there were some thirty sponsors, including massive brands such as The Body Shop, Coca Cola and Estee Lauder. Upon waking in there were impressive displays by all the sponsors and an immense complimentary breakfast spread. There were goodie bags with all kind of things inside, a variety of complimentary lunch options (I went for a quiet simply epic hot dog from Happy Dog but there were also burgers from Tribal Burger) and snacks throughout (I had cupcakes from Hollie Berrie Cakes, ice cream, Red Bull and more!) and the speakers were outstanding.

So when I say this is a woman you should listen to when she talks about branding and building a personal brand this is why. The event showcased her knowledge. More than that is showcased here, who she is. It might sound odd but the look of the event mirrored her outfit choice which mirrored her image. Lucy’s branding and Lucy are essentially the same thing. This to me is why the event felt so successful, because it felt naturally authentic.

I made a lot of notes as she talked, but I want this blog to focus on the one big message I took away from her talk and that is vital for all of us who to remember when selling ourselves, be that personally or as a (fitness) brand.

People need to connect with you before they will buy from you.

Your logo, your adverts, your marketing do not sell for you. For your brand to sell, people need to connect with it. For most fitness professional, that means they need to connect with you. For most people in the world of paid work, for that company to want to hire you they need to connect with you.

It doesn’t matter if you aren’t polished, are a bit different to others, have obvious imperfections. How you connect with and make others feel. The value and content and knowledge you can provide. These are the things that can make you a strong brand.

I’ve written in the last three blogs about the importance of being authentic when you present yourself, whatever the platform may be and this blog is another variation of the same theme.

Because right now that theme is important for anyone in business.

I’ll give you one simple example. Fitness instructors who have taken classes online during lockdown, and who are competing for their clients attention with the bigger names of people like Joe Wicks. You are getting people wanting to do your classes because they value you. The connection to you is worth more than Joe’s well known reputation. If this doesn’t demonstrate to you the power of personal branding and being authentic and connecting with the people in your own ecosystem I’m not sure what will.

So my key message long term would be forget trying to ‘sell’. Instead be the person people trust and want to buy from, then selling becomes a very different ball game, and your business becomes a lot more rewarding (not only financially but what you get out of emotionally).

Are you on TikTok?

Same intro as the last two blogs!

Today is the blog three of ten where I want to outline my key take outs for the day.

So introductions over today’s blog will focus on the talk given by Joel M, an illusionist and TikTok influencer for Norther Ireland.

So I’m pretty new to TikTok – I’ve done a few videos, mainly lip syncing. It’s fun, it’s kind of a way to pass the time for me (especially now we are in lockdown and housebound!).

This talk made me think more about how I use different social media platforms. In terms of education, real content I largely focus on this blog and my podcast. Facebook and Instagram come second where I mix useful content with just random things I like. Twitter I’ve long used as a source of simply holding Northern Rail to account for their terrible service! TikTok for me doesn’t have a purpose as such, it’s been something to play on.

Here perhaps lies the potential of TikTok.

It’s fun. You can be silly. But if you can make your content good – catch people’s attention, have a twist to videos, you can get eyes onto you. And people seeing you can allow you to direct those interested in what you do to your other platforms.

In this sense rather than simply playing with TikTok, this talk made me think that I could use it to serve me in the same way other social media platforms can. Not in exactly the same way but still in a way.

Right now I’m still learning, getting better at videos, finding something that suits me (because you still need to be you as with any social media platform). But simply being aware of what platforms can do for you is a good start with branding and marketing yourself or you as a business.

And if you aren’t on TikTok becauase it seems a bit pointless for you- perhaps you should reconsider.

P.S. You can find my exceptional lip syncing skills at @heathersherwoodfitness

Just Get Going

Today is the first blog of ten where I want to outline my key take outs for the day.

So introductions over today’s blog will focus on the talk given by Cody Wanner, a YouTube content creator for Pennsylvania, USA.

Cody talked about how he got started with Vlogging and creating a YouTube channel and providing lots of tips for budding Vloggers, but for me they were not only relevant for Vlogging, they are key mindset tips for whatever project your are currently working on or about to start.

Lesson 1 – If you have an idea – Just Get Started

This goes for everything. You have a business idea, a hobby you want to try, a fitness goal to work towards. You could wait forever, for the perfect time, perfect conditions, this to happen, that to happen, to have spare cash, to get Christmas out the way, the list goes on. But the sooner you start the nearer to that goal you. It doesn’t have to be the perfect plan, things could go wrong or change along the way, but ideas themselves do nothing. Successful people are the ones with the most creative ideas, they are the ones who act upon their ideas. Which leads me to lesson two.

Lesson 2 – Let go of perfect

You don’t need to have the perfect conditions or be super polished. You can get started and let things evolve. See what works and build on that, see what doesn’t and learn from it. This blog wasn’t like this at the start, I wrote about different things and as I learnt, I changed my content, but had I kept my writing unpublished at the start it would never have evolved, I needed the feedback, the ideas, to know what people liked to read about. Same with my podcast. I’m much newer to Podcasting than blogging. My podcast is still very rough around the edges, but only by publishing it can I learn to make it better each time and find my style. Waiting for the right time or when you think you’ll do something well reduces the chance that you will ever do it well, because it’s the practice that helps make perfect right? By the way this includes your fitness goals. Are you planning on doing that class once you’ve lost a few pounds? Waiting to be a certain size or shape to do something that would actively help you get to that size or shape is utterly bonkers when you think about it logically. Stop waiting for the right conditions and just get started whatever that looks like right now/.

Lesson 3- Consistency is better than perfection, in all walks of life.

So from lesson two, if we aren’t looking for perfect what are you looking for? Consistency. One amazing blog, post, podcast, Vlog will not establish you in your field or as an expert or the go to person. Consistently useful content can. One excellent result at work won’t establish you as a vital part of the team. Consistent good work will. People like people they can rely on and trust, in all walks of life. So be the person who produces consistent results or content with a consistent message. Do that and it won’t matter if sometimes you have a technical hitch. Content really is more important than what it’s wrapped up in. Beyond social media, think about your fitness goals or diet. Maintaining your routine most of the time will always produce better results than being perfect for a few days then going spectacularly off the rails.

Lesson 4 – Focus on connection and engagement

An amazing piece of content is all well and good but people will lose interest if you never engage with them. We naturally interact more with people we feel connected to, who share our ideas and views or engage in debate. So whatever job you have, whether you want to grow a brand online or just be more effective in the office, focus on the quality of your engagement with people, how you make people feel and what you can offer them instead of take and you should see an improvement in the outcome of your interactions.

Lesson 5 – Authenticity is important

Finally, be you. You can shift and shape how you convey your message depending on who you are talking to to help it sit better with that audience, but your overall message should always sit within your values and be comfortable for you, it will come across more effectively.

So in summary my take out from this talk was, to improve your success in whatever field you are thinking about: Take action however messy it may be to start with, be consistent and be you.