Recognized social media and branding expert, Drew McLellan talks with Mitch Matthews about the secrets of growing your influence, audience and impact.
Listen To The Podcast:
One of the most common questions we hear from DREAM THINK DO Listeners is:
“I’ve got an important message.
How can I reach more people and have more of an impact?”
Today… if you want to influence people, grow your audience and make more of an impact… you need to understand social media.
On this episode of DREAM THINK DO, Mitch interviews Drew McLellan about this very topic!
McLellan has been on AdAge’s Top 150 list since it started and The Wall Street Journal calls him one of the “top ten bloggers every entrepreneur should read.”
During their conversation, Mitch and Drew talk about:
Advice for growing your audience whether you’re starting with 1 or 100,000 followers
How to attract followers to your website and give them a reason to stay
The key thing to avoid if you want to grow your influence
Tips that any entrepreneur can use to create useful content.
Whether you have a product, service, book or big idea… you can learn from Drew and his practical strategies and start to apply them immediately!
Which of his ideas stood out to you?
Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from YOU!
HERE’s some show notes from today’s show. Enjoy ————-
Summary
One of the top requests Mitch Matthews receives is for information on social media for entrepreneurs. Everyone with a website, product, or blog needs to know how best to use it to reach their target market. Recognized expert Drew McLellan of The McLellan Marketing Group and The Agency Management Institute has some advice on this topic. Starting his network blog in 2006, McLellan has been on AdAge’s Top 150 list ever since, while The Wall Street Journal calls him one of the “top ten bloggers every entrepreneur should read.”
Time-Stamped Show Notes
[00:00] Introduction to social media for entrepreneurs and expert, Drew McLellan.
[06:07] McLellan discusses the pleasure of spending time with the people and things that matter the most.
[11:01] Advice for growing an audience on social media.
[18:45] Is social media an appropriate place to share your political opinions?
[22:55] How to attract followers to your website and give them a reason to stay.
[28:09] If you are desperate for a sale, your followers will sense that. Play hard to get and they will want you even more.
[35:08] Tips that any entrepreneur can use to create useful content.
[42:10] Don’t undervalue your ideas; people need the information you have.
Drew McLellan and the Art of Leveraging Social Media
One of the most-asked questions from entrepreneurs is, How can I use social media to enhance my customer base? Drew McLellan, who has been in advertising for more than twenty-five years, founded The McLellan Marketing Group in 1995, and also operates The Agency Management Institute, offering management training, consulting, and peer networking to his clients. In addition to his own network blog, he writes for Entrepreneur Magazine, The New York Times, CNN, Business Week, and others. The Wall Street Journal lists him as one of the “top ten bloggers every entrepreneur should read.”
The Spoils of Hard Work
McLellan works with agencies and clients across the country. He has worked long hours and devoted himself to growing his businesses. As a result, he says it is wonderful “getting to do what you love, serving the people that you love, in places that you love. It doesn’t get any better than that. But, I’m fifty-four years old,” McLellan says. “This didn’t happen overnight.” He has a twenty-three-year-old daughter working on her Master’s degree, and they set goals to visit a different continent together every year. He was able to free up the time to care for his mother, who suffered with dementia, until she passed away in November.
Growing a Social Media Audience
Building a social media audience is a two-step process, McLellan believes. “I think people devalue the message they have. Ask what it is that you know that is worthy of teaching, what will others gain value from? I want to help people be better at stuff, and if I know stuff that might help them, then I should share that.” Then the second step, McLellan advises, is learning to shut down that little voice inside your head that says what you have to offer is not good enough or big enough to be of value.
The Trail of Breadcrumbs
Social media works well for its intended purpose, which is to lead potential clients back to your website or blog. But once they get there, you need some way to spark their interest, things for them to explore and discover. They will need a reason to stay, and it is your job to provide that. There has to be a reward at the end of the trail of breadcrumbs, whether it is an eBook or a course, free or for a fee, but if you have nothing to offer, they will leave and not come back.
Strategies for Creating Content
McLellan is known as a “content machine” and is happy to share his strategies for creating content. “About twelve years ago, The Business Record asked me to write a weekly column for them, and I said yes, but I wondered how long it would be before I ran out of stuff. It hasn’t happened yet. I’m a master and am adamant about repurposing content. I’m recording our conversation. I know you are going to put it out as a podcast, but I am going to use it as a blog post, or…I can use it for many things. I can slice and dice it at least four different ways, maybe six tweets, a couple of Facebook posts. It will show up in my content sooner or later.” He likens it to making a big batch of lasagna for the week. You make it once, and then use it for several different meals.
How does he keep track of all the content he will later dissect? McLellan has a high-tech approach to this. He puts it all in a folder marked “Content.” Inside are different subject folders. When he goes to write something, he can pull out six or eight articles he can “slice and dice” to create new content.
McLellan does much of his coaching by email. He pulls material from his coaching sessions as well, because it is relevant to his clientele. “If the person I’m coaching has a question,” says McLellan, “lots of others will have that question, too.”
Contact
Drew McLellan welcomes comments and follow-up questions. Learn more at Drew’s Marketing Minute.
The post You have to show up! I Strategies for social media, business and life with Drew McLellan appeared first on mitchmatthews.