Issue link: https://nbm.uberflip.com/i/1491557
4 6 G R A P H I C S P R O • J U N E 2 0 2 3 G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M S T A R T H E R E people to want to be part of your commu- nity? You start by providing something for free. at is the quickest and most effec- tive way. It doesn't have to be a physical product or something that would cost money. It can be a piece of knowledge, an enter- taining moment that provides a laugh or a smile, or a checklist that takes you five minutes to make, like the Top Five Custom Gifts for Mother's Day. Being able to provide value or answer your audience's pain points are the most important aspects of starting your mar- keting journey on social media; just keep in mind that everyone defines value dif- ferently. So … switch things up, not in a way that takes you out of your niche but in a way that doesn't make your page or channel mundane and one-note. Once you've established your freebie, create a consistent schedule. is doesn't have to be an everyday schedule if that would burn you out. It could be twice a week. Create a schedule that would allow you to be able to show up for your commu- nity on a consistent basis, so that they have something to look forward to. ey say you only need 1,000 true fans who support everything you do to make a good living. So, you have your freebie and your schedule all mapped out; now you need to optimize your content and cross-pro- mote. Let's say you have a YouTube chan- nel, which is considered a long-form plat- form. You need to establish a presence on another platform to reach a wider audi- ence and be able to funnel new people to your main platform. A good secondary platform to YouTube would be TikTok. They both contain searchable content. YouTube is the long form, and TikTok is the shorter one-min- ute version of whatever you post to YouTube. is allows you to reach more people, and the quickness of the one-min- ute TikToks entices people to go to your YouTube channel to view the full content. Now that you have your freebie and your two major platforms, how do you build traction? How do you get people to find you, subscribe to you, and ultimately purchase from you? You must utilize the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) fea- tures built into these platforms. When people go onto YouTube, for instance, most of the time, they are look- ing for something specific, like how to do something. So, if you want to make a video about making signs, the title, descrip- tion box, thumbnail, and hashtags must use the word signs (or variations of that, like ADA signs, depending on the prod- uct you're highlighting). is way, when people search for something pertaining to signs, your content will be shown. Cross-promoting is really what helped my channel gain the most traction in the beginning, like Facebook craft groups. I used YouTube and TikTok to promote video content, and I used Facebook craft groups to promote pictures of finished products. e trick to this is to only post these pic- tures after your other content is live. at way when they ask for information, you have it available to either link or message them. When choosing your platform, your focus should be on whatever your goal is. If your goal is views and monetizing your content, you should focus on YouTube and Facebook. If your goal is sales and website traffic, you should focus on TikTok and Facebook/Instagram. Consistency is the key to being success- ful on social media, especially across the platforms you choose. Ideally, if you can create a presence on all the major plat- forms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest) you'd be in the best position. ey all have ways to fun- nel viewers somewhere else and capture the proper analytics to let you know what content is working and what isn't. Mastering the art of social media is a tedious process. It takes a lot and requires a lot, but I have experienced explosive growth in my small business utilizing it. e greater the impact you're able to make on people's lives, the greater the income. People who feel like you've done some- thing for them or included them in your life spend money and time with you. GP This 23-second TikTok video made as a shorter version of a full YouTube video demonstrating how to use DTF on a coffee mug funneled over 10,000 viewers to my YouTube channel, which is monetized and generated more than 100 direct messages to place an order. It also led to additional Amazon affiliate revenue.