When you are starting a business or personal brand, social media presence is a must. If you eliminate that from your marketing mix (or plan to succeed) you’d be setting yourself up for failure.
Social media platforms are a must for B2B, B2C and any type of user-generated content. Today it is so ingrained in our culture, that people think you are weird if you don’t have a Facebook page. So think of it like that when it comes to building a brand or business! More to this on another one of my blogs ‘4 tips on how to market on social media‘.
We spoke to Mums With Hustle founder, Tracy Harris about her business success!
So Tracy, tell us a little bit about who you are, your business and why you started it.
I’m Tracy Harris, 32 (at the time of the interview), wife, Mum of an energetic 2 year old and super preggers with baby number 2.
I am the founder and owner of Mums With Hustle, an online platform that teaches bizmums through actionable content and community. I podcast weekly, interviewing successful mumpreneurs. I am passionate about teaching and unlocking the potential of others. I?m a believer in Mums supporting Mums. I’m a doer, not a dreamer.
I started my biz because I saw a need amongst Mumpreneurs and those that aspire. There wasn’t anywhere that I found that I could go for what I was seeking in the early start up phase, so I created it and here we are!
Why did you start your business?
Started as a creative outlet, a way to use my gifts, talents and fulfil a need that I saw in the mumpreneur community. I was predominantly witnessing this need on Instagram in the early days.
Being a Mum doesn’t mean you can’t do what sets your soul on fire. In fact, giving birth to a child often helps give birth to a new creative you!
I believe that all Mums should have access to top notch, quality content to help them build their biz on a little to no budget, regardless of location, experience or know-how.
And what made you want to share it?
I’m a teacher. I have been for 10 years. I am also a natural leader and I find it impossible to keep my passions to myself.
What is your favourite social media platform?
Tough one? Instagram has my heart but I LOVE Facebook because that’s where I have built our free online community with over 4000 of the most engaged and savvy hustlin’ bizmums! Facebook live is also super cool for delivering value to your tribe.
What is your most successful platform?
I decided at the beginning that Instagram was my main platform to build my brand and grow a tribe. I knew my audience was there and it came very intuitively for me. I became obsessed with the platform and how to build a rapid, engaged following. So it is probably my most successful in terms of following size.
Building my FB page has been a slow, organic burn but I am still loving connecting with people there.
My Facebook group though, is by far my most engaged audience and the highest in terms of conversion (I am referring to clicks to our website, subscribes to our mailing list and opting in to webinars etc).
Numbers aren’t everything and that is something I will stress. I have over 12K on Instagram and over 4K in the FB group and the group converts WAY better. That’s because I have the SERIOUS action-takers in there and not just the ones that are following on Insta for whatever reason they chose to follow.
Do you think they have helped impact your success?
Absolutely. I have been able to build a brand fast on Instagram by collaborating, posting 2-3 times a day, connecting with my ideal audience through hashtags and engaging posts and more importantly – by offering value in the content that I share for FREE.
How many followers/likes do you have?
At present, I?m sitting on 12.3K followers on Instagram and that?s after 11 months of starting on the platform, and without a physical product to photograph (I say that because I know a lot of content marketers and services believe that you can only succeed on Insta if you have a physical product that can be styled in pretty pictures). No way, I say! You can make content and information sexy too haha.
How long did it take you to get them?
I had my first 1000 followers in a month and I continued to build it steadily at the rate of 1000 per month. I set myself social media goals with specific actions and I kept track of what I did, and what worked in terms of gaining followers and engagement (I still have this list of how I hustled!). I’ve increased that monthly average as I’ve gone along.
How much time do you invest into it?
Truthfully, HEAPS, especially at the beginning. It would take me ages to think of what to post (visually) and then craft a kick ass caption (damn, that was hard). But the more I learnt about my ideal follower and who I wanted to attract with each post, I was able to become very intentional about how I used Instagram. I have a niche market; I’m not there to serve EVERYONE so that has helped me to focus. I took a while experimenting with finding ‘my voice’ in my captions but I quickly realised that it’s easier to be ME.
I post at least 2-3 times a day on Instagram and FB plus I have a daily presence in my FB community. I’m probably spending 1.5 hours a day on these platforms in total per day but in the beginning it would feel like all day! I’m now passionate about teaching bizmums HOW to avoid this social media burnout and still get a HUGE ROI from using social media. I’ve done the hard work for them so I can now give them the cheat sheet haha.
What do you like most about social media?
I love connecting, collaborating and engaging with my ideal audience. When I know them well, I can tailor my offering to them in a language that makes sense to them. I love hearing about how different users have found me. Hashtags are powerful things!
What do you think people are doing wrong?
Oh most people are more about themselves than they are about their audience. By that, I mean they are posting constantly about the sale or asking people to click their link which goes directly to their sales page or ecommerce store, rather than to a freebie of HIGH VALUE that allows the customer/client to ‘sample the goods’. It also allows you the ability to collect their email address and that is where you can start to build that reputation and relationship. I think people forget that users are on social media to be social and the last thing they are thinking about is spending money.
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
It can feel like a SLOW BURN. Social media is a large time investment but for the most part, it’s free exposure.
It can be a total rabbit hole lol – it can be addictive so limit yourself.
You need to get comfortable collaborating with others, especially on Instagram. If the aim is to grow then you need to get in front of other people’s audiences.
You need to be present, posting daily. Infrequent posters will build their following slower and they will also find it harder to get their groove. Action makes momentum! There is a higher chance of unfollows if you are deemed as an inconsistent poster.
Would you ever outsource your social media if it became a bigger beast?
I love doing Instagram so I can’t see myself outsourcing that, likewise, my presence in my Facebook community can only be done by me.
When it comes to managing my Facebook page, that is something that could be outsourced.
What is your advice to them?
Write in your voice and in a casual tone that resonates with your audience, like I have with my tribe. I deliver value in my posts, write back to people who comment, have a mix of 1:3 posts that ask for a sale or click and the other 2:3 that share a resource or tip. Post at least 3 times a day.
Tracy is a great example of how you can utilise social media to build branding success. Head over to her pages if you’d like to know more about Mums With Hustle, or keep up to date with her events. She has some fantastic information that you can implement in your business or marketing strategies.
Follow Mums with Hustle
Facebook – facebook.com/Mumswithhustle
Instagram – instagram.com/Mumswithhustle
Podcast – Mums with Hustle Podcast
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