Summary

you don’t want to be an influencer. you want to own a business. they look the same from the outside. they aren’t. here’s the strategy.

1. the income data is brutal. a recent survey put average influencer monthly income at $323.19. a year of grinding for a phone bill. follower count is not revenue.

2. social media is a support tool. it points people to the business. it builds trust. it doesn’t replace the business. if your only product is “a feed,” you don’t have a business, you have a hobby with sponsors.

3. educational content builds authority. how-to, what-to-watch-for, mistakes, frameworks. it positions you as the expert and seeds trust over months.

4. experiential content builds culture. behind the scenes, the team, the wins, the failures. it makes the audience feel like they belong to something specific.

5. my personal example, the try harder newsletter is what I’m actually building. social media drives people to it. the email list is the actual asset.

stop chasing viral. chase what compounds. an audience that pays you beats an audience that watches you, every time. try harder.

Transcript

intro

The most impactful business is the business that genuinely improves another human, a better human business. And to grow a business like this, you have to continually improve yourself. This podcast is a documentation of that thesis, scaling businesses and also personal growth. My goal is for you to shortcut this journey.

So if you’re ready to try hard, subscribe. If you like what you’re hearing, please share and enjoy. All right. What is your strategy with social media? Are you an influencer doing it big? Are you a business owner neglecting this or you giving it a 50% effort? What is it? Let’s talk strategy with social media.

I’m Jerred Moon. This is the Better Human Business Podcast. And before we dive in, be sure to go sign up for the Try Harder newsletter. I’ll be telling you this all the time. Go to jerred.com, J-E-R-R-E-D.com. You can sign up for the newsletter because what I’m going over today is actually some content that’s already been covered in the newsletter, edition 001 in fact, but I’m going to be elaborating on it a little bit more today.

my story about influencers vs. actual revenue

So let’s dive right in. Now I doubt many people listening to this truly want to be an influencer, but I have a point in why you shouldn’t be an influencer. So first let me tell a story. I started business consulting a long time ago, really by request. It was just people who kind of saw that I was doing well in online business and I had kind of figured some things out, strategy, whatever.

And so I would consult for people on a one-off basis here and there, basically by request. And I worked with two different people, specifically I remember, that had Instagram followings of over 100,000 people. And this was like back when, like that was really impressive. I’m not saying it’s not impressive now, it is impressive, but they had very large followings pretty early on.

And I was very interested in that. I was never really trying to chase that goal. I was always trying to grow the business in other ways, but I was like, man, if you have that many followers, you just must be crushing it. Why are you reaching out to me for business? And what was crazy, the two people I was working with, they were making very little money and I thought that they were just crushing it.

influencer income survey data

Because that’s the perception. You have this big following, you’re posting all the time, you know, promoting your programs and all this stuff. I was like, you just must be crushing it. Like how am I going to help you? And they were making barely any money, definitely not enough to support their families.

And at the time, I barely had any kind of social media following at all and I was producing more revenue than they were. I found this very intriguing and it’s kind of stuck with me ever since then. And then I saw this recent survey, it consisted of 5,920 influencers and the average monthly income came out to be $323.19 per month.

That’s not enough, that’s probably not even enough to like justify your time in creating all the content and doing all the influence. So let’s talk about following sizes. If the influencer had between 100,000 followers and 999,999, so right under a million, the average monthly income for that influencer was $1,727.29.

strategic social media use

Still not good, still not what you’re looking to see. Now if you had above a million followers, according to the survey, the average income was better but it’s average $6,109.83 a month. Now that’s better, that’s a lot better but getting a million followers is no easy task. And another fact, tidbit from the study was that 59% of social media posts have zero engagement.

So if you think that you’re going to run out there and be the next influencer with over a million followers and get $6,000 a month, it’s just not going to happen. You have to use social media strategically. So let’s talk about that a little bit. Here’s how I coach people and how I recommend you use social media.

The first is to create educational content for more potential followers. But I see people do this way too much, like way too much educational content, doesn’t get a lot of engagement. And so you do want to be producing some educational content for potential followers, even if it gets very little engagement because the people who might be engaging with that, even if it’s little engagement, are going to be the people who you want as customers.

educational vs. experiential content

They might be learning about your product or your service. Now the second way you want to be using social media is experiential and this content is for building culture and loyal customers. So what’s it like to work with you? What’s it like to be a customer? What’s it like on the behind the scenes?

What are you like as a person? What’s your personality like? Who are you as a person sharing all of those kind of things? So experiential in your business and then also experiential for you as a person. This like I said, it’s going to build that culture. It’s going to build loyal customers because ultimately at the end of the day, people want to do business with people they like, people they know and trust, KLT, people they know and trust.

So if they feel like they know you, they like you, they feel like they can trust you, they’re going to do business with you. And that’s all social media should be doing is trying to check off KLT, know and trust. You can get the trust factor by adding that educational content. They start to trust your opinion, your expertise, and they get to know you and like you through your experiential content.

build your business, not just your following

So if you’re doing those two things, educational and experiential, that’s strategy. That’s using it strategically, not just getting a bunch of followers and pushing some affiliate product on them. So the big takeaway when I kind of went through that and read this survey was you need to always be working on building a business.

At the end of the day, that’s what you need to do unless you have some weird goal of just being an influencer, which I don’t think anyone really shoots for that. Maybe some people do, but focus more time on building the business than you ever do building a viral video. That’s it. That’s number one.

Number two, know that social media assists your efforts. It shouldn’t be the effort. And let me give an example of that right now. As many of you know, I am trying to build the Try Harder newsletter and I have, I have a goal, right? I have a goal of how many subscribers I want to get in phase one and I am promoting it a little bit on social media and I’m talking about on this podcast, but the main thing that I’m doing is building the newsletter.

social media as a support tool , my newsletter example

I’m trying to create awesome content so it’s a newsletter worth being a part of that provides value that people actually want to read. And so the goal is number one, amazing newsletter. Make it awesome. Don’t phone it in. Don’t write crap. It has to be good. It has to be impactful. Always be thinking of ways to make it better.

That’s number one. Number two, get email subscribers. That’s the goal. All right. So I create something amazing to make sure people are signing up for it. Third would be go to social media and promote the newsletter so more people sign up for it. Not in reverse. It’s not social media is my number one.

Yeah. I might try and get some people over to newsletter, but ultimately I’m trying to grow social media. That’s not what I’m doing. I could care less if I lose a thousand followers tomorrow or gain a thousand followers tomorrow on Instagram. That’s irrelevant. All I want to do is grow the newsletter and have it be awesome.

wrap-up, final thoughts

That’s it. So don’t lose sight of your goals when you start doing social media. That’s what my ultimate takeaway. And lastly, make sure that you’re just being strategic about your use of social media. If you are a business owner, if you’re just a person with a social media account, do whatever the hell you want.

But if you’re business doing social media, try to use it strategically. Try to, you know, provide some of that educational content, some of that experiential content. What’s it like for them to be at your, if you have a brick and mortar, what’s it like for them to be there? What’s it like for them to experience?

What’s it like? What are you like? What are the employees like? That’s the experiential stuff. And then the educational stuff, if it makes sense, make sure that people are educated where they see you as someone they can trust and someone who is an authority in your space. That’s ultimately what you want to be doing with social media.

And when you do all of this, you can actually assist your business growth efforts by using it a little bit more strategically and not growing it for the sake of growing it. That’s never going to be good for a true business owner. Like I said, I’ve consulted for people who that’s what they did and it didn’t lead to revenue.

So don’t think just because someone has a lot of followers, they’re crushing it in business. You want to get good at business. You don’t want to get good at an algorithm or posting on social media. So if you want to be doing social media as a business owner, make sure that you’re not phoning it in.

Make sure it’s not crap. Make sure you’re leading with value and you are doing it strategically. Not doing anything else means you are not trying hard enough. So try harder. --- title: “Why You Don’t Want to Be an Influencer (social media strategy)” episode: 86 published: 2024-03-12 podcast: better. podcast tags: - betterpodcast ---

Why You Don’t Want to Be an Influencer (social media strategy)

Episode: 86 Published: 2024-03-12 Podcast: better. podcast

#betterpodcast

Jerred discusses the pitfalls of pursuing social media fame as an influencer and emphasizes the importance of using social media strategically to support business growth. He shares insights from his experience consulting for influencers with large followings but low income, highlighting that a large audience does not necessarily equate to business success. Jerred advocates for a strategy that focuses on creating educational and experiential content to build trust and loyalty, rather than simply chasing follower counts.

Key takeaways: - Influencers with large followings often earn surprisingly low income, with an average of $323.19 per month across surveyed influencers. - Social media should be used strategically to support business goals, not as the primary focus or effort. - Educational content helps establish trust and authority, while experiential content builds culture and customer loyalty. - Jerred prioritizes creating valuable content for his Try Harder newsletter over growing his social media following. - Business owners should focus on building a business rather than mastering social media algorithms or chasing viral content.

The most impactful business is the business that genuinely improves another human, a better human business. And to grow a business like this, you have to continually improve yourself. This podcast is a documentation of that thesis, scaling businesses and also personal growth. My goal is for you to shortcut this journey.

So if you’re ready to try hard, subscribe. If you like what you’re hearing, please share and enjoy. All right. What is your strategy with social media? Are you an influencer doing it big? Are you a business owner neglecting this or you giving it a 50% effort? What is it? Let’s talk strategy with social media.

I’m Jerred Moon. This is the Better Human Business Podcast. And before we dive in, be sure to go sign up for the Try Harder newsletter. I’ll be telling you this all the time. Go to jerred.com, J-E-R-R-E-D.com. You can sign up for the newsletter because what I’m going over today is actually some content that’s already been covered in the newsletter, edition 001 in fact, but I’m going to be elaborating on it a little bit more today.

So let’s dive right in. Now I doubt many people listening to this truly want to be an influencer, but I have a point in why you shouldn’t be an influencer. So first let me tell a story. I started business consulting a long time ago, really by request. It was just people who kind of saw that I was doing well in online business and I had kind of figured some things out, strategy, whatever.

And so I would consult for people on a one-off basis here and there, basically by request. And I worked with two different people, specifically I remember, that had Instagram followings of over 100,000 people. And this was like back when, like that was really impressive. I’m not saying it’s not impressive now, it is impressive, but they had very large followings pretty early on.

And I was very interested in that. I was never really trying to chase that goal. I was always trying to grow the business in other ways, but I was like, man, if you have that many followers, you just must be crushing it. Why are you reaching out to me for business? And what was crazy, the two people I was working with, they were making very little money and I thought that they were just crushing it.

Because that’s the perception. You have this big following, you’re posting all the time, you know, promoting your programs and all this stuff. I was like, you just must be crushing it. Like how am I going to help you? And they were making barely any money, definitely not enough to support their families.

And at the time, I barely had any kind of social media following at all and I was producing more revenue than they were. I found this very intriguing and it’s kind of stuck with me ever since then. And then I saw this recent survey, it consisted of 5,920 influencers and the average monthly income came out to be $323.19 per month.

That’s not enough, that’s probably not even enough to like justify your time in creating all the content and doing all the influence. So let’s talk about following sizes. If the influencer had between 100,000 followers and 999,999, so right under a million, the average monthly income for that influencer was $1,727.29.

Still not good, still not what you’re looking to see. Now if you had above a million followers, according to the survey, the average income was better but it’s average $6,109.83 a month. Now that’s better, that’s a lot better but getting a million followers is no easy task. And another fact, tidbit from the study was that 59% of social media posts have zero engagement.

So if you think that you’re going to run out there and be the next influencer with over a million followers and get $6,000 a month, it’s just not going to happen. You have to use social media strategically. So let’s talk about that a little bit. Here’s how I coach people and how I recommend you use social media.

The first is to create educational content for more potential followers. But I see people do this way too much, like way too much educational content, doesn’t get a lot of engagement. And so you do want to be producing some educational content for potential followers, even if it gets very little engagement because the people who might be engaging with that, even if it’s little engagement, are going to be the people who you want as customers.

They might be learning about your product or your service. Now the second way you want to be using social media is experiential and this content is for building culture and loyal customers. So what’s it like to work with you? What’s it like to be a customer? What’s it like on the behind the scenes?

What are you like as a person? What’s your personality like? Who are you as a person sharing all of those kind of things? So experiential in your business and then also experiential for you as a person. This like I said, it’s going to build that culture. It’s going to build loyal customers because ultimately at the end of the day, people want to do business with people they like, people they know and trust, KLT, people they know and trust.

So if they feel like they know you, they like you, they feel like they can trust you, they’re going to do business with you. And that’s all social media should be doing is trying to check off KLT, know and trust. You can get the trust factor by adding that educational content. They start to trust your opinion, your expertise, and they get to know you and like you through your experiential content.

So if you’re doing those two things, educational and experiential, that’s strategy. That’s using it strategically, not just getting a bunch of followers and pushing some affiliate product on them. So the big takeaway when I kind of went through that and read this survey was you need to always be working on building a business.

At the end of the day, that’s what you need to do unless you have some weird goal of just being an influencer, which I don’t think anyone really shoots for that. Maybe some people do, but focus more time on building the business than you ever do building a viral video. That’s it. That’s number one.

Number two, know that social media assists your efforts. It shouldn’t be the effort. And let me give an example of that right now. As many of you know, I am trying to build the Try Harder newsletter and I have, I have a goal, right? I have a goal of how many subscribers I want to get in phase one and I am promoting it a little bit on social media and I’m talking about on this podcast, but the main thing that I’m doing is building the newsletter.

I’m trying to create awesome content so it’s a newsletter worth being a part of that provides value that people actually want to read. And so the goal is number one, amazing newsletter. Make it awesome. Don’t phone it in. Don’t write crap. It has to be good. It has to be impactful. Always be thinking of ways to make it better.

That’s number one. Number two, get email subscribers. That’s the goal. All right. So I create something amazing to make sure people are signing up for it. Third would be go to social media and promote the newsletter so more people sign up for it. Not in reverse. It’s not social media is my number one.

Yeah. I might try and get some people over to newsletter, but ultimately I’m trying to grow social media. That’s not what I’m doing. I could care less if I lose a thousand followers tomorrow or gain a thousand followers tomorrow on Instagram. That’s irrelevant. All I want to do is grow the newsletter and have it be awesome.

That’s it. So don’t lose sight of your goals when you start doing social media. That’s what my ultimate takeaway. And lastly, make sure that you’re just being strategic about your use of social media. If you are a business owner, if you’re just a person with a social media account, do whatever the hell you want.

But if you’re business doing social media, try to use it strategically. Try to, you know, provide some of that educational content, some of that experiential content. What’s it like for them to be at your, if you have a brick and mortar, what’s it like for them to be there? What’s it like for them to experience?

What’s it like? What are you like? What are the employees like? That’s the experiential stuff. And then the educational stuff, if it makes sense, make sure that people are educated where they see you as someone they can trust and someone who is an authority in your space. That’s ultimately what you want to be doing with social media.

And when you do all of this, you can actually assist your business growth efforts by using it a little bit more strategically and not growing it for the sake of growing it. That’s never going to be good for a true business owner. Like I said, I’ve consulted for people who that’s what they did and it didn’t lead to revenue.

So don’t think just because someone has a lot of followers, they’re crushing it in business. You want to get good at business. You don’t want to get good at an algorithm or posting on social media. So if you want to be doing social media as a business owner, make sure that you’re not phoning it in.

Make sure it’s not crap. Make sure you’re leading with value and you are doing it strategically. Not doing anything else means you are not trying hard enough. So try harder.