194: On Social Media

When it comes to social media, it’s so easy to post things that don’t move your business forward and even easier to feel unsure of what to post. Let’s set the record straight with a few tried-and-true posts! There’s so many trends and so many things going on on social media that I am officially breaking my silence and sharing a few tips on posting… this is going to be run! If you’re wondering why I haven’t really talked about this before, it’s because I'm a techie and never let myself push too far outside of that box. Marketing felt so far outside… but I was wrong. I have thoughts and suggestions that are worth sharing (not to mention that I’ve been on social media longer than I have had my business and we’re already over a decade on that!) Here are three things that every music teacher can and should post on social media on a weekly basis and a couple of things to avoid. #1 Actionable Content My favorite thing to post and this is actionable content. We want to post things that people can actually do and take action on. Here’s some examples: If you work with kids and you are marketing to their parents and your social media feed is for their parents, give them some fun activities that they can do with their kids and then in the caption for that post, make sure to tell them what you want them to do when they are taking that actionable content- post to their story and tag you in that where they're now sharing the action that they took with their child. If you are working with adults, maybe the actionable content is to try a certain technique or to do something that allows them to test out actually play the instrument or try something that can then be shared back on their stories or on their Facebook page. The idea with actionable content is to have people associate what they see from you in their feed as something joyful, fun, and exploratory that they can do in their music space. I have a client who does a really great job with this. She works with young children and so her feed is for the parents and she posts things that they can do with their kids in the car. #2 Student Wins and Successes You can and should post your students wins, your students success, your students testimonials, and reviews. These are great because they are putting your work in someone else's voice. This is where you go from being, “Oh that music teacher who posts on social media” to “Oh that music teacher that I want to work with...” because it's in someone else's words. Think about it. How popular are Yelp, Google reviews, Podcast reviews and ratings. People want to hear what others have to say about you. When we can bring that into our feed, it just adds so much power to everything else that we are doing. #3 Authority Posts Make sure your posts are showcasing your authority. They should showcase that you really do care and that your business is thriving and growing. These are: anecdotal things that might have happened in your studio exploratory things that you are trying for yourself in your own music practice opportunities for you to say I'm not just the teacher- I am always learning, I am always exploring, I am always doing, and I can teach to you. We want people to look at you, not just as the piano teacher down the street, but the piano teacher who is constantly improving herself or himself to better their lessons to stay at the forefront of opportunity for their students to have successes unto themselves. Let’s work to have people see you as THE piano teacher or THE guitar teacher or THE voice teacher! Authority posts demonstrate that you know what you're talking about. We want people to know that you are truly an authority and that you're not just doing this out of rote practice. OK, you knew it was coming... I also want to note some things to avoid -- Don't shy away from sharing that you have openings or that you are offering a new program. Just make sure that we are not posting exclusively promotional content all the time. Sign up, sign up, sign up, do this, do that, do that, do this. We don't want people to always feel like when they see our stuff that we are expecting them to pull out their wallet, or give us their email address, or join something. Sprinkle in your promotional content because you are running a business and it has to happen. Make sure that your feeds don't feel overly promotional. Avoid sharing too much of other people's content. Like I said, I want you to be seen as the go to, I want you to be seen as the authority. I want you to be known as the best choice for the people who you best want to serve. When we post other people's content, we are essentially saying, here's somebody who knows something more than I do. When we do learn really cool things from other people, let's flip that around and say, “Okay, I learned this really cool technique…” and then you formulate that in a way that it becomes an authoritative post rather than just sharing someone else's content. My goal with this episode was entirely to help you think about social media as a vehicle to grow and to extend yourself and to feel really good about interaction. I love being on social media and seeing your posts. If we are not friends on Facebook, go ahead and send me a friend request at Jaime Slutzky. If you don't follow me on Instagram yet, go ahead and follow me @jaimeslutzky. And of course, if you would like to have that call with me, head to http://callwithjaime.com and book a call. I’d love to chat with you! It's time! Round 3 of the Online Music Course Accelerator is open for application. Click here for details.