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Stop comparing your service-based business to influencers
When I first started my business, I was obsessed with how many people were following my Instagram account, how many people were liking my posts, and how many people were engaging with the content I was putting out there…
But over time, I learned that you don’t actually need a lot of fans and followers to make a lot of money — especially if you are a service provider who wants to get more clients for your business!
I know there’s a lot of emphasis placed on follower count these days, and I believe that’s mainly because of influencers who get paid based on the number of followers they have and the amount of engagement their posts get — but what they are trying to do is completely different than what you need to do for your business as a service provider.
The influencer strategy is not something you should be using for your service-based business because the goal of an influencer is to increase their following.
Your goal as a service provider should be to help people see that you are an expert, offer value, and then get those people off of the platform — whether it’s inviting them to get on a call with you, or inviting them to check out your free guide or training.
Don’t copy what influencers are doing because that’s not the strategy you need for your service business!
Your goal as a service provider should be to help people see that you are an expert, offer value, and then get those people off of the platform.
So how many Instagram followers do you actually need to make a million dollars?
To be honest, everyone is different, but I can tell you that for our business, we hit seven figures far before I hit that magic number of 10,000 followers on Instagram. I still have less than 2,000 followers on Facebook and we’ve done seven figures in just this year alone!
The bottom line: you do not need a lot of fans and followers to be extremely successful.
What you should be focusing on instead of Instagram followers
First and foremost, instead of focusing on that beautiful picture, or that perfect caption, or sharing the reel of your lifetime, you should be focusing on your current clients!
Getting referrals, testimonials, and case studies from your current clients are going to be way more powerful and have a lot more impact on your business than the number of followers you have, but you can’t get referrals and testimonials and case studies unless you’re providing a really great service!
The second thing that you should be focusing on instead of your follower count is the actual number of clients that you need to hit your income goals.
If you’re a solopreneur who offers a service, you do not need thousands of followers to make six figures. There are tons of people that I follow on Instagram who have a thousand followers and are making six figures consistently in their business!
You do not need to focus on follower count, you instead need to figure out how many clients you need to hit your goal — typically that’s less than 10, so there’s no need to freak out about not having 10,000 followers!
You’re not partnering with brands and getting paid based on how many followers you have or how much engagement you get — you’re getting paid by the number of clients you have and the number of clients you need is so much smaller.
If you’re a solopreneur who offers a service, you do not need thousands of followers to make six figures!
Build a predictable lead generation system
The third thing that you should focus on is building a lead generation system that is predictable.
The issue with focusing on followers, fans, and engagement is that the algorithm is always going to change and you can’t do anything to stop it, which is why it’s better to put your time, energy, and money into building a predictable lead generation system.
I’ve done this for my business using Facebook And Instagram ads. Having a lead generation system that helps you bring in the exact number of leads that you need in order to hit your client goal is far better and you’re going to see way quicker results than trying to grow your follower count!
For example, let’s say that you look at your income goal for the rest of the year (or even for next year), and you determine that you’re going to need to add five more clients to hit that income goal.
Based on your past history, you notice that on average, 25% of the people who you get on a call with to talk about your services, actually sign on as a client.
So now you know that in order to get those five clients, you need to get at least 20 more people on the phone with you.
If you have a lead generation system, you can look at your lead generation funnel and see that 20% of people who opt-in to your free lead magnet, whether it’s a free guide or free training, actually go on to book a call with you.
That means you need 80 leads to hit your five client goal.
You don’t need 5,000 followers, you need 80 leads! Even if you’re spending $10 per lead, that means you’re spending $800 to land five clients.
Wouldn’t you rather spend $800 to land five clients, then have to spend hours and hours trying to figure out how to hack the Instagram algorithm!? I know I absolutely would!
While follower count and engagement are important for growing your audience in the long term, it really should not be your number one focus.
I’ve been able to grow my business because I have a solid and predictable lead generation system.
I know how many leads I need, I know how many of those leads are going to book a call, I know how many people who booked a call with me are actually going to sign, and I know how many people who come in as a lead are going to join my programs because it’s all about math. Having that predictable lead generation system is what’s going to help you actually reach your goals instead of focusing on vanity metrics.
While follower count and engagement are important for growing your audience in the long term, it really should not be your number one focus.
I hope you take away from this episode that you don’t need to have thousands of people following you to hit your income goals, you don’t have to hit that beautiful magic number of 10,000 followers in order to make a million dollars, and you definitely should not be following the strategies of influencers because that is a completely different business model than a client-based service business!
If you want to learn how to build your own lead generation system so you can focus on earning more income for your business, check out my free training on how to use Facebook & Instagram ads to grow your business!!
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