Reputations aren’t built in a day.
Loyalty isn’t given from the get-go.
Your brand is earned through how much your audience likes you.
Keep building.
Author: Anna Peng
How I started my blog
Writing was always an interest of mine.
I’ll never forget the time I wrote a 20 page story for my 8th grade teacher when she only asked for 1.
To be fair, I was already 12 pages in when I realized there was a page limit. Might as well go all out right?
Fast forward a few years later, I found myself writing as a means of self growth and reflection.
Eventually I posted some of these onto Instagram, which didn’t do too well because Instagram isn’t necessarily a text-based platform.
Still, I needed a place to put my words so I bought a domain and published my daily posts on WordPress.
However, the downside of WordPress is that it isn’t an awareness tool. If you want more attention for your stuff, you have to go to where the people are.
That’s where social media comes in.
Fortunately for me, LinkedIn is a flexible professional platform that allows long+short text posts, photos, and videos on the feed.
Now I publish all my posts onto LinkedIn (+ more).
I treat it as part of my blog, and I get to talk and meet with some cool people.
Frequency helps with improvement
The other day I found myself making jelly for the first time with agar agar.
The results were a little different from what I expected.
It was too soft for a jelly, and broke down into tiny pieces that made up a jelly-like slush.
Eventually I found out that I didn’t add enough agar agar.
But the point of this post isn’t about jelly desserts.
Instead, it’s this.
The trick with frequency is that the more times you try something, the better you’ll get at recognizing patterns.
You’ll learn to see what works, and what doesn’t.
Alternatively, whatever you don’t try you’ll never learn from.
Something about me is that I used to be a fashion illustrator
I’d draw late into the night and dream about dresses all day.
Suddenly, my life changed.
No longer was I able to draw pretty girls in pretty dresses.
Instead, I now serve Hong Kong fast food to people in my city.
When I get off work, I pour the rest of my energy into helping creators understand how they can use social media for their business.
You’re allowed to change and explore your interests and passions.
2 ways to cheat and make content faster
- Copy, paste, and tweak your previous posts that performed well
- Steal other people’s high performing content headlines, and replace them with your own spin
Effective content creation is the way to growth for your business in 2023.
How to take your brand game seriously
How most people approach social media:
- Post only when you feel like it
- Write whatever you want
- It’s a likes and followers game
How professionals approach social media:
- Show up to your platforms every day, because it’s your job
- Write in service to your audience, because it’s for them
- It’s a brand and community game
Human error
When we work in teams run by real human beings, it’s inevitable that somewhere down the line someone is going to make a mistake.
Today, that was me when I slept one hour in on a morning meeting before realizing what I had done.
(Glen if you’re reading this, thank you for being so patient).
Things happen, and most people are more willing and flexible to understand that than a computer would.
When they say trust the process, here’s what they really mean
When you’re feeling doubt, don’t stop.
If you’re feeling stuck, don’t give up.
If you’re feeling like you’re at your wit’s end but you’re adamant about your goals, try one more time.
Keep going.
And as you go through with it, you’ll find what lives on the other side.
The process is vague.
It’s kind of supposed to be.
My biggest lesson in social media marketing
In my room, I was sitting in front of my laptop trying to come up with my next post.
It felt like I already posted just about everything I ever needed to post about. I ask myself, why post anything more after this point?
It was then when I realized something important.
I am not my audience.
And vice versa, my audience is not me.
That means the market I want to connect with does not hold the exact same thought process as I do as the content creator.
For example, I had a fear of reposting the same content twice in a month, because I didn’t want to come off as spammy.
To put it to the test, I reposted anyway.
The results shocked me.
Not only did the market not seem to care about my reposted content (heck, they didn’t even notice).
The reposted content got equally if not more attention than the original post.
Lesson learned.
You are not your audience.
“But I don’t have the nice camera that will help me shoot nicer videos so that I can start my Instagram account”
Does this sound familiar?
The key to social media success isn’t correlated to the quality of your equipment.
It’s about the content itself.
Anna's Blog 