Episode 130: How to Get 1 New Customer a Day in the DMs w/ Sophia Parra
Ever wondered how to use social media and the DMs to ACTUALLY make sales without chasing customers or doing hard selling?
This episode is a MUST listen if you want a proven way to make more sales daily by using simple and actionable strategies proven to get your audience wanting to buy from you! Learn from Sophia Parra, a social media strategist, who has mastered the art of fostering genuine relationships and initiating meaningful conversations on social media platforms, leading to successful client engagements and business growth. The secrets are out in the open. Start counting your followers and eventually turning some of them into customers.
Here’s What We Cover and More:
Start with around five conversations a day centered around quality interactions to make your business grow.
Apply the power of human touch and authenticity that will entice and retain followers.
Proven ways to engage with an audience that builds trust and fosters a sense of community.
How to establish personal connections through direct messaging using specific questions and techniques.
How to introduce your services or products without being pushy or desparate.
Meaningful engagement and building authentic relationships are far more valuable than chasing follower counts or content quality in the digital world. Prioritize genuine conversations and human connections to cultivate a loyal community with trust and support for the product or service being offered.
Product Businesses! Download my free HOW TO GET INTO A GIFT GUIDE/PRODUCT ROUND UP roadmap for free HERE to get more sales and traffic to your site this season.
If you want to land your first feature for free without any connections, I want to invite you to watch my PR Secrets Masterclass, where I reveal the exact methods thousands of bootstrapping small businesses use to hack their own PR and go from unknown to being a credible and sought-after industry expert. Register now at www.gloriachoupr.com/masterclass.
Resources Mentioned:
Join the PR Secrets Masterclass
Join the Small Biz PR Pros Facebook Group
Reach Sophia Parra on Linkedin linkedin.com/in/sophia-parra-6055b234
Connect with her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophiaparra/
Check out her website: https://www.gotocoach.club/marketingmail
Listen to her podcast (Marketing Unfiltered): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/marketing-unfiltered/id1644601845
Additional Resources:
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Transcript
00:00:00 Gloria: What's up, small business heroes? Welcome back to another episode of Small Business PR, where we make PR and marketing super accessible for the everyday small business hero. So social media, the thing that we can't live with and can't live without, I have such a love-hate relationship with it. So if you are thinking about, does this strategy really work or what about this and what about that and what's actually working on social media, this episode is for you.
00:00:21 Gloria: I have my friend, she's such a lovely human, Sophia Parra is here. The reason why I have her on here, and by the way, I don't have a lot of social media people coming on my podcast. The reason why I invited her is because she has a really refreshing and truly genuine take on social media so that we know as small business owners, when we are strapped for time, what are the absolute things we must do and the things that we need to let go of. So welcome to the show, Sophia.
00:00:42 Sophia: Hello. I'm so happy to be here and so honored that I'm one of few social media folks on here.
00:00:50 Gloria: Yeah. I, you know, I always like to, I don't want to say hate on social media, but I always have this thing where it's like, it's all about that, earned organic PR, right? Because you own that whereas social media, you don't own it. But let's be honest, we're all on social media and it's not a viable business strategy to not be on social media. So I'm hoping to dive deep into what is actually working and what are some of the things that we're hearing from all of these other experts that really is not the one that we should go for. So. But before we get into it, can you just tell everyone a little bit about you and kind of why your approach is maybe a little bit more different or refreshing and that's kind of honestly the reason why I had you on the show.
00:01:26 Sophia: Yes. Oh my gosh, I'd love to. So first of all, hello, I'm Sophia Parra and I'm a social media strategist. And one of the things that I really focus on is how you are building relationships on social media. I think one of the biggest misconceptions that people have is that social media is a content platform, but it's actually a relationship platform. It literally has social in the title of it, but we forget to be social. We spend hours creating content and zero time creating conversation. And that is one of the biggest reasons that things don't work for us.
00:01:56 Sophia: In fact, if we were successfully able to create conversation on a post, that post would actually start to perform better. But instead, we just sit and wait for comments to roll in when you can actually create comments on a post too. There's a lot of things we can do to make a post, travel further. So for me, what I really help people think about is, where are you building relationships? And that goes far beyond social, if we're being completely honest.
00:02:18 Sophia: That is in your email. That is in your textless marketing. That is all over the place. That's in the relationships that you build to build your network so that you can get in front of other audiences. Relationships, for me, is the key to so many pathways to success in marketing, and yet we're also wrapped up and bogged down with content creation that we forget the part that makes it the most effective. So that's really my job in helping people to see that.
00:02:42 Gloria: You know, when you say this mindset, I'm all about the big mindset shifts, a couple of things came up for me. One is I feel like when it comes to social media, we have been inundated with the equation that more is better, more, more, more. And when I hear relationships, I don't feel that way. I feel like it's about less but better. Would you say that that's true or am I?
00:03:03 Sophia: I love that. Yeah, you know, because it's so true. Like technically, I could start one conversation today and that conversation could turn into a client. You know what I mean? I could also spend a lot of time creating a post and that post might not turn into a client, you know? So I totally hear what you're saying. I always try to start five conversations a day. It doesn't always have to be something that goes very long. Sometimes it can be a quick exchange. Like, hey, oh my gosh, I haven't seen you in forever. Like, how are you doing? And all they say is, I'm doing great. Thanks for reaching out.
00:03:36 Sophia: They don't even engage with me. Sometimes that happens. Even that right there can, build later. Like, because we broke the ice in that moment, maybe they're gonna follow up later just because we made that connection. So it doesn't mean that you have to have like five awesome, enlightening conversations every single day. It just means that you are now held accountable to reach out or create a conversation through your content or not through your content with five people so that there is an opportunity for it to go further.
00:04:05 Sophia: And sometimes only one of those conversations turn into a sale by the end of the week. And sometimes all of them do. Honestly, it just, it depends on the week, but it will not happen unless that is your metric for success versus how many likes you got on a post.
00:04:20 Gloria: Yeah. And if we are small business owners, we are not out here trying to be influencers. We are trying to sell our products, sell our services. And I think we are bought into this equation of just getting more followers and just always doing more. And what you're saying is, if you just really understand your purpose of being on social media, which is to sell more products and services, it's really not about more. And funny thing you say, that is, some of the most successful business owners that we both know, we're talking multi-seven, multi-eight, they don't have a big social media following.
00:04:49 Gloria: And so that just goes to show that it doesn't always equate. So I love what you said about that. And I think we all know that anyone can buy followers. So in this day and age where you can buy followers, where there's so many bots that you can funnel people in, what are some of the actual metrics of success that we should be looking at to determine if it's working for us or not?
00:05:08 Sophia: Yeah, I mean, well, truly, I'm so serious when I say, for me, it's only conversations. I'm not even kidding. I could literally post something. I have 23,000 followers, by the way. I posted something on, I can't remember, earlier this week that, in the first two hours, I could not believe it. It only had four likes. And it had been a while where that had happened for me. But there was only four likes, right? And I was like, Okay, so what can I do with this right now? Right? I looked at the people that had liked it. And I had noticed them liking a couple of things. I had also noticed that they had been, you know, watching my Instagram story.
00:05:43 Sophia: So I reached out and I was just like, Hey, I'm so glad that this resonated with you. You know, I'm not going to lie. I've spotted you around and I just wanted to say, hi, I figured you're on my page because you're looking for marketing tips and I know you're a coach and I happen to help a lot of coaches. So that's why I made that specification. I was like, and I know you're a coach. Is there a roadblock you need help on today? Because I don't want you to, like if I can help you, I want to help you. Every single one replied and one of them became a client. So one post, four likes total bomb. If, for most people's judgments, started four conversations, one person really was so grateful that I replied and they turned into a client by the end of the day.
00:06:24 Sophia: So for me, the only metric is conversation. And I start those, the only metric for success, I should say, is conversation. And I start those just like I told you, I DM people that had liked a post that was a really poor performing post. I also will go on my Instagram story, I'll look at the very last story of the day. So if I like, let's just say I storied a few times yesterday. The last one are the people that watched all the way through, right? So they… for whatever reason, they were invested in my story, in my journey that day. I look at, let's say, I have, I'm just gonna pick like a random number. Let's say I have 300 people watching my story that day. I might, depending on how much time I have, like DM 10 of them, right?
00:07:08 Sophia: So I might just say, hey, like, I just spotted you via my Instagram story. Let's say I've talked to them before, a long time no speak. How are you doing after the last time we chatted about, whatever it might be? Or if they're brand new, I might say, hey, I think you're brand new around here. I'm so excited to see you here and nothing else. I'm not going to ask them anything. I'm not going to put them on the spot. I'm definitely not going to sell to them. I'm just making a connection, right? And whatever that might be, right in those moments, that one person had clearly been lurking, which was fine.
00:07:39 Sophia: And I sent that message on my Instagram story. And I didn't even ask for a reply, but she was like, hi, yes, ha ha, I'm lurking. And she did like a little monkey emoji, like covering her eyes. And she's like, I gotta be honest, I was actually on your website and I was considering this, I have a question. Is this the best place to ask? So it turned into something, you know what I mean? Again, because I started the conversation, which is a metric for success. So even if I don't post that day, I can still be successful if I can get five DMs out, right? Even that, that is my only metric for success, conversation.
00:08:12 Gloria: Oh my God. You know, I don't know why I didn't have you on the show earlier. It sounds so simple.
00:08:19 Sophia: It is.
00:08:19 Gloria: Like it sounds so simple. But why are we not following it? Because sales are relationships and I think we bought into this whole craze of like you need this software, you need this camera, you need this filter that somehow the humanness of it all went away. And I'm so glad that you re-orientated us to what really, are we here to do? Selling is about relationships. People will not buy from you if you don't respond to them. So that is so powerful. I'm so happy you said that.
00:08:45 Gloria: Now you gave us some really good, kind of scripts, if you will. I want to dive a little bit more into that. And for those of you who are listening, you might want to come back to this. But I love what you said about, hey, like I've seen you around, like, are you looking for, you know, marketing advice? That's also a great way. You said you got a client to do that. What are some other ways we can break the ice for people who are just not used to having conversations like the way that you do?
00:09:06 Sophia: Yeah, okay. So some people get really nervous about starting a conversation in the lens of business. Like they're like, Oh, does that feel slimy? Like, and I can hear that too. So another way to start a conversation could simply be, because sometimes like, it's like I said, it's just about breaking the ice. It's kind of like at a party if you, I mean before I was married, and if I was at a party, and I saw, like a cute guy, I'm not going to walk up to the guy and be like, Hey, do you want to go out with me? Right? I'm probably going to like, find a reason to kind of chat or bump into him or something like that, just to kind of break the ice so that there's an opportunity for a conversation to be had. It's kind of the same, right?
00:09:44 Sophia: So I could go on my Instagram story and I could do something really silly. Like I could, let me think of an example. I could literally ask people if they like crunchy peanut butter or smooth peanut butter, right? For me, I am very adamant about my crunchy peanut butter, but a lot of people prefer smooth peanut butter. I don't, like they're absolutely crazy to me, but whatever. But it always starts like a funny conversation, right? So people, I can say that, can be like, you guys, I'm having a big argument with my husband right now who is a smooth peanut butter person. He's obsessed with smooth peanut butter. I think it's absolutely disgusting. I think you need a crunch. It's peanuts, people. Why wouldn't you have crunchy peanut butter?
00:10:24 Sophia: And I'm curious, what are your thoughts? Crunchy peanut butter or smooth peanut butter? And they start replying, right? I'm not going to sell to them because they told me that they like crunchy peanut butter, right? But what this is doing is it's just building like an easy peasy relationship that once people start feeling comfortable just talking to you as a human, the next time you do put up something where maybe you are going to ask a business related question or you are going to say, Hey, everyone, just so you know, today's the last day to sign up for such and such program or today's the last day to buy my product for Black Friday. If you have any questions, do not be a stranger. Meet me in my DMs right now and ask me.
00:11:01 Sophia: The people that feel comfortable talking to you because they chatted with you about crunchy peanut butter and they like talk to you about your background or like some other relatable thing that you talked on Instagram story about, the people that feel comfortable because they had that conversation with you are way more likely to feel comfortable sliding into your DMs and asking you a question without feeling afraid that you're just going to bombard them with a sales question. So, or with a sales pitch. So if you feel, oh my gosh, I love this idea of starting conversations, but I don't ever want to slide into anyone's DMs and just assume they want my help or assume they want to buy from me. Do, like do that, right? Bump into the cute boy across the room. Same strategy, right? It's just coming at it from the angle of being social on social media.
00:11:49 Sophia: I will say one more, if that's okay. I find polls to be really freaking easy. So if you don't want to go on Instagram Story and just chat and then have people DM you, you can also drop a poll. So you can ask people to pick between this and that. So let's say you are a product and you're designing a website or you're creating something that's going to be part of a campaign you have coming up. What I do is I actually have people take part in all of the decisions. So if I'm picking a color for a site, which color should I choose? If I'm picking a graph, a picture of myself, which picture should I choose? If I'm creating a Facebook group that everyone's going to be funneled into, which, whatever should I choose for the Facebook group? What should I call this, right? I make them part of every single decision.
00:12:36 Sophia: Now this does a couple of things. It makes them invested in the journey of whatever you're creating. So when you actually launch it, they feel like they were a part of that. So that is a big deal for someone who's a follower and a member of your audience. But the other thing is it gives you an opportunity to actually keep track of the people who are engaged with it. So when I launched my podcast, I did this the entire way through. And I actually wrote down in a spreadsheet every single person that invested in any decision making, right? Any vote, anything like that. And when my podcast launched, I DMed all of them with the first episode and I said, hey, you helped create this. I cannot tell you how appreciative I am of your input. I could not have done this without you. Here's episode one, I hope you love it, thank you so much."
00:13:22 Sophia: And that was it. And so right away, I created an audience, I made them feel a part of a process, and I immediately got, listens to my podcast because I DMed it to them and they felt, like, excited to listen because they were part of that process. So those are two things that you can do to create those relationships without feeling like you're sliding into the DMs and like maybe feeling a little pitch-tastic.
00:13:48 Gloria: Oh, I love that so much. I mean, it's really a reframe. I mean, you're right. If I'm more invested in someone and them lurking, there's a 10X possibility that, you know, when you do extend that bridge that I'm going to walk across it and try to get more into your world, if not now, then later, because they're making already a commitment to take an action towards you. So I do love that. You talked about so many things. What I want to do is, because we're all about working smarter and not harder. I can imagine us just being on social media all day doing random polls. What is your strategy? Like, do you have, like a strategy of like post, you know, the non salesy thing about peanut butter one day, and then it goes into like another conversation? What is the framework if you can walk us through that?
00:14:31 Sophia: Yeah, there's a lot I can say to this, to be honest. And I think in, like in terms of specifics, I think it kind of depends on the goal someone has. But first up, like, first thing for everyone to be on the same page about is you should decide on what that goal is, right? So for example, if I'm in a sales period, I'm going to be really upping the conversation work because I know I'm moving into my sales period. I want people to feel really engaged and comfortable with me. I want them to feel like they can slide into my DMs and ask me questions. So I might do extra polls or extra stories about myself or things like that to really lean into that goal.
00:15:06 Sophia: But there's also times when I'm not in the launch, when I'm not even gearing up for a launch and I'm just trying to maintain what I've already got going, which is a strong community, right? So I'm gonna talk really about that timeframe because for most of the year we're usually in that and we're just trying to maintain what we got and then we kick things up when we've got something coming, right? But we also don't wanna be the people that like completely peace out and then suddenly here we are again selling something. So this is really for the in-between times, right?
00:15:35 Sophia: There are three posts. I suggest everyone think about on a weekly basis. One post is designed to create conversation. One post is designed to create value and one post is designed to grow a network. So for example, the post that creates conversation can take four minutes. It can be on your Instagram story, kind of like I said with the crunchy peanut butter and soft peanut butter. It could also be voting on what the value that you're gonna share that week is. So it might be, for example, for me, hey, if I'm like, wanting to share tips for a coach, I can say, hey, coaches, tell me, which one do you want to learn about this week? A, getting better at your discovery calls, or B, creating more discovery calls on your calendar? I can let them vote, A or B, right?
00:16:22 Sophia: And then let's just say everyone votes, A, getting better at discovery calls. On Wednesday or whenever I post next, my value post is going to be like something on being better at your discovery calls. And I can DM that post to every single person that voted for it and thanked them for voting for it, asked them if they had any questions. And then right there, I have a post that created a conversation, a post that served value, but also allowed me to connect with my people and the potential for some conversation started right there. And then my last post of that week, something to create, relationship with a network. So for me, that's about like, for example, between you and me, Gloria, like maybe I reposted one of your posts to my Instagram story and was like, damn, like this girl knows her shit.
00:17:08 Sophia: Like Gloria here, like fucking love this. Everyone go, like, look at this post or go listen to this podcast episode that she's done. I'm doing something to amplify someone else's voice. And the reason that I'm doing that is because just like the online platform is about relationships, it's not just about relationships with your ideal clients. It's about relationships with a network that you can amplify and that they can also amplify you. So I think about who, do I want to get in front of their audience and who do I want to bring in front of my audience too. So that post is always about that.
00:17:41 Sophia: Sometimes, like I said, it's a simple... I'm going to post their post to my Instagram story. And sometimes it's a little bit like I will share some... I do these things called follow trains where I'm like, four people, every small business owner absolutely must follow. And then like I do a slide devoted to like four of my friends. So I could do you, I could do Sage Polaris, another friend of ours. You know, I could shout out for other people, right? And what I do here is even though you might not have known that I was gonna do that, I'm making sure that you know, like I value you in my community and you are under absolutely no obligation to bring me into your community either.
00:18:19 Sophia; But if I were to pitch to you in the future, you're gonna feel like you know me, you're gonna feel like I'm not just out there just trying to like, use you for your audience, you know that we're in this together and that we can raise each other's voices together. So those are really like three things at a bare minimum I try to do. If I'm really strapped for time, one simple post to create a conversation, it can be an Instagram story, one post for value and one something to amplify someone else's voice.
00:18:46 Gloria: Ooh, I love that so much. We're going to have to like, I, myself, I'm going to have to rewind and listen to that. I love how it's really people centric and it's about really getting you closer to, getting that person to say yes, because that's really all it is, right? People want to buy from people that know that they can be truly supported by. And I think especially in this online world where people have been scammed and, to be honest, jaded and burnt out, having that extra touch is just amazing. And I love how you're just playing a completely different game. I think so many people are still, like trying to make their feet pretty and doing all these random, follow for follows where you're just going straight to the heart of it, which is relationship building. That's so beautiful. Wow, so you said that you do a story and then you look at who commented on the story. Are you, like screenshotting it and saving it? How do you save that data to go back and DM them?
00:19:36 Sophia: Yeah, I mean, you know what? You could do that. You could get really into that and record. And I actually used to, when I was just getting started, I used to have spreadsheets of people and I would use to really know, like who I had conversations with. And I did use that and sometimes that really helped me. But now I'm a little bit looser with that. So I, you can just, I literally, like I'll look at my Instagram story. I'll just do it right then and there. I'll tap on their name. I'll do a quick post, and then I'll go back to my Instagram story and do another person. So I'll do it all in one go. Now, inside of my actual DMs, you know, how you have, like the two, you have a general inbox and then you have a, I can't remember the other one is called.
00:20:14 Gloria: Primary.
00:20:15 Sophia: Primary. Thank you. And the… I'm pretty sure the default goes to primary and you have to move to general. I feel like it should be the other way around, but I'm pretty sure the default is to primary and then you have to physically move it to general. Whatever it is, you'll see it in your DMs. There's one that you actually have to put in there. So what I do is I DM these people, and as soon as they reply, if they reply something where I feel like, hmm, I should follow up with this person in a few days, or hmm, this could be a bigger conversation, I don't want to forget this person, I wanna come back to this person, I take that DM that automatically went into my primary and I move it into my general.
00:20:55 Sophia: So when I have, let's just say on a Friday, when I'm like kind of creating some conversations and trying to wrap some things up for that week, I go into my general inbox where all of my open conversations are and I just go through down the list and I just make sure that everyone if they needed a follow up, I follow up with them. If there is a question that I didn't want to forget to answer, I make sure that they have an answer. If I reached out to them because they asked me to and they never replied, I just like, hey, just making sure you saw this. That's where I can keep an eye on them. If they're in the middle of a sales conversation, I keep an eye on them there. If they downloaded my lead magnet and I want to make sure that they didn't have any questions a few days later, I can reach out to them there and keep track of them.
00:21:36 Sophia: And then as soon as the conversation is finished, it's concluded where it feels like a good place to stop. I move them back to my primary inbox. So my general inbox is only active conversations so that I can kind of keep track of it. And then of course, if anything really does turn into a sales conversation and they want to buy, what I typically do is say, amazing. I'm gonna have my OBM reach out to you, or maybe I will reach out to them, but I will do it right then and there so I don't forget. So I will just like, pass that on the task so that I can move them into my primary inbox and then make sure that that's now happening in my email, which is a little easier to track than your DMs.
00:22:15 Gloria: That's amazing. So from what I'm gathering is you're never like cold, outreaching people. It's always–
00:22:20 Sophia: Never.
00:22:21 Gloria: Interacted with your posts. What if you have, like an evergreen funnel and you have people who like, are signing up for your workshop? Do you go, like and search for their handles and say thank you for a tent, you know, a signing up or no?
00:22:34 Sophia: Oh my God, I'm so happy you asked this question. So there's a couple of things that I do. When I'm doing a workshop, I do try. Well, it's not always possible. Sometimes I have a lot of people signing up for a workshop and I can't. Like I can't reply to ever, I can't send a message to every single person who signs up, but especially in the beginning, like as things are getting started and it's not like a ton of people yet, and maybe not all our affiliates have started sharing, what I will do is as they sign up, I actually, I used to always do this on Instagram, but sometimes that gets tricky, especially if I can't find them on Instagram or something like that, but I will shoot them bomb bombs over email and I'll be like, Hey, I just saw that you signed up. I just wanted you to know that I saw you, just saying hello. I can't wait to see you on Monday or whatever it was.
00:23:19 Sophia: Like I will do that for a few people, but I also have an email that goes out the day before the webinar that they're going to attend. And it says, Hey, like, I'm so excited to see you tomorrow. I also want to make sure that this webinar is everything that you needed it to be. Please reply with the letter that sounds most like you. And it's like, A, let's just say I'm doing, like a content webinar. A, I really struggle with content. I've tried to be consistent on and off for years, but I never can quite stick to it. B, another situation. C, another situation. Hint hint, every single situation is addressed inside of the webinar, right? So it doesn't matter whether they apply A, B, C or D, I can reply to them and say, A, love it. We're gonna be addressing this in phase one of this webinar. I'm so excited for you to see you there. If they reply C, cool. This is gonna be the third part of our webinar. You're going to love the part where I talk about X. Can't wait to see you there.
00:24:17 Sophia: These are all pre-created email responses. So whatever they say, A, B, C, or D, my team and I know we can just copy and paste the correct response so that they are aware whatever they voted, I have a strategy that is going to fix the problem that they are struggling with inside of my webinar. What this does is makes them so fucking excited to come to the webinar. They're like, holy shit, I cannot wait. I can't believe it's so specific to what I need. So that gets them really excited. That's one thing I do. And then the second thing I do is I create, I call this a Q&A text list party. I will send out a message to my text list and I will say, this is also to get people to come to the webinar who aren't signed up. I will say, hey, marketing questions, DM me right now. They will send me marketing questions and I will reply, oh my gosh, I'm so glad that you asked this question. Here's my answer, but let me be honest with you. We're talking about this on next week's webinar. Are you signed up for it?
00:25:19 Sophia: And because we've had that exchange where they heard from me and then I was able to say, yo, This is also being covered, next week's webinar. If they're already signed up, they're like, oh my gosh, I'm coming already on Monday. I'm so excited. Now they're way more excited than they were before. They're definitely not gonna miss it. And if they haven't signed up for it, they get the link so that they can sign up. So again, I come back to, how can I talk to the people who are already signed up to make them even more jazzed about coming? And then once they get there, I will look at… so after the webinar happens, I will look at the people that clicked on our sales page link or ask a question in the DMs, and I will follow up with them. So I will say, hey, I saw you on the webinar. I just wanted to make sure you didn't have any questions.
00:26:03 Sophia; And that's it, right? They don't all have questions. I'm just here to say, hey, I saw you. Wanted to make sure you had questions. Don't hesitate to shoot them to me if you need me, right? And that is it. That can be a copy paste job for everyone, right? But I do make sure, where can conversations happen. Here are all the touch points that are possible to, along this sales process.
00:26:26 Gloria: Well, that is so good. I mean, when you say high touch, you really mean it.
00:26:30 Sophia: I do.
00:26:30 Gloria: I feel like I could talk to you for four hours about this. I mean, this could probably also work for, like a freebie, right. Or a lead magnet to get people to respond and then DM them.
00:26:39 Sophia: Yep.
00:26:39 Gloria: Another question is now that you told us what we should do. Do you have like three or four things that people are doing that you're just like, oh, you got to stop doing that either because it's a waste of time or that it's actually a turnoff. What should we stop doing?
00:26:51 Sophia: Yeah, I mean, well, first of all, I do think cold DMs are not good. I don't love just sliding into the DMs if someone's not a follower, if someone has literally never engaged with your content at all, or if they're not right for you. What I find is people were like, Oh, I saw you watching my Instagram story. So I'm reaching out. But if they had actually clicked on their profile, they would have seen that they were a colleague and not their target audience or just, like something like that. Right. So I do find, like not, you can't always tell with people. But like the amount of times I've had people use my strategies on me and then not and then call me like a coach when I'm at, yes, I'm a coach, but I'm not a coach in the way they think I'm a coach. I'm a marketing coach. So I'm not a life coach or a health coach. So they don't realize that because they didn't do any research on me. So they're pitching to me something that would, they mean for a life coach, just because they saw the word coach in my bio. They're not looking at anything. Right?
00:27:45 Gloria; I also think if you can not be as generic as possible, that's best. Right? So I do have a lot of people ask me questions like, Oh my God, I just had someone reach out today being like, Oh, what's the, what's your favorite part of having a business? And I just knew they were just trying to get me to talk to them. And I was like, this is so, on specific. I mean, sorry, it's so, it's not that it's not specific, but it's so hard to answer. I will have to, like, I don't, I'm not gonna even, my friend who messages me that question, I would have to take a few days to respond to them if I even was going to, because it's such a random question. But a stranger, I'm not gonna, who are you? Do you know what I mean?
00:28:23 Sophia: So as much as possible, if you are gonna DM someone that you don't have a ton of, like, conversation with, make there be a reason for it. Like, for example, hey, I noticed that you dropped a question on such and such as feed about, like this happened the other day, someone asked someone else a question. And I noticed that I was just curious about the comments on this post. So they asked a marketing question to this person. And I noticed after three days, this person didn't have a response, right? So I was like, I know the answer to this question. So I might just go tell it to her. So I DMed to her and I was like, hey, you don't know me, but I just randomly saw your comment on such and such, as posts. And I saw that you were wondering this question. I actually know the answer. Would it be totally crazy if I gave it to you? Or would you, since you don't know me, would you rather not talk to me? Totally cool either way.
00:29:12 Sophia: And she was just like, no, please tell me. And then I told her, right? So there was, like a reason. I saw she asked a question that wasn't answered. I wasn't, like sliding into her DMs, like trying to do something. And I did not pitch to her in, that moment. Like she ended up following me and who knows? We might chat again in the future, right? But my intention was to give her the answer and to make it possible for us to start a relationship. It was not to pitch. Which leads me to my other thing. The first time you talk to someone should never be to sell them something. If they talk to you first and ask you a question about your program, of course, it might naturally go there. But do not make the intention to sell. Let that happen naturally.
00:29:52 Sophia; Now, a lot of people say, okay, how do I know if it's time to sell? So this is my other piece of advice. First of all if… you should always feel like you have all the information that you need to actually make a pitch and the pitch should never be a pitch. The pitch should be a recommendation. So if Gloria and I were chatting and we're having a conversation about marketing and she's talking about how frustrated she is with community building. I'm making this up. Gloria's never said that to me. Well, let's just say Gloria's like, oh, I'm so frustrated with community building. I'm really stuck with this, this and that.
00:30:24 Sophia: As we're having conversation, if I feel like I have all the information I need to truly make a recommendation that I would stand by, right, that I'm like, Gloria would really love this program. What I could say is, Gloria, I'm listening to everything you're saying, I'm hearing that this, this and this is a struggle for you. And I gotta say, I actually think my program would be a really good fit for you. There is zero pressure for me ever to join my program. And I know that wasn't the intention of this conversation, but I'm just listening to you talk and it's just a really good fit. So I want you to know it existed in case you didn't know that. And that's it, right?
00:31:00 Sophia: And from there, Gloria can say, great, I'd love to know more information or thanks so much, I'll keep that in mind. Either way, she does not feel pressure for me and she knows that it exists based off of what she has told me. The big mistake people make when they pitch is they don't actually know if it's a good program for them. They haven't asked them enough questions. So if you need to know more information to make that recommendation, ask more questions and stop talking at your people.
00:31:28 Gloria: Oh, that is so good. I love that so much. It's really about consent based. And I think that's really where sales are going now because there's, audiences are smarter, they're burnt out. They just don't like that hard sell anymore. Now, one thing that we didn't cover is what about Minichat and things that you can automate? Because what I'm hearing is between all of these touch points, how do you systematize it? Because I'm not the most organized person. So what are some tools that MiniChat work? Do you like, how can you even delegate this to like an intern or a VA and keep track of all these conversations?
00:31:58 Sophia: Yeah, yeah. And you know, Minichat is now like, approved by Instagram. So, like Minichat is a great resource. It wasn't always approved. So like back in the day when it came out, it was really like, it was like shutting down accounts because Instagram didn't like it and they didn't like third party apps and things like that. So I did have interns in my, and actually interns, but most of the time I just did it myself because it also kept me really, like in touch with my business and he was there. But now we do have Minichat and Minichat is fucking awesome. Now what I do with Minichat, and I'm going to be honest with you here, we're having some issues with my Minichat. So at the moment I am doing a lot of this manually, but it won't be forever.
00:32:38 Sophia: When my Minichat is hooked back up again and starts working again, something that I do is when I deliver the thing, I make it very clear that Minichat is making the delivery. I also say, but if you keep replying, I will be the one replying to you. So if you get my link and you love it and you have another question, feel free to reply and I will get back to you personally. So I kind of let them know that, first message is gonna be from a bot. And then from there on, if you've got more questions, feel free, right? So for me, I like to be very clear about that right away. I used to try to make my bot sound like me so that people always felt like it was me and now I'm very open. I'm like, this is a bot, enjoy your free thingamajigger. And if you have other questions, hit reply and Sophia will get back to you.
00:33:25 Sophia: For me, that's really like the best tool outside of doing it for yourself. Minichat to deliver your lead magnets, but in terms of actually starting conversations, I really do suggest for the time being you, doing that. People are using bots to do that, but what ends up happening is it looks like a bot, they comment on the wrong things, they do the wrong things. And I don't love that. I don't love bots for the actual relationship building part. I love bots for the delivery of the things people ask for only.
00:33:58 Gloria: So would you say, okay, so you have a system, you automate that and then you would go in and then start asking questions.
00:34:04 Sophia: Yeah, I would go. I mean as… I would also just set the stage that they can also reply with questions. So it's like if I don't have anything to say, just so you know, the… a bot delivered you this but any further questions that you have, a person will respond. So that people don't feel like, oh, shit I'm talking in a bot. You know what I mean? They feel like oh, okay. There is a person here, right? But then yeah, I'm in the habit of following up with lead magnet subscribers. So one of, one way to create conversations, you know how I said I try to have five a day. One way to do that is literally go into the, to, especially on a Friday, look at the people who DMed your, sorry, who downloaded your lead magnet that week, and just reach out to them, right?
00:34:44 Sophia: Say, Hey, I saw that you downloaded my 12 strategies to get your next client on social. Do you have any questions? That's it. You know what I mean? So now I can literally pick five people who downloaded my lead magnet or more if I have time for that, and just DM all of them or shoot them an email. My intention there is, just to make sure that they feel clear. Right? So if I have Minichat delivering that, I can literally go into my DMs, take a look at who Minichat has delivered to and reply right then and there.
00:35:11 Gloria: That's awesome. I mean, this is, I'm like, ready to implement right now after this. So obviously no cold DMs. But what about like, no, you hear all these other strategies of like, comment on another person's post who has like millions of followers and you're going to get visibility. Like, are we still even doing that anymore?
00:35:35 Sophia: I don't. I'm not, I don't know if people do it. But I think that for me, if I'm participating, I think for me it's always participating instead of promoting, right? So if there is someone's post with a ton of comments and I can add value to this conversation, I'm going to, that's okay. You know what I mean? I think the difference though is I'm just going to drop a comment here so a bunch of people can see me. It's kind of a shallow strategy. It's not gonna go anywhere, right? But if you're like, okay, here's a conversation that's happening. I have something to add to this conversation. And then you drop a comment and a lot of people see that comment and it gives value. There is an opportunity for more to happen, right?
00:36:20 Sophia: But I think people need to think about the whole way through, right? What do I actually want to happen from this? Oh, I want people to come back and follow me. Great, drop a valuable comment here and that might actually happen. But a comment, just a comment so people can see you, we're done, right? As soon as people see you, the strategy is over and now you've got nothing for it. So really think about the purpose behind the actions that you do.
00:36:46 Gloria: Okay, wow. Just when you thought you knew everything about social media, you have taught me so many things, Sophia. It's really about, for me, when you can look at a problem through a different lens, everything changes, the perspective changes, and you have just re-orientated us to what this whole social media thing is about, it's really about high touch relationships and doing less but better, which is honestly what people want these days and the motto for my business. You've given us so much value. I know there's so much more of, you know, where this is coming from. We wanna learn from you. We wanna follow you. How can people get into your world and see what you're up to?
00:37:18 Sophia: Oh my gosh, well, thank you so much for having me. This was so much fun. So where to be in my world? So I have a podcast, it's called Marketing Unfiltered. Gloria was actually on it and she delivered an awesome sauce episode. So that's Marketing Unfiltered wherever you get podcasts. I'm also obviously on Instagram @SophiaParra. And I got to say, I deliver strategies and tips around all kinds of things like content marketing, launching all kinds of things over on my email list. So if you wanted to join there and be, you know, get those tips every Tuesday, we call it marketing mail. And you can find that over at gotocoach.club/marketingmail.
00:38:02 Gloria: Oh, thank you so much. So many gems and even more generosity with all the tips that you share. Follow Sophia, listen to our podcast. I know I will be, and I cannot wait for all of the listeners to tell us whether or not the strategies worked. I know I, myself, I'm going to start implementing that as well. Thank you so much, Sophia. And for those who are listening, if you like the show, if you feel like there's a small business owner who can benefit from it, please share it with them. It's the only way that this can get out into the world and help more small businesses. Thank you so much and we will see you next week.
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