When it comes to the world of marketing and advertising, we’re lucky to live in a time where we don’t just have to depend on word of mouth. We can use modern tools like social media to reach thousands of people from around the world. All with just a click of a button.

If you run a business, you probably spend a great deal of time coming up with content to share and know the struggle of content creation. Sometimes it can be hard to know what to say to place yourself as an expert in your industry, so potential clients and customers are eager to hire and buy from you.

So let me let you in on a little secret…

When it comes to social media, it’s not about constantly selling and promoting what you have to offer.

Instead, it’s a place to build a connection.

A place where people get to know you more, learn from you, see what you do and what you have to offer. It’s so much more than a platform to sell. When you start using it as a tool to connect, you’ll see the sales and booking begin to come naturally.

You might wonder why that is…

When you can build a personal connection and create trust, you no longer have to “sell” yourself to potential clients and customers in order to grow your business. Instead, you can use tools like social media to connect with the right people. By having an open conversation, they will naturally learn more about what you do.

The best thing you can do for your business is offer value to those who need it the most. The truth is, I’ve never liked the idea of ‘selling’ to clients and customers. Instead, I love to see it as me educating them about a problem I can help solve and showing them how to do that. 

Here’s a quick example.

Wordsmith is a membership of professionally written social media captions for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs can sign up for free and get the first month’s worth of captions for free to see if it’s the right fit. If they choose to stay, they automatically get new captions, delivered every single month.

THE PROBLEMS IT SOLVES:

• It helps entrepreneurs save time because they get professionally written captions every month and no longer need to write them.
• They instantly get a social media strategy built into the captions. Which will help them connect to more customers and clients.
• By using the captions, they can finally show up on social media the way they have always wanted to. 
• They can quickly customize these captions to who they are and what their business is about.

Our software helps photographers and entrepreneurs with clients manage all aspects of their business. And our beautiful presets help others edit their photos. These presets help create their dream style with just a click of a button. 

For me, it’s never about selling, it’s about offering a solution.  

If you haven’t already, take time to think about the problems your business solves for others. How you can change the conversation from selling to having the perfect solution to someone’s problem. When it comes to getting more sales, more clients, or more customers, it comes down to building more connections with people. People who need exactly what you have to offer.

That leads to more traffic to your business.

Which is what we all want, right?

The #1 traffic referrer for my business is direct traffic. And there’s not a great deal someone can do to alter those numbers. The second leading referrer has always been social media. With over six figures made directly from clients and customers finding me via social media alone, it plays a vital role in my business marketing strategy. Lucky for us, the amount of traffic we get from social media IS something we can alter significantly with the right strategy.

Using social media to book more clients, get more customers, or sell more products is 100% possible. But you have to build your foundation on connection instead of selling. A great way to do exactly that is by using the 5-point strategy, which covers not just promoting your business but other important topics you can use to connect with ideal customers and clients. I’ve used this exact strategy for years, and it’s worked incredibly well. 

Download some free captions to try

If you’re ready for more, I recently created a guide going over my entire Social Media Marketing Strategy. I even included some of the social media captions from our Curated Captions membership. You can jump right in and see for yourself how easy it is to use the power of social media to scale your business!

You can download the complete guide for free HERE. 

It’s loaded with helpful tips and tricks, and absolutely perfect for anyone who’s ready to start using a social media strategy that will actually help them grow their business.

An open community that’s built around your brand is the hub for ALL, and I hope that more business owners realize just how powerful communities can be. Maybe by the time you’re done reading this, you’ll be inspired to start your own community too. Here’s how to grow your community online.

If you have a business, you might be wondering how to start, and I’m excited to share some of my favorite tips on doing exactly that. This way, just like me, you’ll have amazing people who are delighted to be part of what you’re doing.

I’m talking about loyal people who value what you do, are excited about the things you are working on, and are the first in line to sign up or purchase your service or product. You are there for them, and they are there for you. I believe all business owners deserve to have that because let me tell you; it makes the world of working for yourself a whole lot more fun!

Ready? Let’s dive in!

DEFINING COMMUNITY 

Let’s define community first; a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.

I have this sense of community woven into my business. On my website, social media, the newsletter, you can find it everywhere. Truth be told, I actually love the fact that I have a business that’s not all about ‘me’. It’s about the resources I share to help others. Creating a community feel around my business has always come very natural, because I personally want to include others in what I do. Over the years, I’ve used social media to connect to people, but quickly realized that the conversation can sometimes feel a little one sided.

The whole concept of speaking at people, rather than with people. If you have a business, with social media you probably know exactly what I’m talking about.

• Newsletter, YOUR sending an email to others.
• Instagram, YOU post your photo and captions.
• Facebook page, YOU post your status. 

SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS VS COMMUNITY PAGES

Now, don’t get me wrong. ALL these are forms of communities and a chance to connect with people, and that’s what makes them great. They are platforms built for you to share what you are most passionate about.

BUT…if we’re all being honest, it often feels like we’re standing on a stage speaking AT people rather than WITH people.

When I think of the word community, I think of like-minded people being together. Chatting about the things we care about and sharing things we love. It’s a busy, welcoming place to be and feels like our favorite place to hang out with people who simply get it because we have things in common.

For the sake of keeping things focused, I want to teach you how to build a community. A place for your ideal customers/clients to hang out and spend time. Where you can share the things you’re passionate about with people who care and connect with them on a personal level. Where you can have open conversations with people rather than being the sole speaker.

The perfect place for this is in a Facebook Group.

Maybe you’ve thought about starting one. Perhaps you already have one but are struggling to get it to grow with the right people. If that’s the case, I’m excited you’re here because I’m about to tell you everything you need to know to build your very own Facebook group community.

You’re probably wondering; How the heck do you build an online community around what you do, and have it grow into a space for you, your business, and those who will become some of your loyalist supporters?

I’m here to tell you, and it’s actually a lot easier than you might think!

FIND YOUR FOCUS

The first thing you need to do is figure out the focus of your group. If you have a business or a passion, you probably already know what you’d like the focus on. Ideally, you want to create a space where you can connect with people who care about what you do, the service you offer, or the products you sell.

What kind of community do you envision?
If you had to choose three topics as the focus, what would they be?
How will the focus benefit those in the group? How will it benefit you and your business?

CREATE GUIDELINES

For a moment, I want you to imagine that you had 10,000 members in your group. What kind of guidelines would you want in place? This will be your group, and you’ll be in charge of making sure that this space is the kind of space people want to spend time. Think about the groups you’re currently in. What kind of posts do you enjoy, and which ones make you want to leave?

Some of my guidelines are (and you’re totally welcome to copy paste these for your own group guidelines!)

GUIDELINE EXAMPLES

• This group will be a positive space to learn, grow, and share. Please refrain from venting, bashing, complaining. All negative posts or comments will be removed immediately.
• Always be respectful and helpful. I will personally help educate, others are welcome to give tips and advice. Please be sure to remain encouraging to others so they, too, can learn and grow.

WHY GUIDELINES MATTER

You probably noticed, but it’s VERY important for me to build a community that is a welcoming space for everyone. I want people to be able to learn, grow, and share what they love. I’m proud to say I get raves about it being exactly that all the time, and I couldn’t be prouder.

When someone joins the group and is quick to judge, bash, or be negative towards other members, they quickly end up leaving because they learn that my group isn’t the space for that. Even with a group with over 16,000 members, this happens maybe once a year…if that. I’m telling ya…it’s a whole lot of sweet people in my group.

Think about guidelines/rules as a way to ensure that the people in your group will remain happy there in the long run. Focus on what guidelines you feel are most important, and you’ll see how over time, those core values of a group just become stronger and stronger.

CONTENT STRATEGY

You’re going to want to come up with a game plan for content because let me tell you, being a group, where no one is active is not very much fun. The more active your group is, the faster it will grow. People enjoy spending time with other like-minded creatives, and a community group is a perfect place for that.

The best advice I have for your group is to come up with your content posts ahead of time. Post them in the group, even when there aren’t a lot of people. It might feel funny at first with a smaller group, but I promise, if you continue posting, others will as well.

Make a list of 7 types of posts, then use this as your weekly guide.
This could look something like

EXAMPLE

• MONDAY – Weekly Goals: Share what you’re working on.
• TUESDAY – Introductions: Tell us about what you do.
• WEDNESDAY – Share: Post some of your work.
• THURSDAY – Help post: Post about something you need help with.
• FRIDAY – Follow Friday: Post your social media account. Fun way to connect with everyone in the group.
• SATURDAY – Helpful Tip: Give your group a helpful tip.
• SUNDAY – Promotion Sunday: Promote one of your products or services.

Of course, you can alter these to match your services and products and create an environment for your community to engage and connect with topics that align with what you and your business are all about.

INVITE MEMBERS

Once you’ve started a group, you’ll need to start telling people about it. You can post about your group and invite people using your current social accounts or newsletters. Since groups have a much higher organic reach, they work better than Facebook pages and Instagram pages so it’s not a bad idea to try and get your followers/customers/clients into your group.

ENGAGEMENT

Now, this is often the tricky part of groups. Getting the engagement up. The truth is this; you’re group MIGHT be slow to start, and that’s ok. Consider it more like a very private hang out for your favorite people. I promise if you stick with it, it will grow, and engagement will go up as well. In no time, you’ll have a group filled with people who love what you have to offer.

ADJUST YOUR FOCUS

Now, as time goes by, don’t be afraid to revisit your focus. It’s normal and perfectly ok for you, your business, your vision, and your group to adjust as time passes by. Take notice of what people are posting in the group. What are the hot topics, and how have you been able to help those in your community the most? Try to incorporate these into your focus moving forward.

GROW YOUR COMMUNITY

Continue to grow your group and make sure to invite those that find you elsewhere to join you there. When it comes to social media, I put the most effort into growing my Facebook group. Even though it has fewer people than my Instagram and Facebook, it outperforms organic reach by a long shot. 

MAKE SURE TO GROW YOUR LIST

The backbone of my business marketing all comes down to my email list. Of course, I love my Facebook group, and social media pages, but since it’s not something I can control (Dear Mark could literally change the rules on all of us tomorrow), I always make sure to maximize the way I grow my email list. An easy way to do this is to include a freebie in the questions they have to answer so you can welcome your new members with a nice freebie, while at the same time growing your email list as your community grows!

BUILD YOUR COMMUNITY TODAY

So if you’re ready to start building your community with people who genuinely care about what you do, then start your community group today! You’ll be so happy that you did. Interested in learning more about Facebook group?

We’re celebrating because the new Showit website site is officially LIVE!

The process of bringing this new vision to life has been so rewarding. It’s been amazing to see everything come together so beautifully.

It’s been years of piecing together different things to get it at least a little bit how I wanted, and it feels incredible to finally have a website that is the 100% what I’ve always dreamt of having. A place for all my ideas, dreams, and resources. 

I spent months researching different platforms and decided to go with Showit Website. With Showit, I am using a theme from TONIC. I was completely blown away by how easy and enjoyable the whole process was. I’m working on a few articles and can’t wait to write more about the actual process of switching over and using a TONIC Theme for my new website for Modern Market. I’ll be sure to link those articles below when they are ready!

WHY YOUR WEBSITE MATTERS

Too often, we underestimate how important websites truly are. How they can completely change our outlook on what’s possible within the dreams, we pursue in life. It’s so much more than a website. It’s the place I get to share all the things I’m passionate in one place. While making an impact around the world.

So happy to finally share this new site with all of you. I’ll be writing a few articles on the process of switching over to a Showit.

This new launch has also allowed me to shift with my business. For those of you who have been with me from the very start know I got started as a portrait photographer who specialized in documenting motherhood. Later on, Modern Market was the place I shared the resources I used to grow my creative business. Over time it’s turned more and more into a community.

A community that I’m so honored to serve.

A NEW DIRECTION

Over the last year, I’ve done a lot of soul searching on the direction I wanted to go and knew I wanted to open the doors to more ways to serve. For years now I’ve found myself emerging in helping entrepreneurs with growing their business. I knew in my heart I wanted to continue building on to this community by including not just photographers, but all creative entrepreneurs.

My hope with this Modern Market is to continue to serve as best as I can, with the strategies and tools I’ve used to build my business from the ground up. A place I get to share my dreams, and goals while helping you with yours.

For a long time, I felt like the website platform I had was holding me back from growing my business. Now, with my new site, I truly feel like I’m no longer being held back. Instead, I feel more inspired to create than ever before.

SOMETIMES ALL WE NEED IS A FRESH START

This whole process served as a reminder that sometimes the things holding us back from building our dream business could be something as simple as our website. We put so much effort into so many aspects of our business. The marketing, the sales, social media, and all too often, our website is set up and left behind as we continue to grow throughout the years.

If your website isn’t currently living up to what you would consider your dream site, then maybe it’s time to make it happen and create a space that truly inspires you.

Today, I’m celebrating not just a new website design but celebrating all there is to come for all of us.

If you have questions about building a Showit website, just leave a comment below! I’d be happy to answer them.

Ready for more? Join my newsletter and be the first to know about new articles published on the blog, business tips, and of course, all the best strategies and free resources. There’s a reason this list is 70,000 strong!

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The reason it’s so difficult to talk about because I take it so personal and have poured 10 years of hard work into my business.
To have something like this happen…has been so incredibly hard.

SOMEONE STOLE MY DIGITAL PRODUCTS

I had someone steal my products, upload them for the world to download for free, and had to deal with the fall-out behind the scenes because of it for months. To say it was hard would be an understatement. For a long time, I had no idea this had even happened. It wasn’t until I suddenly saw a drop in sales that made me wonder what had happened.

I had a solid business, great products, and a killer marketing strategy in place. I built my dream business. Months went by until I decided to take a closer look at what happened and discovered the problem.

My best selling products, stolen by a stranger, uploaded for free, for the world to download.
This wasn’t the first time someone had stolen my products. Sadly, I see it happen all the time. It was just the first time this had happened and really affected how my business was doing financially.

HOW IT FELT  

First, I was angry, so angry. Angry at this person for taking what I had worked so hard to build. Then the sadness kicked in. Then doubt. Then some more anger. I questioned what the point was of building a business when someone could come in and just take what they wanted without any consequences.

THE TRUTH: THERE’S VERY LITTLE YOU CAN DO

There’s very little you can do when digital products are stolen, and the damage that occurs because of it happens so incredibly fast.
In the 10 years of being in business, it has been the HARDEST thing I’ve had to deal with, and I’ve never had something made me question what I was doing creatively as much as this.

After a lot of hard work and trying many different things, I managed to get my stolen products taken down. The sad part is that they were up for months without me being aware. Regardless, the damage from having this happened can’t be undone. The only thing I can do now is move forward.

The really sad part about it is that this site is still up, and this person if earning money by stealing other people’s products and letting the world download them for free.

As a creative business, it sickens me to know that there are people that think it’s OK to do this.

It also makes me sad knowing that there are photographers and other creative people that go to these sites to download products for free, knowing they are stolen instead of purchasing them from the actual creator who put so much time into making them.

THIS IS THEFT AND IT’S NOT OK

People might think it’s an innocent thing to do, that it’s just them doing it, but here’s the truth; I am a small business, and pour my heart into what I do because it’s what I love. My family of 5 depending on my business financially. This is not a side hobby, this is what we count on and I know so many other small businesses that are in the same boat. So when someone downloads something for free online…I hope they realize it will affect that creator in a negative way.

It’s not innocent.

It’s not OK.

And as someone who works in the photography industry as a photographer AND creator, I know how common it is for photographers to share digital products. To split costs and do a group buy. To trade preset packs and digital products. I’ve seen threads on Reddit from photographers, specifically asking for my preset collections and listing what all they would be willing to trade for.

I see it happen all the time and know that it’s not just happening to me and my business, but is a massive problem in the digital product world.

What bothers me most about it is because I know the people that are doing it, are photographers. Photographers who are also trying to make a living doing what they love. Photographers who want to be booked by clients who value them, their time, and hard work. I know how much it would hurt them to have clients who just took screenshots of the gallery instead of purchasing prints or digitals from them. They are no different than me. They want to be valued.

Sometimes I wonder how a photographer, in the same creative industry as me, would be OK with stealing from someone online.

THIS WASN’T THE FIRST TIME MY PRODUCTS STOLEN

The first time I found one of my digital items stolen and posted for free I remember reaching out to the other creators whose products were next to mine. I explained what had happened, how upsetting it was, I knew they would be just as upset as me and that if we all stood up together, we could make a change. maybe even put an end to it.

Sadly this is what she said;

“Don’t bother…There’s nothing you can do and talking about it will only make it worse so don’t bring it up anywhere”.

I left that conversation with my head hanging low because I knew they were right. There was so little I could do, and bringing it up could potentially make the problem even worse by drawing more attention to it.

But after having this happen, at such a large scale, I knew I was done being quiet about it because it’s a problem that affects so many small businesses, and I want people to realize it’s not ok.

I WANTED TO QUIT

I had days of wanting to quit because when you spend 10 years building something from the ground up and then have something like this happen, you feel so knocked down from it.

Then, after all the sadness and plenty of support from my husband, who I don’t know how many times had to lift me up over the last few months and remind me that I had it in me to do bigger and better things, I decided that he was right.

Just because something like this happened doesn’t mean that I couldn’t take what I had learned over the 10 years and apply it in a new way.

TIME FOR CHANGE

I took some time to take a look at my business and how I want to move forward and know in my heart that I want to make some changes. To focus not just on one aspect of what I am good at, but the many things I enjoy doing.

The truth is; there’s still plenty of sad days and a little anger towards this stranger, but more so, there’s a drive-in me to do something even more amazing. To use this to push me past my self made limits of what is possible and try something new.

Sometimes bad things in life happen, and they are out of our control. But deciding how to move forward will always be up to us.

CHOOSING TO SEE OPPORTUNITIES

We can choose to see the opportunities rather than feel defeated. We can see hard times as things that strengthen us in the long run.
I’ll continue working hard, just in a new way. I’m putting the days of sadness, anger, doubt behind.

CHANGE IS UNCOMFORTABLE BUT NECESSARY

Here’s what I know for sure; Change is uncomfortable but necessary.
My biggest wish is for you to be here for it all. I’m turning a new page, with a new dream and, most importantly, hope.

The last few months were incredibly hard, but I’m more than ever excited about what’s to come. To each of you who have shown support to me and my business; thank you for always being there. You have no idea how much that means.

This wasn’t easy to share, it wouldn’t have been easier to just keep it all to myself, but I felt it was important to share what happened so I can truly put it behind me and move forward.

I spent the last week re-vamping my homepage and re-organizing the blog and want to put more effort into adding new content here to help all of you.

HERE’S WHAT I’LL BE DOING NEXT

After 10 years of being in business, I’ve built a striving photography business, a million-dollar e-commerce site, and The Essential Studio Manager, which is a software used by thousands of photographers around the world to manage their photography business.

Simply put; I bring a lot of knowledge to the table when it comes to building businesses, managing, and scaling. I love taking ideas, making a plan, and making it happen. It’s what I love to do, and it ties perfectly into what I love to do. Helping other business owners build and scale their own business.

There are big things ahead, I can feel it.

I can’t wait to share everything I know with you, so you can use these same methods with making your dreams a reality too.

Here’s to bigger and better things.

And to the person who stole from me; You’ll never personally know me. You’ll never know the pain you put me through or the struggle I had to face because of your action. Stealing my digital products seemed so innocent to you. You probably had no idea that my family was financially dependent on my business and that your actions would push us to have to move from a home we loved and start over again.

As hard as this was for me, I also know that I have I am strong enough to push past this and continue doing great things with my life and business.