What’s one goal that most firms share? Audience growth. The larger your audience, the greater the opportunity to:
- attract clients
- retrain clients
- attract and retain talent
- Get access to new opportunities, like speaking events, podcasting, etc.
You’re probably familiar with the conventional strategies for growing your audience – posting on social media, creating content consistently, attending networking events, etc.
But today, I want to share some unconventional approaches to expanding your reach. Let’s start with one strategy that works well on social media.
Shine a Light on Someone Else’s Work
One effective and overlooked way to grow your audience is by shining a light on someone else’s work. Whether it’s an achievement, a process or just an opinion, sharing this kind of content can help you reach a broader audience.
For example, Nicolas Boucher created this LinkedIn post with the 20 best free finance guides, where he linked to 20 other people’s work.
When you shine a light on someone else’s work (or a group of other people’s work in this case), you catch the attention of that person’s following. And you also catch the attention of the person you’re admiring. Who knows – they may start following you and sharing your content.
By sharing other people’s work or achievements, you open yourself up to making new valuable industry connections and growing your following.
Analyze Someone Else’s Work and Share It
Here’s an audience growth strategy that’s similar to the previous point: breaking down someone’s work and sharing it.
Find someone in your industry that you admire. Reverse engineer their work, and share the process in a newsletter. Tease followers about the content on your social pages to drive engagement and new followers.
For example, let’s say that you figured out how one industry leader was able to achieve great results for their clients. You could break down their process in your newsletter. Then, you could hop on Twitter and tease your newsletter content to entice followers to subscribe to learn more. (Not sure how to tease a newsletter on social media? Check out this LinkedIn post here.)
This approach is a great way to not only get more subscribers and reach a broader audience, but it’s also another way to get the attention of the person you’re featuring. Plus, your followers will learn something new. You’ll add value and position yourself as an authority while growing your audience.
The person you feature may even share your content in their own newsletter or social posts.
Forging connections by admiring and analyzing other people’s work, like in the strategy above, can help you grow your audience organically.
Collaborate with Other Creators
Noticing a trend here? Connecting with others – either through mentions or collaboration – is a great way to grow your audience.
When done properly, collaborations allow all parties to increase their visibility online. Both of your audiences will benefit from the insights and tips you share.
Seek out others in your industry or a complementary industry that have a slightly larger following. See if there are ways you can add value to their audience through collaboration, such as hosting a live event, a webinar, or even doing a podcast episode together.
As your audience grows, you can reach out to creators with even bigger audiences. This approach creates a snowball effect over time.
Take Advantage of Influencer Marketing
B2C marketers leverage influencer marketing much more than we do in the accounting industry. In fact, many of us can’t find time for social media. However, influencers already have a massive base and connections that you can tap into with influencer marketing.
How do you go about this?
- Research the influencers in your space
- Reach out to these individuals
- Consider sponsoring a podcast or social media post
Imagine for a moment that you’ve just expanded your accounting firm and want to target home builders. Construction is booming right now, and it’s an opportune time to land local construction companies as clients.
You can use influencer marketing to target the right individuals to get your name out there and help you tap into their audience.
Ask for Introductions and Make Them When You Can
Audience growth is a two-way street. You need to ask for introductions and give them. Why? One study found that 41% of professionals want to network more often, but nearly 50% of people don’t have time to nurture their current network.
What can you do?
Make it easier for these individuals to:
- Network with people you know
- Introduce yourself to others
Imagine going to an industry event, and you’ve always wanted to meet Joe. Joe is a great speaker and has made a name for himself in the industry. You might be intimidated to introduce yourself, but Katie knows Joe and is friendly with him.
Katie can make the introduction for you, helping you stick better in Joe’s mind and break the ice with him.
In the future, be sure to return the favor. I would even recommend sending handwritten cards to thank contacts for introductions.
Attend Niche Industry Conferences
There’s a good chance that you’ve attended a conference before, but are you attending the right conferences?
Niche conferences are an absolute must if you want to build your audience.
You can use these events to network with others and build a name for yourself and your firm. Pass around business cards, send people your contact on mobile, and start audience building the right way.
A few tips to make the most out of industry events include:
- Research the event beforehand to learn about who is attending
- Plan your schedule and determine who you want to introduce yourself to during the event
- Come prepared with your elevator pitch
- Step outside of your comfort zone and introduce yourself to others
- Follow up with connections on social media or in person after the event
Face-to-face networking is still extremely powerful and cannot be put on the back burner if you want to grow your audience.
Audience growth takes a lot of time and patience, but it’s worth every second. Over time, these connections may become your greatest referrers and lifelong friends, clients or colleagues.
Start with one of the points above and keep moving your way down the list to grow your audience using multiple growth streams.
Do you want to learn more about audience growth?
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