How to get clients from social media.

1. Focus on the social part, not the media part.

The key to using social media to get clients is to use it to build relationships.

This may seem obvious, but…

Hardly anyone does it because they’re too busy trying to go “viral.”

Virality may get you impressions, likes, and a few followers, but it’s unlikely to get you many clients.

So rather than just blast out your message on social media to the masses (or whatever segment of them the algorithm feels like showing your posts to that day), instead use social to connect with individuals who are your ideal clients.

If you want someone to care about you, you need to care about them first.

Optimize your social strategy to build relationships with the right people – not to reach as many randoms as possible.

2. Draw your ideal clients into conversations.

If you buy into my advice in item one, then the next logical step is to use social media as a conversation starter.

This can take many forms, but here are a few simple ways to turn passive viewers into potential buyers:

• Spend as much time (or more) replying to other people’s posts and adding value to them as you do broadcasting your thoughts to your own followers through your own posts.

• Post content that prompts engagement – ask questions, be genuinely curious what others have to say about a subject, and create opportunities for others to get exposure by commenting on your posts.

• Reply to every comment you get and look for ways to turn a casual comment into a deeper conversation.

• Use direct messages. Don’t be afraid to take a conversation that starts in a comment thread into a direct message conversation by following up with someone there. Private conversations (such as direct messages) have a completely different tone than public ones and people are much more likely to discuss their problems there (the ones you can potentially solve for them). Speaking of which…

Here are six ways to use direct messages to get clients:

3. Share social proof.

Incorporate testimonials, case studies, and stories from your work into your social posts.

A testimonial that no one sees because it’s buried at the bottom of your sales page doesn’t do you much good.

Turn that into compelling narrative content through social posts that not only provide value to your followers, but also prove the results you help clients achieve.

(Which in turn makes more people want to hire you.)

Here are three examples of what that can look like:

• Here’s me sharing advice I gave to a client

• Here’s me sharing a client win

• Here’s me sharing some testimonials

And here’s how to share social proof without feeling arrogant: