7 Myths of Growing Your Fan Base

I have been around.  OK – let’s rephrase that before your mind goes in the gutter:  I have been in the teacher blogging and social media game for a long time now.  While I won’t pull out the “back in my day, when a Facebook fan “liked” your page, they saw all the posts” and the “I was blogging before Pinterest was created, all posts were done manually, and all video content was recorded and placed on YouTube only,” snippets – I will say this:  7 years of blogging has allowed me to see many, many teacher bloggers rise and fall along the way.

It’s completely natural to have attrition.  Some bloggers have life events that might steer their course on a different path.  Some might just want to take up blogging as a hobby until a different interest comes along.  But the ones who do outlast and remain on the scene have figured out the myths below.

Want more specifics for how to get New Fans and Followers for Teacher Bloggers in 4 Weeks or Less? Check out TBTS BoostCamp!

The power bloggers who are in it to win it know that with all the technology that changes every 6 months, not falling into the following sinkholes allows you to stay ahead of the changes and come out of the pack emerging as a leader when the inevitable changes will occur.

Are you ready to bust some of these myths and be the blogger who is still around and making sales years later?  Let’s go!

Myth #1:  If You Build It, They Will Come

This myth is classic of a brand new teacher seller.  She builds a beautiful new blog and creates several amazing products which she posts at TpT.  The FB, Pinterest, and IG accounts are all set up.  And then she waits.  To hear that first cha-ching.  It may happen relatively early as she tells her teacher friends about her new venture.  But after a couple months, she can’t figure out WHY there are no more sales?

With so much information out there on the information super highway, it takes at least 6 months to really bring blog rankings up in Google searches with the right SEO.    Building it is important.  You do need to have content that will get indexed and bring your organic search rankings up.  Being consistent on that front is huge.  Once a week blogging about great teaching strategies (NOT product posts) will get you on the right track and is not so overwhelming you can’t keep up with it months down the road.

But what do you do until then?  You need to get an audience.  That is where social media comes into play.  If you build it, maintain it, and get new eyeballs to it, then the sales will come.

Myth #2:  Redoing My {Covers, Store Header, Pinnable Images, etc} Will Bring in Tons More Sales

There is a difference between being busy and being productive.  While you may feel that redoing all those covers will help to make your products more cohesive, which will result in more sales at your store – I am here to let you know your increase in sale conversions is not going to outweigh the time spent redoing all those covers.  The same goes for creating flashing store banners, redoing our blog background for the hundredth time, and so on.

Yes – you will feel accomplished when it is done.  You will feel like you really worked hard on your business.  And you did.  But – it won’t be worth the few extra sales it MIGHT bring in.

A better plan?  Use that same time to network with others to bring new eyeballs to your products and create lots of sales.  Then, take some of that income and invest in a Virtual Assistant to redo all those covers.  Use your time for only those things only you can do:  connecting with fellow bloggers and new fans/readers.

Myth #3:  Working With Other Bloggers in the Same Target Market Will Hurt My Sales

I hear this a lot from new bloggers who are afraid that if they are a Kindergarten blogger, all other Kinder bloggers are their competition and must be repelled for fear their fans will flock to the competition never to be seen again.  Actually – this is the opposite of the truth.

You see, you have an audience of K teachers.  Another K blogger also has an audience of K teachers.  While there might be some overlap, there are plenty of fans who are new to either seller.  This is a GOOD thing.

If you are helpful to your fans in introducing them to a great additional Kinder resource, they will not think less of you for it and take their business elsewhere.  Instead, they will be grateful you provide such amazing options.  You WANT to work with other bloggers in your target market.  They have access to fans who have not yet heard about you and vice versa!

Perhaps this visualization will help:

In a bookstore, there is a business books section, right?  I LOVE to go in that section and peruse everything.  My husband hates that section because we always come out of it poorer than when we walked in.  🙂  If I pick up a book from one business author, does that mean I will only want to buy from him in the future?  Of course not.  I love all sorts of products from different authors who “speak to me.”  Now, will I be more apt to buy something again from that same author?  Absolutely!  Now that I have discovered an author who targeted my interests, I will definitely be more aware when additional products come out.  In the meantime, I will continue to look around for additional business titles from other authors too.

Not to mention:  if you – as a Kinder blogger – tried to be the only Kinder seller out there in the world, you would not be able to keep up with the demands of feedback , emails, social media notifications, blog comments, tech glitches, and more.  Seriously.  You can only handle so many customers and readers when you are a solopreneur.  Working with other bloggers in your target market is a perfect way to share some of that load and create a win-win-win for you, the other blogger, and the customer.

Want more specifics for how to get New Fans and Followers for Teacher Bloggers in 4 Weeks or Less? Check out TBTS BoostCamp!

Myth #4:  Posting on the Same Linkys Each Week Will Bring Me New Followers

Linky parties are a great way to get out there and be noticed by new potential fans and readers.  That part is true.  But, only if you remember a couple of important tips:

First – if you are not in the 1st or 2nd row of a linky, you are probably not going to be seen by many.  After running my own linky parties for years and seeing the click results, I can confirm that anyone below the first 2 rows will not get much exposure.  People get bored and don’t want to keep clicking.  Not to mention if it is a link up specifically for free items, most readers don’t do the reading part.  They just click until they find a free image, download, and they are gone.

Second – linking up to a successful linky once gets you in the eyes of some potential new followers who had never heard of you before.  That is for sure.  But just because it worked one week, doesn’t mean you should go back and link up again week after week after week after week.

Guess what?  You aren’t getting any new “juice” from linking up repeatedly at the same linky.  It is primarily the same set of eyeballs that were there the week before.  Instead, look for new linky parties each time that are servicing your same target market.  That is the better way to utilize linky parties. The goal is NEW eyeballs.  Not the same eyeballs.

PS – this goes for giveaways, blog hops, etc.  It was successful the first go around because it was a new set of eyeballs.  Your goal should always be to expand your reach by working with completely different bloggers each time.

Myth #5:  Being a Member of a Facebook Share Group Is All I Need to Cross-Promote

FYI – while many share groups mean well, they aren’t very effective.  Why?  Because even though you are honest and make sure you are sharing others’ work via your own Pinterest boards or Insta or Facebook, others aren’t always so honest.  And to be fair, there really is no way to enforce people to be honest in a share group – or get angry when they aren’t pulling their weight.  It is a share group and any shares that DO come from it you should be grateful for instead of expecting it.

Even if people do share your post to Pinterest – does it make a huge difference if they have 3 Pinterest followers as well?  Of course you are grateful to them for sharing.  But it isn’t going to really get you a bang for your buck.  Instead, you need to be networking with bloggers larger than yourself.  THAT is where your time is well-spent.

If you spent the same 30 minutes a week emailing back and forth with a mega-blogger and creating a friendship rather than posting to share groups in the hopes someone new out there will buy your product, I think you will find that one social media post from the mega blogger will outperform the share ladders 100 to 1.  Not to mention:  the same people week after week are posting to those share ladders. You want new eyeballs – not the same ones (refer to Myth #4 again).

Myth #6:  Live Video Doesn’t Matter

I get it.  You are an introvert.  You don’t like the way you look, talk, sound, your messy house, your loud kids.  I have heard all the excuses.  And you might be getting sales aplenty without live video.  You don’t need TpT video, YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Instagram stories, Periscope, or anything else of the like thank you very much.  Yup.

But, what if I told you that you could make 5-10 times the amount you are right now?  Would you be interested?  Live video is huge now.  Not to mention, people LOVE to connect with you by seeing your face, hearing your voice, knowing your house is a disaster and your kids are loud.  None of that matters as long as you are doing it anyway.

People buy from those they know, like, and trust.  All of that happens when you jump into Live streaming video.  Try it – really – it’s not hard and no one is judging you the way you are judging yourself.

Those who want to make it in this teacher blogging world for the duration aren’t afraid to jump into something new. Technology and social media focus is constantly changing.  Right now the push is video.  If you want to be ahead without working as hard to stand out – do the things most others aren’t willing to try.

Myth #7:  Posting on FB Groups or Forums is a Great Way to Collaborate with Others

By now, you know you want to work with other bloggers, who are in your niche, and who have more than 5 fans (1 of which is their mom).  You know you need new eyeballs and not the same ones week after week.  So, what’s the next step?  Well – you are a member of some great social media groups and forums, so you figure you’l just post in those places and say:

Hey there!  I am looking for some great Kinder bloggers who want to collaborate on something to reply here or message me directly.

And then you wait for the flood of replies.

Pssssst…you might me waiting for a long time.  Why?  The medium to large bloggers are BUSY.  They are making those connections, writing blog posts, keeping up with notifications on their social media accounts, doing live video, and creating/marketing their own products.   Chances are – even if they DO stop by those Facebook groups or forums from time to time, they are not jumping in and volunteering to collaborate on a project that they know nothing about, not sure who it is geared for, or even how much work they are expected to do in what time frame.

I know it is way easier to post in a group than to directly message those bloggers you want to work with.  It greatly diminishes the chances of them saying no.

But here’s the thing:  when you post to groups like that – there is an even greater chance that no one will say yes.

If you really want to collaborate with larger bloggers, you can!  And it’s not hard even if you don’t have a huge audience.  But you do have to leverage what you do have:  time and work.  If you can put together a group collaboration of several larger bloggers and offer to do the majority of the work (write the blog posts for them, pull together any tech needed for a linky/hop/giveaway/etc, create social media images and copy for the posts, make a calendar with specific dates, and so on)  you stand a REALLY good chance at getting at least 1 large blogger on board.  And once you have 1, the others will fall in line too.

But this only happens if you have everything figured out and you privately email the potential bloggers one on one.  Get to know them – they started where you did too.  We are all in this together.  They will probably be thrilled to work with a newer blogger while also having some great promotion with little time investment.

And you will reap the benefit of ton of new fans and followers!  Leverage what you do have.  It’s more than you think – even if you are just starting out.  🙂

 

Now that you know the 7 myths of growing your fan base, how will you change up what you are doing today?  Right now?  Leave me a comment below.  I would love to chat!

Want more specifics for how to get New Fans and Followers for Teacher Bloggers in 4 Weeks or Less? Check out TBTS BoostCamp!

Here’s to your success in moving beyond these myths!

~Charity