[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This article has been edited to add strategies applicable during COVID-19 climate.
For solo professionals like life coaches, getting clients through social networking platforms can prove to be extremely valuable.
Social distancing has made it more evident and that’s why you are reading this.
You want your life coach marketing plan.
You certainly want to serve those in need. Social media is, by far, the most inexpensive and effective way to help you reach your target audience.
These 9 digital marketing trends will help you define a plan to get visibility and, in particular, inspire you to turn your social media marketing into an income-generating activity ASAP.
Is It Too Late To Start Boosting Your Social Media?
If you do not know much about social media marketing or social networking, you could possibly find it quite overwhelming. Perhaps you think that you’re late so it’s not worth putting the effort to open a new account and start from zero.
You are not late. Even if you just opened a new account yesterday, you will be able to get business from it.
My 60 ways to boost your followers (save it for later).
And hey, don’t feel bad. Chances are you weren’t born with a selfie stick in your hands (me neither 😆). If you have little ones, you will notice how easy is for them to swipe up!
The good news is that by learning some basic essentials, you can get started in very little time. And as time passes, things only get easier.
Effective Social Media Marketing Should Connect You With Future Clients
Building an audience is your primary task. But where to start?
The very first step for building an audience on social media is to join a renowned social networking site. There’s no need to invent the wheel.
Spend some time to browse and study where you can get paid coaching clients. Look at some successful Life Coaches these days, and you will learn that most of their success can be attributed to leveraging social media to get clients. Keep in mind, however, coming across clients online is not as simple as it may seem initially. You have to try different approaches. Some might be helpful, while others may fail you.
Following social media trends are a surefire way to bring you online success as a life coach. Trends help your brand stand out from the crowd plus simplify your marketing plan and make your life very easy.
Let’s discuss in detail important social media trends that can impact your marketing plan in 2020.
Social Media Trends That Every Life Coach Needs To Follow In 2020
Often, social media feels just like a moving target. As soon as you start believing that you have it all figured out, things change. Can you relate? 🙋🏻
The tactics and methods of people that people came up with within the previous year could possibly lose their relevance in the next one. Changes in trends can be extremely difficult for people who work in healing and helping professions, particularly life coaches who market themselves. By the time you get to work on your marketing ideas, the trends are no longer relevant.
Maintaining fluidity in this day and age is extremely important when it comes to social media. Therefore, solopreneurs need to keep up with the latest social media trends and plan in advance to grow their business with authority and with the least amount of stress possible.
Trend 1: User Experience (UX)
Just like any other field, user experience plays a key role in retaining customers and attracting new ones. Before social media, some businesses could get away with not having a website where people can search and learn about you, and judge your reputation. Things are completely different, however, as word of mouth on social media spreads like wildfire. This is particularly true for life coaches, as one small mistake and you will find your brand’s popularity declining quickly.
How can you keep away from trouble? Well, it is quite simple. Start prioritizing user experience for your social media profile or page.
In simple words, just know that social media is not about you. It’s about the users. What do they want and how they want it.
Trend 2: Engagement Is Not Everything
For the past few years, businesses have been so eager to create engagement that a lot of them have forgotten its actual value. Gone are the days when a brand’s success on social media was judged by the number of likes it got from its posts.
Let us use Instagram as an example.
The social media giant recently changed its algorithm to make sure that a businesses’ engagement is determined through the number of people commenting on it. Instagram recognized that social media marketing is more than just getting more followers.
So, take the pressure off. You don’t need to showcase a celebrity style account in order to get people to respect you.
As a coach, you can use your expertise and WOW your users with it.
Service-based professionals, especially life coaches, should focus more on building a content marketing funnel that activates a consultative selling model.
Your content should ignite appointments and leads, not likes.
Trend 3: Avoid Multi-Channel Marketing
Many people confuse multi-channel marketing by simply having an account on multiple social media platforms. That’s not what multi-channel marketing is.
Multichannel marketing is pretty much taking you back to the days when a potential client opened the yellow pages, found your office, and called to make an appointment. Think back to the dark ages…before the Internet was really even a thing.
Marketing was a static message. You needed a message for the Yellow Pages, made for people to understand. You had your brochures with another message. Then, radio commercials, TV, etc. All of that advertising was created in hopes that the user would find you in one channel and respond. So, you needed to create different messages, depending on the channel in which you would advertise in order to get those end-users to respond.
In 2020, coaches need to plan their social media content with ONE user and ONE message in mind. Consistency is key.
Pro tip: make sure that you enhance your branding on social media, so people can remember you. Do you have a puppy? Do you love chocolate? Use it to mix up your content!
Which Social Media Channels Work Best For Life Coaches?
- Facebook Groups
- YouTube
Until recently, it was acceptable to schedule your content and share it across all the social media platforms (the same content). However, the trend for life coaches marketing in 2020 is to focus on the users first.
You do not sell shoes on Amazon. You truly change lives.
You want to market your value in a way where users come to you, not the other way around. Gone are the days when you get clients from just one Facebook Ad or Instagram Ad.
Social media marketing will allow you to activate word of mouth, online.
Instagram marketing has become my #1 place to generate conversations. I have been writing lots of tips and sharing strategies for life coaches. Make sure you follow me there and send me a message so I can get to know you!
Want to learn Instagram Marketing the expressway? Consider my Instagram Boot Camp.
Find me on Instagram so you can get real-time tips! I have keywords for life coaches, hashtags for life coaches (and business coaches too).
Trend 4: Igniting Word Of Mouth Should Be A Top Priority
It does not matter what kind of strategy you use for marketing your life coaching business on social media. But at the end of the day, your end goal should be to generate buzz through word of mouth. No marketing approach is as effective as the word of mouth approach.
Posting something interesting, living up to the customer’s expectations, going out of your way to satisfy your clients are great ideas that you and your fellow life coaching pros can adopt to get your brand’s name spreading through word of mouth. It is free, simple, and extremely effective.
High profile companies are often active on social media to respond to the queries and concerns of their customers. They also post interactive content that engages audiences and gets them talking about the brand. It is a small thing that makes a world of difference.
Keep this goal in mind: give people a story to share!
Trend 5: Excellent Customer Service = Reviews
Your reputation, meaning reviews, is currency these days.
Take some time to ask your amazing clients to leave you a review on Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Then, use those reviews to create content and share it on social media.
Again, just because you don’t have a fancy social media presence today doesn’t mean you can’t change it. And the best part, you can do it today.
Trend 6: Life Coaches Can Build Powerful Brand Using Content Marketing
Any life coach who is looking to create a strong brand is resorting to the online social media landscape because of the countless opportunities it offers. Numerous cost-saving services like content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) along with video ads and SEM work in tandem to increase credibility and awareness of a brand. It is effective, fast, and, most importantly, proven.
What is Content Marketing Anyway?
Content marketing is a crucial prerequisite to utilize for the online success of a brand successfully.
This isn’t new. Perhaps someone has told you before that if you write blogs you can get readers to trust your advice and share it.
What is new about content marketing, especially today
Planning is essential.
Focus on creating content that establishes you as an expert life coach or expert business coach. That way, people who seek answers to the problems you solve will eventually come across you and welcome the idea of being coached by you.
More than 50 percent of people who seek a coach online often hire them because of effective content marketing. If they find your content to be relatable, developing a relationship with them becomes ten times easier.
Need content ideas and templates? I designed an amazing Social Media Planner. You can watch the preview here.
Trend 7: SEO (The New SEO)
The new SEO is not about code and metadata.
It has to do with your ability to add value to those who are actively searching for something.
- Write content based on your users’ problems. Be the solution.
- Don’t take their time for granted. Give them reasons to stay longer and come back for more.
If you’re up to take your content writing skills to the next level and want an amazing content writing course, check out The Content Hacker, Julia McCoy. Here are her 2 courses:
Use content marketing to build a seductive funnel in your website and social media. What does this mean?
Trend 8: Organic Social Media Is The Top Of Your Funnel
Although this article has been extensively discussing social media to get your life coaching brand the attention it needs for growth, make sure that you never use it to make the focal point of your sales.
Focus on your actual substance rather than the style you use for your social media marketing strategy. Your actual service determines how good your brand is, and you can only accomplish that by satisfying your customers day in and day out. Think of it like this. Social media is just the bait to pull your customers in; failing to impress them will render the bait useless and eventually deteriorate your sales and brand presence.
Take the minimalistic approach. Use it, but do not use it to the extent that it becomes your brand’s defining feature. Post content whenever you deem it to be necessary. Uploading content just for increasing engagement is a bad idea and could backfire after some time.
Trend 9: Email Marketing vs. Chat Marketing
There was a time when people used to send long and detailed emails to their current and potential clients.
Email marketing strategies have changed for life coaches.
In the past, if you had emotional subjects, long sequences, and never-ending points, you were ok.
However, in most cases, data revealed that people stop reading these kinds of emails, as most of them have other important things to do. More and more businesses have become privy to this, which is why they are taking the short and sweet approach, and that is chat marketing.
Is email marketing dead? No. But the long emails with sentimental subjects are old fashion.
Why chat marketing is more effective than email marketing
Chat marketing is extremely helpful for life coaches, as it allows them to become more responsive in comparison to email marketing. It is short, to the point, and allows them to provide a succinct answer relevant to the client’s question.
Users these days are smart. They look for ways that allow them to control how they consume content, and one of those ways is to avoid needlessly long emails every single day. Chat marketing, on the other hand, has excellent opening rates. It allows life coaches to lead the way by taking advantage of the situation.
Some coaches are even utilizing chatbots these days. They are equipped with answers to the most relevant questions that the coaches received. The automated answers that it generates save more time, and in case there is a personalized question, the chatbot leaves it for the user to answer it manually.
Consider Life Coach Certification Online | Unlimited Life Coach Training Sessions
Bottom Line
Follow the tips mentioned above to get your life coaching business going. Focus on being genuine and organic on avoiding roadblocks in your coaching journey. Becoming successful in this field is not an overnight thing. It requires patience, passion, and perseverance. Keep on trying, and after some time, you will have more customers than you could possibly handle.
Check out my latest Instagram Boot Camp! Spaces are limited. First come, first serve!
Who is Jessica Campos
My short bio:
Jessica Campos, JD, BBA
Forensic Digital Marketing Mentor & Partner For Purpose-Driven Business Owners Seeking Sustainable Growth & Profits with over 15 years of experience. I found my way to escape from my law firm to start my beach life, over a decade ago. I’m a living testimonial that you can truly live from your mastery and talents and work from anywhere in the world while having a life. I have 4 children, a loving husband, and 2 amazing dogs. The word busy is not included in my vocabulary 😁I replaced it with “I am intentionally living a purpose-driven life and business.
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