When I was at Sage Summit at the end of July in New Orleans, I met a ton of really cool people. Among them was Evan Carmichael, a guy, who, like me, works in the social media space here in Canada (although Evan is based in Toronto).
I was intrigued by what Evan does and how he has grown his following. With over 200K of twitter followers alone, this guy is a true influencer. He consults with big business, he speaks, and he inspires.
It was this last idea that intrigued me the most. I have another friend, Farzana (whom I’m interviewing later this week) who also grew her Twitter following exponentially by being inspirational. Evan’s entire modus operandi is one word: Believe. It’s his brand. It’s what guides him and his business on a daily basis.
We met via Google Hangout the other day, and here is our conversation below. I hope you will find it as interesting and inspiring as I did.
Here are my key takeaways from our talk on using content to grow your following:
- Many businesses market by listing the benefits of their product or service, but before we do that, we should focus on Core Selling: what does your business stand for? This is incredibly important, and so deeply overlooked by many businesses.
- People want to know what you stand for before they purchase from you.
- You must be authentic. You can’t just make up some inspirational thing to sell product. People’s BS detectors are very finely tuned these days, and if it’s not authentic, they will know!
- The more value you provide, the more money will follow.
- Your values help you to make all your decisions: what clients to take on, who to work with. Many people stress about this, because they are afraid to not take a client and leave money on the table. But the quality of your work, and the enthusiasm that you have for it will always be much higher if the people you are working with share your core values.
To learn more about Evan and what he does, please visit his website at www.evancarmichael.com.