BLOG 79: 3 TIPS FOR GROWING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS IN A SOULFUL WAY

I’ve always known that my calling is to teach. From doing my degree at University in Education to becoming a Yoga teacher and then developing The Danielle Collins Face Yoga Method, my whole career has been focused at sharing my knowledge and helping others.

Social media has been a wonderful way for me to help and inspire others all over the world.

Today’s post is focused on how you can grow your own social media platforms in a way that aligns with your soul purpose. It’s inspired by a conversation I had recently on the Face Yoga Expert Podcast with Hannah Michalak.

Hannah’s a Mum, a content creator, and a Yoga teacher. She has multiple successful social media profiles, including a YouTube channel, several Instagram accounts, a podcast, and a blog. 

In fact, Hannah used to come to my Yoga classes back when I taught at Sweaty Betty in Bath many years ago!  So, it was lovely to get back in touch with her and be able to share tips and tricks for growing your social media following. 

The full podcast episode is available here. I’ve also pulled out three of the most important tips to share here on the blog. I hope they’ll help you on your own social media journey.

1. BE AUTHENTIC

When I asked Hannah to pick the one thing that she attributes her online success to, she immediately talked about authenticity. And I couldn’t agree more.

Even if you are growing your social media accounts to support your business goals, showing up as your authentic self is the best way to engage with people online.

It’s easy to get hung up on likes, follows, and reach. But when you share content that you are passionate about, your enthusiasm will be apparent to others too. You are more likely to build an engaged and loyal following if people can see that you post about things that truly matter to you.

It’s also important to remember that social media is a two-way relationship. It can be tempting to simply upload content and move on. But when you reply to comments, ask questions, and start conversations, you show that you are genuinely interested in your followers. 

Of course, your followers are valuable to you in a business sense. But going beyond that and connecting with them as people helps you build relationships that bring value to both sides.

2. EMBRACE YOUR NATURAL WAY OF WORKING

One of the reasons I was so keen to invite Hannah onto the podcast to discuss social media is that we have very different styles but a similar vision to help others.

Hannah’s accounts are wide-ranging, covering everything from parenting, to Yoga, to fashion and beauty. In contrast, my own social media focuses almost exclusively on Face Yoga and other wellness tips.

I thought it would be useful to show you that both approaches can be effective. I believe that success comes when we lean into who we are and share that. 

For some, our unique gift is to focus on one speciality and share a lot of detail about that topic. For others, the right path is to cover a range of different interests.

When we try to step away from what calls to us naturally, managing our social media can become a source of stress. But when we embrace our instinctive way of working, we find it easier and more enjoyable to share authentically.

This doesn’t only apply to what we share but also how we share it. Hannah is spontaneous in what she posts and tends to create content about whatever she is inspired by at that moment.

I’m more of a planner – I always have been. I put podcast episodes, YouTube videos, and blog posts out on the same day each week. But I need to have some spontaneity too, so I don’t feel trapped in a rigid posting schedule. That’s why I don’t preschedule my Instagram posts.

Other people may find they need even more structure and want to have content for all their channels planned weeks in advance.

I encourage you to embrace whichever approach works best for you. There’s so much advice online that will make you think you have to work in a certain way to be successful on social media. But both Hannah and I have built good online followings, and we do it in completely different ways.

There’s no right way to do it. The trick is to work out the approach that suits you best. Lean into your intuition and learn to trust your gut instincts. 

3. GOOD ENOUGH IS GOOD ENOUGH

It’s easy to look at digital content creators and think that posting and sharing come easily to them. People often look so confident and polished online. It might put you off starting yourself because you think you could never have that level of confidence.

I want to reassure you that I’ve never met any content creator who wasn’t battling some insecurities about their work. We are human!

I put out two YouTube videos a week. And still, I’ll look back over a video I’m due to upload and sometimes I am critical of the angles are all wrong or the camera quality isn’t good enough etc etc.

Hannah says the same. She finds it scary putting herself out there online, even though she’s been doing it for years now. And she still has that voice in the back of her head telling her she’s not good enough.

There are a few things I find helpful to bear in mind when I’m battling my inner critic. The first is that my goal is to help people. It is an amazing gift to have the tools to put content out into the world that other people can access for free when they need it.

If my videos help even just one person, then it is worth it. That is much more important than the quality of the camera I used or whether I’m happy with how I look that day..

Another thing to remember is that other people rarely care about the things we critique in ourselves. They are interested in their own journey and how your content helps them – whether that’s sharing health and wellness tips or giving them a bit of much-needed escapism.

You may be worried about your delivery, or how you phrased something, or how you look. But your audience won’t be judging you anywhere near as much as you think they are.

If you are looking at other online content creators and feeling intimidated, don’t forget that you are looking at a highly edited version of their lives. Social media is just a snapshot. It doesn’t show the whole picture.

Although they might seem confident in front of the camera, many content creators are introverts in real life. It is why they work from home! I know I’m most comfortable in my own space and need time alone to recharge.

Everyone starts somewhere, and no one is brilliant straight away. Like any skill, content creation is something you get better at the more you do it. So, I encourage you to let go of the idea that you need to be perfect. Imperfections make you more human and more relatable. So, If you want to start sharing more online, just start!

Finally, it takes time to build a following online. Overnight success stories are rare. It took me many years of showing up consistently to grow my social media platforms. So, it is important to be patient and to play the long game. Slow and steady is the way to go with social media.

I hope you find these tips helpful in aligning your social media platforms with your soul purpose and growing your online audience.

Helping others find their purpose and grow their businesses is part of my own calling. I run teacher training courses in both Face Yoga and Facial Gua Sha. As well as learning how to teach the techniques themselves, these courses will help you build your business and market your offerings online. You can find out more about teacher training and sign up for a course in this section of my website.