Spiritual practitioners often shy away from the word “expert” so I learnt to find new words for it to replace it. I use go-to person a lot because it has a less academic feel to it and therefore it’s much less intimidating.
However, that doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be a way for those practitioners to share their knowledge and their wisdom with their audience.
Here are my suggestions on how you can impart your expertise without having to yell loudly to the world that you demand the title of “expert”.
You too can become a go to person.
When you share your knowledge this way, other people will point in your direction and declare you as the expert. And let’s face it, that is just something you need to get comfortable with.
1) Share failures and mistakes and how you have learnt from them. What are you going differently now because of those mistakes.
Fessing up to your stuff ups and being open about not being perfect will make you feel vey vulnerable when you need to talk about it openly. The more you practice it, the more you will be able to overlook that feeling and just focus on the benefits of what that means to your audience.
You share your mistakes and failures so your audience don’t have to go through the same things you have. They might go ahead and make new ones but at least they will have the chance to bypass those that you are talking about.
When they read about your adventures and all the things that have gone wrong for you, they will see that you are just another human being. It will be a bummer for your guru status, if that is what you are after. However if your aim is to show your audience that it’s OK to fail and then get up and try again, this is definitely the way to go.
2) Share your most valuable knowledge. Don’t hold back.
Knowledge is power and you have two choices. You can hold into that power by sharing only bits and pieces of information with your audience. Or you can help them to empower themselves by giving them the information to do it.
When you hoard knowledge and create an air mysticism around yourself that you are some kind of vessel or exclusive holder or some sacred knowledge, you are excluding much of your audience. Those who follow you are hungry for what you have to offer so if they don’t get the information from you, they will go to someone else to get it. And they will more than likely be staying with that someone else to keep acquiring the knowledge they are after.
When you disburse your knowledge and empower people with it, they will become your loyal followers and they are the ones who will be paying for your services down the track.
If you are holding onto your wisdom because you’re concerned that once you give it away, no one is going to pay you to work with you, I have one observation for you. Some people have no intention of ever paying for your stuff and no matter how much you give them or how much you hold back, they won’t play with you. They will just want your free stuff.
Those who will do the work and are happy to follow you and are loyal to you, your raving fans, they will be the ones to acquire your paid services, no matter how much you give away for free.
3) Share new in your field with your audience
When you are the first one to serve up some news about what is happening in your field or industry, you are telling your audience that you are uptodate with your information. Not only that but that you care about your audience enough to make sure they get that piece of information.
When you share that with them, they will feel like they are in your inner circle and they are getting something exclusive to them.
When you have your finger on the pulse of your industry, it will automatically position you as the go-to person in the eyes of your audience. Next time they want to see what new is happening in the field, they might as well just go to your site or social media pages to find out because they know it will be the latest and most relevant information.
4) Build genuine connections with people by acknowledging them
Video is an amazing way to give acknowledgement to your audience. When they hear their name mentioned in your video, it will give them that warm and fuzzy feeling we all love and get when we feel special.
I’m not talking about that annoying habit where people say hi to every single person that joins their Facebook live broadcast. People do this to buy more time and to get the viewers to interact with the videos. While this works in increasing interaction and reach for some, I know that I will pretty quickly abandon watching a video if the person is more preoccupied with greeting everyone that comes on board than they are with delivering the content. This is a big no no in my book of Facebook live video strategy.
What I’m talking about is recognising your audience in a meaningful way. Doing Q and As is an excellent way to get your audience involved and a good opportunity to recognise that involvement.
When you answer the question, mention who the question is from. Thank your audience members specifically by name for meaningful comments they leave on your content. You can also thank them for content ideas they give you through their interaction with you.
Make sure that you acknowledge every single comments made on your video content. Not during your live video but afterwards. It will take time, especially if your video was popular. Not every single comment will warrant a reply but it won’t cost you more than a second to click a like on any comments left.
Interact with the ones that give you a space for further interaction and tag the owner of the comment to make sure they receive the notification.
5) Take the opportunity to talk about your niche a lot.
It’s easy to get caught up in promos and launches and all the things you need to post for marketing your products and services. What about content that has no sales element attached to it? That content deserves as much time and effort put into it as anything else that you create for marketing purposes.
When you make the effort to create content that informs and educates your audience about your field or industry, you are once again empowering them to make better decisions for themselves once the time comes that they want to spend their money with you.
Not only that but you are showing your audience that you are all over your “thing” and you know it inside out.
Nothing builds your credibility more than getting on Facebook and doing a live session on some of he FAQs of your niche.
Writing a blog is one thing for your audience but actually hearing words coming out of your mouth will go a long way towards establishing your competence and the depth of your knowledge. Build your trustworthy factor by leaving no doubt in your audience’s mind that you are it. You are the most knowledgeable person about your “thing”.
Keep these things in mind when you are planning out your content for your Facebook livestreams and allow yourself enough wiggle room to move with where your audience is. Consider if a live video you are planning on creating would be a better for a group in Facebook or your page and deliver your content accordingly.
Would like some help with coming up with topics for your FB lives? Join my FREE NeverFail Facebook Live Topic Generator Masterclass at 7.30pm on Thursday 13th September to learn my method of coming up with endless content ideas.
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