Boundaries are some of the hardest learnt lessons in entrepreneurship. You want to be accessible to your clients and your audience but at the same time, you don't want to become their dog's body.
Boundaries form through trial and error. They are one of those things you learn more about when you don't have them.
We've all had the one client that just keeps emailing with those, "can I just ask you this quickly" messages they send a hundred of daily.
Or the person who follows your Facebook page that thinks that you're their personal advisor for free.
It happens and sooner or later, in business, you have people and situations that will push and challenge your boundaries. Some will make you wish you had them in the first place.
The good thing about live videos on Facebook is that you can refer to them for as long as you like. If you've tracked your content, you will thank your lucky stars for not having to look for days in your content library to find a relevant video.
Your little (or not so much) collection of videos will serve you well when you get asked the same questions over and over and over again and in other challenging situations.
Tell people how they can work with you. Not just once but on a regular basis. Leave no doubt about what your field of expertise is and who you work with.
When it's clear to people what you do and who you do it with, it leaves less room for repetitive questions. You will still have people who will want to ask you for the sake of asking or because they are insipid and want you doing all the work.
That is a good sign, by the way, of how they would approach their work with you. This is where you can decide whether that relationship is worth nurturing.
It's the harsh reality. If you thrive on doing everything for people while they sit back and sip cocktails, these would be your ideal clients. Sidetrack.
There are many ways to tell people what you do without actually being salesy. If you talk about the stuff you want to be known for, a lot, chances are people will catch on and will work it out by themselves.
It doesn't hurt to let them know once in a while how they can engage you.
Do a live video once in a while about your existing lines of service and end especially anything new you're developing.
That goes for physical products as well.
Talk about your audience's most commonly asked questions.
You don't have to reply to commonly asked questions one by one. Tell your querent that you will reply in a live video or send them to a video you have done previously that answers their question.
FAQs are fantastic for SEO, even with video content. They are the most frequent topic your audience will be searching for.
When you cover those topics in your videos, you're creating a resource library of information that can be used and reused, as long as the information in them is relevant.
Instead of answering the same questions from your audience over and over and over again, you can direct them towards your FAQ live videos.
Live Q and A sessions are great to drum up engagement on your page or in your group so don't forget to add them to your content plan.
When you get a question on a post on your Facebook page, tell the person that you will reply in a live video. That will make them feel special as you're directly addressing them and doing something for them especially.
You benefit from the fact that others will be able to engage with that content as well.
These types of videos are also shareable! So, FAQ your heart out!
Tell people you invite to your event via live video who the event will benefit the most.
It breaks my heart to see events being set up on Facebook and not being utilised to get more reach.
When creating an event, to get the most out of it, it needs to be treated like a pop-up Facebook business page.
Far too many people create an event for their workshop, webinar, whatever live event and never post in it.
Then whinge they haven't sold enough tickets.
You have to nurture that audience as much as you need to nurture the one on your Facebook page. For some people, it will be their first point of contact with you.
To avoid the myriads of questions that result from people not bothering to read the event details, post a cover video.
Bet you didn't think of that! Ha!
You know that post about the girl selling apple pies and people asking her those annoying questions?
Do you recognise yourself in that girl when dealing with people's questions about your events?
Apart from posting a video as a cover for the event, you can post it on the even wall. It's more likely to get people's attention.
Seriously, how much time do you have on your hands to spoon-feed people information one by one because they can't be bothered to read it for themselves?
It's OK to ignore those posts anyway!
Create live q and a opportunities for your audience to ask questions they always wanted to ask.
Be specific about the topic and don't take questions that belong to a different topic. Keep control of the conversation.
I mentioned a live Q and A before as a great way to create some content that will serve as a boundary.
When you put them out, encourage your audience to ask you all the questions they ever wanted to ask. This will make you approachable, show that you care about your audience and will give you some great content ideas for months to come.
It's open forums like this where people ask questions, you will get to know your audience more intimately.
This also works both ways. Your audience will get to see you live, in action, with no script. The ultimate way to show off your expertise and your public speaking prowess.
To make the most of these types of sessions, keep the topic-specific and if anyone throws something at you off topic, you can include that in your next video.
The point is to keep control of the conversation.
Tell people what you have available for them for free.
Do it on a regular basis and invite them to start working with you through your free stuff first. Use your freebies to qualify your clients.
You might assume that people will just naturally find your free stuff. This is not so. Reminding them where they can get their hands on some freebies is always a good idea.
Point them towards your freebies in your live videos even when you're talking about something else.
The free stuff you offer will be a gateway for many of your audience towards engaging you in a paid service.
Give your free content as much love as you do your paid content. Freebies are also a good way to qualify your clients. If someone works their way through a good, juicy, great value freebie before they contact you, chances are they will be happy to do more with you.
Many a good relationship started with people devouring all the freebies available from someone. Then they happily moved into a paid engagement with the provider because they just had to have more.
Boundaries and content aren't generally associated with each other. The movement is stronger towards ungated and great value content and if you're not caught onto it yet, this is the time to get started.
The way we use content to connect with people is changing rapidly and the more use we can get out of every single piece of content we created, the better.
Want to know how you can better use content to create healthier boundaries for you and your clients? Let's chat.
