In the real world, people are attracted to confident, charismatic individuals who know themselves and know what they want. These are the individuals that seem to have it all figured out, and they rarely care what you or anyone else thinks of them. They are successful in the dating scene, seem to win at an outrageous amount of things and typically attract the most business and make the most money.
All of this success can be boiled down to confidence. Confidence is the most crucial element to succeeding in life and business. Whatever it is that you are doing, if you are doing it confidently, chances are you are seeing a disproportionate amount of success.
In the online world, demonstrating confidence can be a tricky thing. People can't hear your "sure-of-yourself" voice tone, or see how thrusted back your shoulders are because confident people take up space. But needless to say, people still want you to be confident if they are going to do business with you, online or off.
This means that if you are trying to attract business online, you've got to find ways to clearly demonstrate confidence through the screen. It can a be a tricky feat, but is very doable; I'd like to share with you my tips for making this happen.
The good news is that you can often times use social media to appear even more confident than you are in real life. For those of you introverts that feel your lack of people skills and social confidence has cost you business in the past, no more excuses! Here my 6 tips for exuding professional confidence on social media:
1. Be Consistent With Your Values
First things first, you've got to make sure your values are consistent. This really is an exercise that needs to be done before you press one letter on the key pad. You need to take the time to outline your values and make sure you feel strongly about them. Although in social media it may be more difficult to notice these minute things in people, just remember this: People can tell!
You don't want to advocate one thing during one month, and during the next post updates that completely contradict what you were saying the previous month. Figure out the tone you want to come off, and then stick with it.
Do you value hard work? Do you value time freedom? Do you value friendship over cashflow? Vice versa?
2. Avoid the Drama
The worst thing in the world that you can do is get caught up in a bunch of adult drama. Don't be Donald Trump or Kim Kardashian on social media. All that does is demonstrate immaturity. Sure, the Kardashians may get away with it because they resonate with a younger crowd, and Trump has so much money that people respect him regardless, but you should be taking a different approach.
If it doesn't benefit you and others financially or intellectually, stay out of it. Stick to conversing and interacting with positive people who all support each other and grow together.
3. Use Videos to Show Self-Confidence
One of the easiest ways to show off your self-confidence is to film videos of yourself. With YouTube still king, Facebook video making big moves and Periscope/Meerkat blowing up like hot air balloons, video is starting to become an even more powerful form of media for marketing and branding. Now, I understand that not everyone feels comfortable in front of the camera, so this tip is not for everyone. However, if you are okay being in front of the camera, it has never been easier to become a star.
Start looking into the different types of videos you can make and especially look into Periscope. There are all sorts of topics you can use to bring value to your audience and potential customers.
Start brainstorming. I think we can all say that seeing someone who is good (or even decent) on camera immediately earns them more respect from us.
4. Be Active in Conversation
One of the key things to remember is that you cannot simply post things on social media and then go die. You've got to stick around and actually talk to the people who are following you and interacting with you. If you don't, you may as well just be posting a banner ad...and we all know those don't work anymore.
Be active with your followers, and talk to them on a regular basis. It is your job to not only share with them consistent value, but also stick around and be available to answer questions.
5. Respectfully Disagree
Are you an agreeable person? Are you the type of person that is afraid to speak your mind for fear that it might hurt others' feelings or cause conflict? If so, this is is a very unconfident trait that you need to break. Instead, make sure you reread tip #1 in this article and get your values straight.
Once you have your values straight, it should not be too difficult to identify which posts and conversations on social media you agree with (and which ones you do not). Then it's simply a matter of politely disagreeing with the people you do not agree with. Don't fall into the trap of agreeing with everyone simply because you do not want to upset anyone or cause conflict.
Now, this does not mean you should be going around and causing drama (See tip #2). Just because you disagree with people, you should not stick your nose in every little conversation. It's better to spend your time with your people, the one's whose values are aligned with yours. As a rule, try to only disagree with people when they come to you, and it would be impolite not to respond.
Use your best judgement.
6. Care
The last, but probably most important thing to remember when it comes to building up you brand online as a confident professional, is that you actually have to care about yourself and the message you are putting out to the world, as well as the people you are connected with. If you don't actually care about who is following you and who is in your networks, or your work at all for that matter, you won't last. Instead, take the time to show people you care by being available, and always making it your mission to provide extraordinary amounts of value.
Where is your online confidence level? Let us know in the comments!