Darren And Mike: The Power Of Social Media For Your Business

Darren and Mike, the famous online business mentoring duo, recently spoke at length about their views on the power and influence of social media and the strategies businesses can employ today to leverage that power to their advantage.

In an interview published on Thrive, the dynamic duo commented on how social media is fast infiltrating almost all spheres of our daily life and what this means for businesses today and in the future. 

More importantly, Mike and Darren shared some essential tips on social media marketing and how different businesses need to approach and leverage the power of different social media platforms according to their business’s unique nature and requirements. 

The Ever-Growing Popularity of Social Media 

In 2019, it was widely reported that social media users worldwide had hit a whopping 3.2 billion active users per month. That translates to roughly 42% or two-thirds of the world’s population (8 billion). 

Some other revealing stats inform us that 59% of the U.S. population access their social media accounts daily and over a third of them log into their favorite social media platform more than five times a day. 

In fact, social media today impacts all aspects of our lives. At the same time as we use social platforms to stay connected with our friends and loved ones, we also stay in touch with everything happening in the world through social media. 

We consume news and knowledge and share them through social media. We also perform a variety of professional tasks using different social media platforms. 

And we engage with our favorite products and brands and make most of our buying decisions from information found through social media. 

And like so many of us, both Darren Ewert and Mike Dreher firmly believe that social media is not going anywhere in the foreseeable future. It may pass through various transformations in the coming years, but it is here to stay.

Value of Social Media Engagement

Mike and Darren explain that social media provides businesses with an excellent pathway to approach their target audience directly. 

Moreover, social platforms allow a business to make not only direct but authentic connections with its consumer base. A brand can engage with its audience more personally and add value in so many ways.

And the best part is that social media marketing, when applied innovatively, is also a cost-effective way to reach one’s audience. Rarely do SMEs (small and medium-sized businesses) have enough money to advertise their business through traditional marketing channels (many of which are becoming obscure at any rate). 

Accordingly, Mike and Darren claim that social media has also, to a reasonable extent, helped democratize the entire marketing ecosystem. 

The How Of Social Media Marketing

Darren and Mike reveal that as part of their online mentoring experience, they learned that although most business owners know the power of social media marketing, most still feel that they don’t know all the ins and outs when taking advantage of this effective marketing avenue. 

Many participants at the duo’s online mentoring program Darren and Mike Dream Team, also complain that, at times, they feel overwhelmed by the amount of information–in other words, all the tricks, tips, strategies, and secrets preached and offered left and right. 

However, the duo suggests that the way to avoid this so-called information overload trap is first to understand the nature of your business and its unique needs.  

First, one needs to narrow down and prioritize the social media platform(s) that will yield the best results for the business.

For example, if one is running a boutique garment store or an art gallery, places like Instagram and Pinterest will be ideal platforms to connect with the target consumer base. 

On the other hand, an e-commerce business can reap rich rewards through targeted Facebook advertising. Again, LinkedIn will be the right platform to promote the brand/products for a B2B enterprise. 

Streamline Your Content

[Alt Text: A picture of a business owner making a video on their phone to help streamline their content for their social media page.] 

Another great thing about social media, according to Darren and Mike, is that each piece of content a brand shares on social media provides an opportunity to attract a host of new visitors to the business’s parent website. 

As long as the latter is optimized for conversions, it should not be difficult for the business to convert the new visitors into customers, especially as these visitors already have a good amount of engagement with the brand via social media. 

Also, it takes only a few hours a week for most businesses to oversee their social media marketing endeavors. Many tasks can already be taken care of by automated tools/software. So, in most cases, it’s about posting short or snippet posts or updates on one’s chosen social media platform. 

Although, as Mike and Darren stress this point, no matter how short the content, one needs to put a good deal of thought into them. 

The trick here is to provide enough value to your audience and make them feel you care for them. This is how to create a personal and deep engagement with one’s audience and win their loyalty. 

Darren and Mike Online Business

Participants in Darren and Mike’s online mentoring course will be familiar with insights shared by the duo during the interview. 

The program, designed for independent online business entrepreneurs, offers a clear vision and a personalized success route for many types of different online businesses. 

As for social media, Darren and Mike understand that it is a fast-evolving sphere, so one needs to tweak their social media marketing strategies according to the changing trends.

This is why they hold a weekly live mastermind coaching session open to all current and past participants of the course to keep them abreast, among other things, with the most effective social media marketing strategies at present.

To cite but one example, video content is fast growing in popularity across the internet, and search engine algorithms are already preferring video content over texts and images. 

A Vidyard stat reveals that as many as 85% of brands today use videos on their websites, and about 77% of businesses use videos on social media. 

Accordingly, Darren and Mike explained in a recent session the importance of prioritizing video content–both on social media and on the parent website of the business. 

They also discussed how to cost-effectively create compelling video content using one’s iPhone, free editing software, etc.