So far, we’ve covered the first three letters of HIRE – Help, Inspire and Relationship – the acronym intended to help you build trust and relationships through social media like Facebook, Instagram and more.

Today, we’ll cover the last letter, E – Educate.

This is your chance to show off your business and product expertise!

The key is not to bombard your followers with information solely about your business and products.

I know, I know. It sounds like we’re hating on your hustle. But trust us, if all you post is stuff about products and your business, you may think you’re showing off your business skills; however, your current and potential customers may find it a bit annoying if they see it in their feeds all the time.

It’s a small, but important distinction.

So, how do you showcase your wares and exhibit your professionalism without irritating all your followers?

Here’s how.

E: Educate

Part of your role as a business owner is to train and show your customers how to use your products.

Now, you may have a product that is pretty self-explanatory, like leggings or candles.

Like really, how much training is involved in that?

However, for people who are new to the product or who are buying it for someone else, there is some training involved.

For example, with leggings, someone may wonder about the proper fit, especially if they have areas of concern, such as their hips or thighs or how they’ll fit if their legs are longer or shorter than average. They want to feel great in their clothes and want to be confident in their purchase.

This is where you come in!

The E is all about sharing your expertise and knowledge of your products.

This is where you swoop in and save the day to explain why your business offers solutions to their concerns and issues, whether they’re trying to get healthy, look great, Hygge-up their spaces, and more.

Share basic info about the products you sell

Share appropriate company information about your products, including infographics, articles, and videos.

Often this is stock information provided by the company for the specific purpose of informing customers, prospects, and distributors about the products.

Consumers today are savvier than ever and want to know everything there is to know about the products they use.

Younger consumers tend to be the biggest knowledge seekers, especially when it comes to skin care and health and wellness products.

Many companies offer information to distributors, which may include information about the ingredients used, the manufacturing process, and more, so they can answer the questions their customers, prospects, and distributors lob their way.

Even if your clients don’t seem too particularly concerned about the company or products offered, knowing this information will make you appear even more professional that you already are.

Your people will think, “Wow, Debbie really knows her stuff about her products! She’s a fountain of information.

I wonder what else she knows about?” Soon, you’re the skin-care guru or the wellness maven; the person your customers and contacts refer to their family and friends!

Talk about your experience with the products

Why are you in business selling the products you do? Many of us got into the business because we saw such great results using the products we sell.

Perhaps we slimmed down and got healthier with the help of a particular exercise or nutritional program.

Maybe we had a skin condition, such as dryness, premature aging or rosacea, that improved dramatically with regular use of a certain skin cream.

Or maybe we kept getting sick whenever we scrubbed our homes with traditional cleaning products so we switched to essential oils as a healthier alternative.

The point is, we have experience with the products we sell. Tap into that experience and share it with your customers and followers online.

Whether it’s a blog post, a short YouTube video or a post that corresponds with a photo, take the opportunity to share your story and your experience with your products.

Your followers will find you even more relatable. Not only that, but you’ll also build trust. They’ll know that you really do use the products you sell and you’re seeing results with them.

They’ll think, “If Debbie uses that skin cream and her skin is practically glowing, then maybe she has something that’ll work on these stubborn crow’s feet.”

What’s the difference between Educate and Help?

On the surface, there isn’t much difference – the videos you post that share how to use a particular product both educate the viewers about the product and help them use it correctly.

The main difference is the help videos can involve anything you find useful, whether or not it’s product related.

That means you can post a video or information about how to stay healthy during cold and flu season, tips for stress relief or how to get stubborn baked-in stains out of your fancy French cookware regardless of your business.

It’s all information people a curious about!

Putting it all together

Everything you post should fall into a HIRE category or be a combination of them.

The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows

Srdner J. Harris

Now, you may be thinking, “That’s impossible!”

In reality, it should feel pretty natural.

You can still post images of your kids and pets being silly (that falls under Relationships), informative articles about a topic you care about (that’s Help and Educate), your favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies (that’s also Help, though it could be Educate if you use one of your products in it) or a spot-on quote you read in a book or heard on your favorite podcast (that’s Inspire).

In fact, you’re likely following the strategy anyway so using it all the time should be easy.

The HIRE strategy helps you build trust

Trust is the foundation of any lasting relationships.

If you want your customers, prospects, and distributors to do business with you, it’s vital that they trust you.

The HIRE strategy allows you to show your personality, be of service, and offer help and insight – all things that build trust!

Don’t forget to engage with your followers

When someone takes the time to leave a comment on your post, be sure to respond to them.

Okay, okay, that may sound simple

You’re probably shouting, “I already do that.” And, you probably do most of the time. But, it’s so, so easy to get busy and forget all about the post.

Your followers want to engage with you. Since you’re busy, schedule about 10 minutes or so to respond to comments; that way, you know it’ll get done, but it doesn’t cut into family or personal time.

Speaking of scheduling…

Create a content calendar

This may sound a bit overwhelming at first, but it’s fun, we promise!

With the holidays right around the corner, it’s all the more important to plan for the things you can control so that your time isn’t hijacked by the stuff you can’t.

Say you plan to post on social media three times a week. Pull out your calendar and plan the days you wish to post – Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Now, on those days write the type of content you want to post.

Let’s say an Inspirational post on Monday (It’s Monday, most of us need all the inspiration we can get), a Help video on Wednesday and a Relationship post (like your kids or furkids in their Halloween costumes) on Friday.

Do this each week for a month, or until the new year if you’re ambitious.

Don’t worry about finding or creating the exact content you’d like to post, yet.

You’ll have plenty of time to make or create it yourself.

The best part about planning is once you know what you want to post, you can get to work on it, instead of waiting until the last minute.

It’ll save you tons of time in the end, giving you more time to spend with loved ones or creating an amazing Christmas experience for your family.

The sooner your start, the sooner you can enjoy the rewards

What are the rewards?

Increased trust in your relationships, more credibility with your followers, more referrals from your current customers, more interest from your prospects and admiration from your distributors.

Best of all?

A flourishing business! What’s not to love?

Speaking of distributors, be sure to share the HIRE strategy with them as well. By using it yourself, you can show them how it’s done.

They’ll see your success and want to copy it themselves. Encourage them to do so!

Be their shining example of how to use social media to build a brand and connect with customers, prospects, and distributors.

Whoever you wish to connect with, remember to use Teamzy to help you keep in touch with everyone in your database.

Review your Dashboard every day to see who to contact and be sure to keep everyone’s information up-to-date.

The more current you keep the information, the better you’ll be able to serve them. Log into Teamzy to learn more!