Elan Strategy Group

Beware of the Freenemie

I prefer to get customer insights vs social media insights. The reason is that the person who has already bought something from you is the one with skin in the game. They chose to invest and will have the best feedback on what you need to improve, how to market to them, and what new things they want to see from you.

This is why you need to be aware of what I call, the freenemie. They might be your MOST engaged user on social media. Attending EVERY free workshop you put on and downloading all of the freebies on your website. They also tend to have the loosest lips when it comes to product, pricing, and marketing advice.

The truth is that they may follow and consume your free beverages FOREVER and lead you astray with bad advice.

Instead, get some customers in the pipeline. Even if it's only a few and then ask if you can get insights from them, send them surveys and let them poll on product ideas. Be sure that you are open for feedback and gracious to receive it.


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In marketing numbers are everything. They allow you to make qualified decisions about where to spend your time and your money.

Sometimes we have unrealistic expectations about our numbers, but most of the time we have no idea what good performance looks like.

Swipe left to see some conversion numbers based on national averages.

>> 10% is the national average of social media accounts engaged with your total followers
>> 3-5% of your social media engagement will ever visit your website
>> 3% of your website traffic will ever visit a sales landing page
>> 2-5% of your visitors to your sales landing page will finish the purchase

If social media is your primary way of selling your product or service you can see why so many experts want you to focus on increasing your followers, and engagement. But if you don't have a plan to convert that engagement to a website visitor, that engagement won't result in sales.

What can you do?
1) Have calls to action that result in website traffic. Utilize content like blogs, free downloads, quizzes and have them drive people to your website.
2) Diversify your website traffic with other sources like SEO, paid ads, earned media, and influencer promotions.
3) Capture email addresses so that you won't be so dependent on social media.

What is one thing that you could do that would get you to your goal faster?

Prioritization is one of the biggest assets that I bring to the table. I simply don't waste time on doing things that don't work and I understand each day what is the most important thing on my list to accomplish.

For the first few years of my business that meant that social media wasn't a priority for me. In fact, 90% of my clients aren't on social media, don't follow me, and have no idea what I publish on here.

As I have grown I wanted this space to have more consistency, and when my staffing could allow I moved more regularly into this space.

But I built a multi-six-figure business completely without it.

It's very important to know where your customer is, and how to target and find them. When you do you will be able to draw short lines like I did, rather than continuing to play the long game and crossing your fingers that it will all work out.

Want to find out where your short lines are? Book a strategy call, link in bio

I know wildly popular social media accounts that have high engagement and are struggling to make the transition to selling products or services to their audience.

I know more social media accounts that you would scroll right by and not give a second thought to who are generating millions of dollars in annual revenue.

So what is the difference?

Brands have to make the transition from just having content that entertains to having content that converts. This can be uncomfortable because you will get less engagement on these types of posts.

Making the transition from popular to profitable:

:: Features of your product or service
:: Benefits of your product or service
:: Customer highlights and reviews
:: Focus on generating an audience that wants to buy from you

A new way to monetize podcasts has emerged. Both Apple and Spotify released new paid subscription podcast services. You can create a weekly paid subscription or create a short podcast series to go along with your product plan. This opens up a whole new way to think about podcasting and makes it even easier for podcasts to find more profitable ways to increase their revenue.