The Fierce Business Babe Podcast Ep 268: Free Value vs Paid Value
Today, I am diving into the question, are you giving away too much free value? We are going to chat about what types of content you should be sharing on social media and how much value you should be adding into your content. We are also going to dive into how to determine which content should be free and which content should not.
ARE YOU GIVING AWAY TOO MUCH FREE VALUE?
By: Melissa Lin
Welcome back to another episode of the Fierce Business Babe Podcast! We are back for another brand new episode and I'm so excited. Today in episode 268 we're going to get all into really answering the question, are you giving away too much free value, too much free content? We're going to get into what type of content to share and social media, how much value to add into your content, how to determine paid versus free content, and so, so much more.
CONTENT YOU SHOULD BE SHARING ON SOCIAL MEDIA
The first thing I really want to touch on is what type of content to share on social media. There's so much that you can do with social media. You can hop on instagram stories, you can do reels, you can hop on and do a live training, you can add captions, there's just so much you can create. To decide what type of content to share can really be tricky. I want you to put yourself in your ideal client’s shoes, whoever you serve in your business. Let's say that you’re launching a specific program at the moment, whoever you serve in that program. Put yourself in their shoes and really ask yourself, what would be helpful for my ideal client right now? Maybe it's been a while since you've been in those shoes, right? Maybe you're helping women move from point A to point B. Maybe you're helping them grow their social media handle to 10K followers and you are already at 200,000 followers. Really sit yourself back to when you were growing and wanting to get to that 10K. What was going through your head? What kind of support did you wish you had? What would you have really needed to move the needle forward a little bit or get a quick win? So, what would be helpful for your ideal client? This is something that I like to share with my clients. It's almost like a mini crane, pick yourself up with a mini crane. Pick yourself up from where you're at now and put yourself in those shoes for when you're going through that and what you are experiencing, what you're seeing or wanting to help others with. I do this quite a bit anytime we’re wanting to do content revamp or adjust any messaging or anything like that, this is usually at least a few times per year. I will pick myself up and go back to when I was at that point of my life. What was I going through? What were some of the experiences going on? What was happening in my personal life? Really leaning back into that time so I can really relate to what some of my ideal clients could be going through right now. So put yourself in those shoes and ask yourself, what would be helpful for them? What quick win can you provide for your audience? We're going to get into a little more detail on what that can look like and why it's so important to give them that “aha” moment or that win, that value that you are creating through social media.
Maybe you’re starting your social media from scratch. Maybe you’re starting for the very first time. There's a few different types of content that we like to share all throughout the week. We are always putting out educational pieces, so teaching pieces like this podcast episode. This is a teaching piece, it’s an educational piece. We also like to share storytelling or connecting pieces to really connect with our audience. We share inspirational pieces, of course, to show what is possible, as well as sales pieces. Those are the main sources of content that we like to put out there all throughout the week. One type of free content that you can start to create for your audience is live trainings. We have done so many live trainings over the years over on my free Facebook group, over on our business page, on Instagram, and really just showing up and adding value. We have done workshops. We have so many digital downloads, mini-courses, and blog posts. Your captions on social media are another type of free content. Podcast episodes, anything that you put out to the internet because you are wanting to grow your online business.
To be online we get to be social and we get to the things out online as well. You are allowed to create anything that excites you that's also going to serve your ideal client, all of that’s valuable. You’re allowed to mix it up. Maybe you love doing live trainings, keep on doing live trainings. Something that we've definitely learned is that in our audience some prefer digital downloads, such as some of our templates and some of our work books that I've created over the years, and some prefer live trainings. Some people prefer to be able to hop on a zoom call with me as they go through a class or some type of training that I'm creating. Some people prefer to do workshops that I may be doing. We typically always have a digital download with it, whether that's a digital workbook that goes with the workshop or with the class. Even just a space for note-taking or some type of bonus template that comes with it if you do come live. Any of those value-add. All of that is types of content that you can start to add onto social media that's going to start to create that like-know-trust factor with your audience, which is so, so, so important.
Maybe you're starting to ask yourself, how much value do I add into my content? Is this something that I do every single day? Do I need to go live every single day? Do I need to do a reel every single day? Do I need to have a podcast episode every single day? No, definitely not. Think about your ideal client, again, put yourself in their shoes. Do they have time and energy to hop onto a live training that you're doing, however often you're doing it? If you're doing live training every single day right now, it is very likely they won't be on every single day. Really ask yourself, what is going to benefit them the most? When I was starting my online business back in 2014 I spent a lot of time in my car. I was driving to my engineering job and home from my engineering job, so the pieces of value that really benefited me because of where I was in my life at that moment were podcasts. That's a big reason why I started my own podcast. It was so impactful for me. I was able to shift so much in my business just from free content I was going through. We'll definitely talk about free versus paid, when to start to make that transition and when something should be free versus paid.
So again, ask yourself, where is my ideal client? For example, if I am selling my Academy, the Fierce Business Academy, which is my signature program where I help women start and grow their online businesses to $5K months, most of these women are still in their 9-to-5, or are going to school, or are stay-at-home moms. These women have another piece of their lives as they're starting their business most of the time, not always, but most of the time. I was too when I first started. I was full-time at my chemical engineering job as I started my business and was for quite some time. Thinking about that, if someone is busy and they do have a full-time job, how are they commuting? What's going to be the best way for them to grab information and to learn from you? Again, it's all about your ideal client.
HOW MUCH VALUE SHOULD YOU BE ADDING?
Now for the question, how much value do you add into your content? I really want to answer the name of this podcast episode about value and if you can give too much free information away. My belief is that you truly can never give too much away for free. We have done so many workshops over the years and so many live trainings. For example, if you are hosting a one-hour webinar, it is literally impossible to teach everything that you teach in one of your programs in a one-hour webinar, right? It would be so high level. You wouldn’t be able to touch on everything, which is why I don't touch on everything, it is impossible. You cannot squeeze all of that information in a one-hour webinar. So you can never give too much away for free. I truly, truly believe that. It is actually one of my non-negotiables in my business every day, adding value. It's one of my non-negotiables, so regardless of what I'm doing or where I'm at in the world. We were just at our anniversary getaway and I had things scheduled over the weekend so that value was still getting pumped out and that my audience was still learning from me. So adding value every single day.
Again, I have so much content. Let’s actually do a super quick audit of all of the content I have out there and all of the value that we share. Of course we had so much fun before my old Instagram was shut down. We do have all of that banked up, of course. A big question I get is, “Melissa, what about all of your content that you had?” We have a big bank of it. We've been doing that for quite some time, so we technically didn't actually lose too much of our content besides Instagram story highlights and things like. So let's do a super quick content audit. We currently have a lot of free information available for my audience. This is episode 192, so we have over 190 free podcast episodes, all free and all of them provide the actual steps for you. I have had so many people reach out to me weekly letting me know and sharing with me how they've signed clients just from my free podcast episodes. They have increased their prices in their programs that have doubled their income in their business, all from the free podcast, so many wins. Again, we have so many episodes, over 190, soon to be 200 and we're going to keep going. I also have dozens of free opt-ins or lead magnets. These are a mix of digital downloads, workbooks, training series we’ve hosted, classes, workshops, and so, so much more. So the answer is, no, you can never give away too much free information, too much value. Unless you went on an Instagram live and stayed on there for like seven days straight and just taught, taught, taught, then yeah, maybe. You would basically be giving your entire program away, and that’s not what free value is. Free value is something quick, quick wins. I'm actually going to get into that next, how to really determine what should be free and what should be paid.
WHAT CONTENT SHOULD BE FREE?
What I like to recommend is your free content gets to be high-level overviews, something that's going to create a quick win for your audience. It’s more so of the “what.” If you're wanting to help someone go from point A to point B, teach them the “what'' of what needs to happen in order to get there. So for example, if you're wanting to start your online business and sign your first two clients, you get to create your foundations in your business, your first offer, your client contracts, your payment systems, hop in and get your business registered, the basics of structure. Then you get to create your first offer, and then of course social media, and then sales. Those are the “whats,” however it’s not technically the “how.” There’s a lot that goes into creating each of those and the behind the scenes of what that looks like, and how to map out your program and what that looks like, and what should be included and what shouldn't be included in your programs. How to sell, how not to sell, how to handle objections, there’s so much more in the “how,” but I'll teach my audience the “whats.” Your “how” is in your programs. The “how” is in your deliverables of what you're selling. For example, one of our 60-minute classes is “Four Steps to Starting a Successful Coaching Business,” it’s filled with massive value. I get people all the time coming to me and letting me know it's one of the best webinars they've ever seen because it truly is filled with so much value in 60 minutes. Technically it's an hour and nine minutes, I know I went a little overboard when it came to the Q&A, I just loved supporting and answering questions live when we hosted that webinar. You can watch the replay, just send me a DM over on Instagram and I can get it over to you.
We've had so many women sign their first clients after going through that class, however, there is still so much more to learn after a 60-minute class. In the class, for example, I teach why starting an online coaching or service-based businesses is more important than ever; how to determine your niche; how to determine your ideal client for your business; how to create your first program that you can actually sell online and make money with and create an impact with; how to market your online business on social media; and then of course how to start actually selling your first offer and signing clients and what that looks like. There is still so much to learn after that. You can definitely grab some quick wins with what I teach there, and that's the goal, to give you some quick wins. However, the long term plan needs so much more. Setting up the rest of your foundations, your client contracts, the tech side, what activities your business actually needs day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, the structure, the system, the sales, all of those for your business. A supportive community to lean into so that you are surrounding yourself with others who are going through what you're going through. I know from experience that there may be people in your personal life who just don't get it, and that's okay. There are people out there who will. Guidance, mentorship, getting feedback on your items as you build your business, and so much more.
So yes, add value, value, value. There's always going to be more your ideal client will need for that long term transformation. After my 60-minute class my audience, and this is what your audience will also start to feel once they start seeing more and more of your free content, they're going to be like, wow, I cannot believe I got all that from a free class, or from that free training series or from that free digital download, there's so much value in this. I can't even imagine what could be provided inside of one of her paid programs. They come and work with me. There is so much more inside of our programs. Same goes with the podcast, we add so much value here and currently are adding value twice a week with brand new episodes. Free gets to be higher-level quick wins, things that are going to help them move the needle forward.
Paid is more so ongoing support, accountability, having a mentor or a community there with you when things are going well and also when things are feeling hard. There's definitely some moments in business where you're going to face things you've never faced before, and it's so great to have a community there to support you. So free value is so, so amazing, but they don't hold you accountable, they can’t answer your questions as you're starting and getting up there and growing, they're not able to just hop on Zoom once or twice a week and provide you live coaching, it can't give you that feedback. However, that's what your programs are for. That's what your mentorship is for. For you as a coach or if you're a service-based business, you're there to help them find clarity and focus. They can give you the tools to get there faster. They're the ones that are with you. They are going to ask you powerful questions, provide you with feedback, hold you accountable, and also challenge you along the way. The free value, again, you can never give too much, it's that high level, it’s the “what.” Your coaching and programs, that is the “how.” That is how I personally like to separate the two.
We have touched today on what type of content to share on social media, how much value to add into your content, how to determine paid versus free content, and so much more. We’re already getting excited for next week’s episode and can’t wait to share with you! We’ll see you next week in another brand new episode of the Fierce Business Babe Podcast bright and early next Monday morning!
Topics we cover include:
Content you should be sharing on social media
Determining free versus paid content
Adding value to your content
And so much more!
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