Effective social media content and engagement: First, you really need to know where your prospects are. I got asked this by my strategic coach. In the past I had always been very active on Instagram. I still post regularly on Instagram in my daily life. My coach asked me a very thought-provoking question: “Jas, I know you like to post on Instagram. Can the people on Instagram buy from you?” If you look at my Instagram, I have more than 3,000 followers. Do you know who they are? They’re people like yourself. But I can sell to them. That was something that hit me.

From that point on, I decided whatever content I’m going to post will be where my prospects are, which is on LinkedIn. Because of my ex-corporate experience, my customers and prospective customers are on LinkedIn. Find the social media that will create your greatest wins. Don’t follow the crowds. Don’t follow me because Jaslyn says, “LinkedIn is the way. You do LinkedIn.” Decide based on your customer prospects.

Who is your ideal target audience? Who is your ideal client profile? During the coaching session, we sat down and talked about the archetype of my ideal client. My ideal clients are CEOs, CFOs and senior corporate leaders. Why? Because of my previous background, it is easy for me to relate to them. I understand their jobs and their schedules, and we have the same lingo. Once I identify the archetype, we reverse-engineer the whole thing. What is the content or hotspots that you can write to make them relatable? If you’re going to spend time and energy on doing something, do it smart. Do it the way that allows you to maximize your time and bring in the prospects that you want.

I just did a statistics study last week: Forty percent of my clients came from existing clients and referrals, which are what we call “the warm.” Fifty percent came from social media plus social media’s referrals. That’s how strong online strategies can be when you do it well.

Do you know why we want to do online outreach? I’m a very pragmatic person: Because it’s free. I’ve never paid one day for an ad because paying for ads means that this is an artificial way of getting through.

If you want to play the social media game, the No. 1 rule is to be consistent. You know what is the interesting part of social media? “Oh, Jaslyn, it’s so hard to write articles. It’s so hard to post. I don’t know what to post.” Then you ask them to pen something. “Wow. Yes, I’m trying.” They try for two weeks. They take two weeks to write an article, then they post. Is it good? Yes.

Consistency means that even if it’s a not-so-good quality post, it’s OK. If you have a perfect piece, maybe that posting gets you more likes. You know what? Two days later we have another person. Maybe he or she doesn’t write that well but just keeps coming up. Imagine three, four months later if there is a need for the prospect, who would the person go to? The person who wrote a very good article in perfect English with zero grammatical errors or a person who appears every day?

Create a system. If I go with my mindset, sometimes I don’t feel like working today. I don’t feel like doing anything, so I don’t post. You need to have a structure and make that part of your job.

A lot of people ask me, “Jaslyn, how do you find time to do social media content?” I say, “When you ask that question, you are seeing social media as something you can do or don’t do.” Today social media has become my nonnegotiable. Between a case preparation for some clients and social media posting, which one would I choose to do first? I would prioritize my time on social media posting.

Though that case preparation could lead to immediate closing, social media is the one thing that consistently keeps you top of mind.

When you want to do social media, when we talk about consistency, there is this question: “But, Jaslyn, how often should I post? I cannot do three times a week.” Can you go to the gym every day? It’s a bit hard, right? I’m trying, but it’s also a bit hard. So let’s start once a week. Start with something sustainable, something small. After that you think, I can manage once a week. Maybe every Monday morning at 9 a.m. I’ll post something. You start with that. Don’t force yourself to do it three times a week or seven times a week. It is not sustainable. Doing anything is good, but it must be in moderation and sustainable.

So consistently appear in front of your audience. It doesn’t matter if you think your content is not good, but what you want to do is be top of mind.

A few months ago in May, our company had our awards dinner. I was at the front, taking photos with different people. I was asking, “Can you help me? I’ll pass you my phone. Can you help us take a picture?” Consistently, for five or six people, before I completed my sentence, the person would say, “You’re Jaslyn Ng, right? Every day I turn on my phone, no matter where I go, and I see your post first. Wow, no escaping from you.”

Isn’t this the effect you want? Imagine if your prospects turn on the phone, no matter where they are, and say, “this person” again and again and again. And how many of us, when we come into the industry and talk to our friends and relatives, hear, “Hey, no, Jaslyn, it’s OK. I have my financial advisor already. It’s OK”? And you know what? So many times they told me it was OK. A few months, a few years down the road, now they come to me and say, “Jaslyn, I see that you’re doing such meaningful work for your customers. I see that you’re planning so well. Can I come to you?” This is because they see you online every day, showing up again and again and again. That is the power of consistency on social media.