How to Change Lives in Today’s Noisy World

Deliberately Social... What's That?
Deliberately Social is a strategy...a framework...a mindset you can use to change the world through deliberate action on social media platforms.

deliberate (adjective)
characterized by or resulting from careful and thorough consideration
I know one guy that uses Facebook to make over $50,000 every month.
I know another that uses YouTube and makes $2-5,000 a day on his affiliate marketing business.
If you want to change lives through building a community of like-minded people around you, you’re in the right place.
That’s why I call you a life changer…because we all want more than money…money than time freedom…more than notoriety or fame…we want significance.
And we know that significance will come through changing lives.
Whether the changed life is your own...maybe you want to quit your 9-to-5 and fire your boss or donate more to charities you care about.
Or your family’s lives…maybe you want to bring your wife home from work or get your kids into private schools or homeschool them or take a family vacation for the first time.
Or maybe you’re like a nonprofit I work with and you want to help others change their lives…escape the bondage of addiction, get off the street or rescue hurting animals.
If you want to change lives, you belong here and I welcome you as a life changer.
Social media gives us a wonderful platform to make an impact with, but the problem is that nearly everyone uses social media in a reactive and passive way.
If you want to truly change lives and have a real, lasting impact, you have to become deliberate. You have to make a plan for how you use social media and then work that plan.
But how do you do that? Where do you start?
You start the same place my friends started…
Which isn’t spreading affiliate links or fund raisers all over social media and hoping people click on your links and buy or donate to your cause.
We call that ‘spray and pray’ and it does not work.
Doesn’t matter how many friends, subscribers, followers or connections you have…it just doesn’t work.
So don’t waste your time.
Step 1: Clarify Your Message
The first step in being deliberate is to take a step back and get to know yourself.
You have to clarify your message.
Start with writing down your values and your goals and figuring out exactly what you want to accomplish.
Vague non-answers will not do. You have to be specific.

For example, while the nonprofit I mentioned earlier wants to help addicts find freedom from their addictions through the transforming power of Jesus Christ, they don’t focus on reaching addicts on social media.
They focus on bringing encouragement and education to the family members of addicts.
Their goal is to present stories of transformation and hope...and to educate about addiction, how to care for addicts and the state of addiction treatment.
To family members.
The nonprofit wants to unite a community that feels ashamed and alone…
And by doing so, they not only bring relief to hurting families, they increase awareness of the resources they provide show themselves as thought leaders and action takers to potential donors.
Simply saying you want to make more money is not a good enough goal…
Your goals must to be about changes you want to see in your life or in the lives of others.
It’s the emotional connection to these goals that will keep you going when it seems no one is listening.
Step 2: Define Your Market
The second step in the deliberately social framework is to define your target market or niche.
Once you understand your market (and a bit of human nature), you’ll know why ‘spray and pray’ fails every time.
Let me explain.
There have been many studies done in recent years that prove that simply getting your message out to anyone and everyone is very expensive - and worse - extremely ineffective.
The basic finding of the studies is this…
You only have a specific number of things you really care about in life. It’s different for every person, but the simple fact is that most people simply do not and will never care about your product, cause or service.
Do a thought experiment with me…
Pretend you’re passionate about animals.
You think the SPCA and the WWF are amazing organizations and donate to them regularly. You donate time on a monthly basis at your local animal shelter and your pet dog is - of course - a rescue just like mine.
Now, if I come to you, inundate you with information about the homelessness crisis in your city, would you donate?
It’s highly unlikely…nearly impossible, actually…
No matter how much information you had at your disposal.
It’s not that you don’t care…
You just care more about something else...and you have limited resources (time, money and attention).
Using social media is no different…you have to figure out the exact (and likely pretty small) group of people you want to focus on (your target niche) and then figure out:
What makes them tick
Where they hang out online
What language they use when talking to other believers

Focusing on a small group (especially until you have a core group of life changers around you) actually makes your life and your marketing a lot easier.
You can tailor content specifically to them, put it where they are and follow up with them directly. And they will respond much better because your messages will resonate with them.
As an added benefit, you’ll also be found much more easily in Google, YouTube, LinkedIn or Instagram searches because you’re focusing on smaller, less competitive markets.
Step 3: Amplify Your Impact
Once you know yourself and your audience, it’s time to amplify your impact by choosing the platform that makes the most sense for you and your audience.
Then you diligently plan your content and begin working that plan.
Once you have some content out in the world (at least 100 videos, blog posts, LinkedIn articles, etc), you can begin evaluating how it’s doing so you do more of what resonates and less of what doesn’t.
So that's the basic premise of the Deliberately Social master plan...
Do you think it will work for you? Share your thoughts in the comments!
And if you'd like to know more about the site, how I came up with these ideas or about me, make sure to stop by my about page.