One of the biggest pieces of feedback we hear from creators who are starting to monetize: "I feel awkward selling to my audience."

Everyone talks about overcoming cringe mountain when you start posting consistently, but what about the sneaky additional cringe mountains that come after that? Especially when you start building your business?

This is a question that I think about a lot too as a marketer. So how can we all get more comfortable with it? How do you make it less awkward when you feel like you're "selling" to your followers?

A 2-minute video that was linked in Josh Spector's newsletter this week changed the way I think about this—and I think it will change your perspective, too.

Here's the punchline: when you're selling, you're not shilling. You're giving your audience (your followers!) more information. And then they can make a decision about what to do with that information.

"Giving them more information" can look like:

Explaining why you like something
Being open about pros and cons
Explaining who you think a product is for
Showing them where or how to buy it

An example of a creator who's really good at this? Cozy gaming creator @dailyalissa_, who uses deeply personal and highly unique ways of describing things she loves.

"This journal is made for the ones who fantasize about sitting on a windowsill writing and reading for hours with the wind in their hair."

"I feel like this was made for me."

Your own information that you share on products you love doesn't need to be poetic like Alissa's, but it should feel authentic to you and how you talk to your audience.

So this is the mindset shift when you're feeling awkward: "I'm sharing information to help someone else make a decision. I'm saying it in a way that's authentic to me."

Sometimes even just small reminders like this are enough to feel more confident in the steps you're taking to build your business.

Are mantras like this helpful? What other mindset shifts are helpful as you're building your creator business? Reply and let me know—I'd love to start a collection of these to help everyone navigate cringe mountain(s).

And when you're finally ready to get over those cringe mountains, once and for all? Start building those brand partnerships you've always wanted, beginning with your favorite affiliate products.

Join Affiliate on Beacons

Affiliate on Beacons is getting updates and improvements every week—from new brands being added, to brand partners running sales, to improvements in the product UX.

This week I wanted to highlight a brand partner sale because it's the perfect time to pass the message along to your followers.

Groupon is running a Mother's Day sale and is currently offering up to 75% off on Mother's Day gift experiences.

How can you take advantage of this?

Share news about the sale with your followers
Let them know that this is the perfect last minute gift for the late shoppers—no shipping required, and you can instantly send the gift via email.
Add an affiliate link to your Beacons Link in Bio for a Groupon experience that you recommend in your city, or simply add an affiliate link to the Groupon Mother's Day page so that your followers can browse all of the hundreds of options (and YOU can earn commission on every sale through your link).

Add an affiliate link

If you've been shy about sharing any links, this is the perfect way to start. You're telling your followers about a sale AND helping out those last-minute shoppers (who you know will appreciate the information!)

Add an affiliate link

👉 What brands do you want to partner with through Affiliate on Beacons? Reply and let me know! Plus, explore our 10k+ brand partners.

Age old truth: it goes down in the DMs.

Hot take: you should be engineering your content to end up in the DMs.

Okay, maybe it's not that hot of a take, considering some media companies are already getting in on this strategy. I learned about this this week in another one of my favorite creator newsletters called The Engagement Rate, which explained that media company Doing Things works with viral accounts to create content designed to get shared in group chats.

We all know the dynamics of group chats, and how they usually devolve into a meme-sharing free-for-all. So why not play into that?

Now that Instagram has explicitly said that shares are a top-ranking signal for content engagement, it's worth trying to optimize for them. There are two ways you can do this:

Go hyper niche: Think of someone sending this to their friend and going "this is SO you."
Go broad and relatable: Include a universal truth that is more widely relatable that would resonate with everyone in the group chat.

But what do you think? Is there really a way to engineer shares? What are your most unhinged ways of guaranteeing that you end up in the group chat?

Please, reply and share with the class 🙏

Speaking of group chats, the #random Slack channel at Beacons has basically become one big group chat for memes. (Isn't that what it always ends up becoming?)

My personal favorites are always when we meme the team. The best ones come from the times when everyone is slightly delirious, like the engineering team's recent late-night buildathon.

Live, laugh, love #random.

Me after sharing anything in #random.

As always, thanks for sticking it through to the end if you made it here <3 Have a great weekend, remember to floss, and check your Beacons traffic!

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