Value 101: How to Add Value

If you want to be a successful blogger or entrepreneur you should be following someone, preferably me, who talks about VALUE. If you don’t, well you’ve come to the right place…

Value is the common denominator between all high achievers. Yes, hard work and dedication also play a role but if you’re adding value the right way, all of those elements work systematically together.

Tony Robbins says the best way to beat your competition is by providing more value than anyone else. You can add value in 3 ways: through inspiring, educating, or entertaining. 

Now, someone who has mastered the art of adding value will be able to do all 3 in one shot but if you’re a newbie to this whole value thing, then try starting with 1.

Inspire

To be so influential that you actually inspire someone to take action is the goal of most bloggers. In fact, I think it’s the goal for most people in general, right? Like how good does it feel when someone comes up to you and says “I was so inspired by your post that I donated to the Australia Wildfires too!” or “I was so inspired by your gratitude journal that I started my own!” It’s pretty cool.

Anyway, the first way to add value is to inspire. You can inspire someone to buy your outfit, do your workout, try your recipe, implement your strategy, etc. Inspiring is probably the easiest of the 3 ways to add value because there are so many ways to do it. We often inspire people without even knowing it but obviously when you’re mindful of it you’re able to have a bigger impact. 

So how do you do it? How do you actually inspire people? The best way to add value by inspiring is to consistently document your journey. 

For example, if you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that for the past 2, maybe 3 years I’ve documented my workouts on Stories. Not only do I video myself physically doing the workouts but I usually time stamp it, share whose workout I’m doing, and how many reps of each exercise. In just 15-30 seconds I create a value packed Instagram Story…

I’m *hopefully* inspiring my audience by showing that I’m nurturing my mind, body, and soul all before sunrise. In addition, I’m educating my audience by telling them whose workout I’m doing and how many reps each exercise requires. You could even argue that I’m entertaining my audience because I’m showing a video of myself doing the workout which can be pretty comical!

Educate

This is my personal favorite way to add value because I’m a teacher. I’m not good at everything, but I am excellent at teaching. It’s just my thing, so I often add value by educating my audience. This blog post adds value through educating, my Instagram posts add value through educating, The Blogger Blueprint adds value through educating… you get the idea. 

When you add value by educating, you’re essentially teaching your audience something new or different. For example, I teach bloggers, brands, and entrepreneurs how to build and grow their businesses. @fitgurlmel teaches people how to build muscle, @coletteprime teaches people how to create affordable looks on Amazon, @tonyrobbins teaches people how to change their mental/physical state of being, @tezza teaches people how to take better photos, etc. 

Don’t panic if you’re not a natural born teacher. You don’t have to “educate” your audience, you could just inspire or entertain them. But at some point questions from your followers may come up that put you in a position to educate them so why not, ya know? 

Entertain

If you don’t find yourself inspiring or educating your audience, maybe you’re entertaining them. When you think of adding value through entertainment think about a movie, concert, play, or TV show… those are all examples of adding value.

Comedians like @brittanyfurlan, @thefatjewish, and @fuckjerry are examples of people who add value by entertaining their audiences. The Real Housewives, Kardashian/Jenner clan, @indyblue_, @charlidamelio, and any TikTokers are examples of influencers who add value through entertaining. 

Entertaining doesn’t always have to be funny either. It could be dramatic, serious, sad, happy, motivating, exciting, or interesting. Basically if you want to entertain your followers, you have to be able to storytell. Every time you post on social media think about it as a book or movie, with a beginning, middle, and end.

For me personally, I stick to entertaining my audience on IG Stories or TikTok versus in feed on Instagram or in blog posts. Those things just don’t work for me, but videos do. 

Just the other day I made a little birthday video collage for my boyfriend Pat. It’s purpose wasn’t to do anything other than entertain whoever chose to watch it. I wasn’t educating people about anything, I wasn’t trying to inspire anyone, it was just a fun little video for people to be able to take an inside look at our relationship. Adding value by entertaining your audience doesn’t have to be a huge production, it can be super simple like your boyfriend’s birthday video.

Now that you know how to add value, you need to know what type of value to add and when, which we’ll talk about next week so stay tuned!

Which way do you like to add value – by inspiring, educating, or entertaining your audience? Tell me in the comments below!