How do you feel about using social media to grow your business?
I get mixed responses when I ask small business owners this question but overall it errs on the negative. It’s a time drain; it gets no results; I never know what to write; I don’t know which channel to choose……do any of these sound familiar?
To get that social media monster to become your friend so you can effortlessly get your services in front of the customers that are ready to invest in what you offer can be summed up in one word – strategy.
When I show up on my social media daily, at worst just 3 times a week I do see an increase in my LinkedIn connections, Facebook friends, and Instagram followers. This does allow me to increase my engagement and get them wanting to know more about my services, increase my opportunities to be recommended by others in my social networks and build new relationships which has offered the opportunity for collaboration too.
No more posting every now and then!
No more reactive posts because it’s 5pm and you’ve not posted anything and still have a blank screen staring back at you as you rack your brains for inspiration!
And no more time wasted on social media content that gets nothing but tumbleweed as a response!
But given the huge time and effort spent creating that level of social content, how much business has it generated for me? 1 customer. Yep, you read it right - just a single customer can be attributed to social media.
Why only 1? Because I have not always used social media strategically, believing as many have, that more content on more channels will mean more customer enquiries.
If social media is a right royal pain in your butt - why not simplify it?
Do you need to be on all the main social channels?
Do you need to be spending hours playing with Canva (guilty!) creating content that get's no engagement?
Showing up ad-hoc on your chosen social media and just sharing content when you have time really is not enough to get your target audience even seeing that content you worked so hard to create, let alone engaging and taking any action to find out more.
So, here are a few tips to get some momentum with your social media activity and get results, so you can start to love, not loathe it.
What do I mean by results?
More awareness of what you offer.
Engagement with your potential ideal customers and collaborators.
More customer enquiries.
And more opportunities to convert those into paying ones to grow your business.
How do you get your social media working hard to achieve these results?
Get strategic
Before you write a post, click connect or comment on anything in your feed – take a couple of hours to consider what you hope to gain from social media. Are you on a load of them because you feel you have to be? Or because it's where you can easily engage with those customers and communities you wish to get to know better?
Do an audit of what your activity has achieved so far. It should not just be about likes, follows, more connections, and friends, it’s about focusing your efforts and precious time where it can make a positive impact on those four results listed above.
Only invest your time where your ideal customers show up!
So, if you are trying to be visible on a whole range of social media – you may want to rethink! I know, it’s about now that FOMO will no doubt kick in. However, understand where your audience shows up and make sure that is where you show up too. And take into account that if you personally love Instagram or Tik Tok or LinkedIn, those you wish to attract are likely to be on those channels as well.
Scary? Hell, yes but if you’ve been spending time on a social channel for months, years even, and got no business from it or you have one set up but rarely use it – get rid of it. Bye Bye X/Twitter (for me).
How to fall in love with social media
Do that audit and get a social media strategy in place so you know where to focus your time.
Make a decision – simplify and focus on just 1 channel - yes, just 1.
Take the time to really learn how to use it – know it inside out and use every tool they offer.
Less is more – make your precious social media time count.
When you have mastered 1, only then look at committing to a second channel.
Has this given you food for thought on how you’re going to develop a social media strategy?
I'll be sharing another article very soon exploring more detailed steps you can take to turn your social media content into a customer attaction machine.
In the meantime, if you would like regular hints & tips on making marketing easy and simple, why not subscribe to my monthly marketing musings?