Busting the Top 10 Social Media Myths
We have taught thousands of creative entrepreneurs from all over the world. We teach what we know, what works for us, and the strategies that are totally doable for you and your small business. We teach not for you to get a flood of thousands of followers, but a flood of followers that are authentic and totally “your people”. We haven’t fallen into the “follower obsession” and we don’t want to make you fall into that negative space either. We only focus on finding truly targeted, amazing, and engaged followers who will become brand advocates, clients, and online friends.
By following the same steps that we use to grow our audience you will curate a tribe of dreamy clients and forever friends. This is why having a social media game plan is worth it. When you put your energy into growing the right tribe, it will pay off in referrals and sales. Period. We see it happen constantly for us so we know the engagement is ready for you right around the corner.
So here’s the giant list of excuses you pull or the myths you buy into when we talk about social media. Spoiler alert: we bust each and every one of them.
Social Media is not worth my time: Connecting with your audience, providing education, or making sales isn’t worth your time? Yeah, right. All of those things happen when you focus on being present online. There are collaborations, sales, referrals, and relationships that we would not have today if we didn’t spend time on social media - mainly on Instagram. We love getting to respond to you guys in the comments and see what you’re up to online.
Being active on Social Media will suck up all my time: We used to think this as well! Luckily, the more you do it, the better you get. Also we’ve made some worksheets that make scheduling, posting, and curating content for Social Media even easier! If you can spend just 10 minutes every morning, mid-day, and evening online (which is more than manageable for most people), you will have a great impact on your tribe. (Also, you can save time and create consistency using Later.)
You can’t make sales off Social Media: Whoa, we’re about to bust this one right quick! No joke, we’ve booked a 2k client straight off an Instagram comment and have since made thousands on our courses. The inquires on our website that keep coming in most often cite “Instagram” as how they heard about us (despite us no longer taking traditional clients). And we don’t have hundreds of thousands of followers!
All the “big” accounts have paid for their followers or likes: Now we can’t speak for everyone, but for us and a lot of other creatives, paying for followers is a big no-no. Not only does it cost you money, it curates a following of spammy and inauthentic people (that is, people that will in no way become clients or customers). This is obviously a waste of money. Now, paying for ads on Facebook (or Instagram) that directly impact your “likes” or “email subscribers” is something else entirely. When you pay for those ads you pay to specifically target an audience who is into what you’re putting out there. Win-win.
Only professional photographers can have a pretty feed or graphics: Well, if you’ve been around these parts any you know that this isn’t true. Sure, having a professional camera or training can lend to some amazing creations, but it isn’t the end-all. The majority of our feed (as in two out of three images) are shot with our iPhones and edited in our favorite app. There are certainly tricks of the trade that you can replicate so it’s definitely worth perfecting, because a pretty image sells well! Try out our social media templates from The Creative Template Shop now. Each of our templates comes with a tutorial on how to add them to your Canva account and customize (yes, even if you have no design background!)
People don’t want to hear about my personal life on Social Media: Although there is a dynamic to this, this statement isn’t true overall . We are all humans (even those puppy or miniature pig accounts that we follow) and as humans we connect with others best when we can relate to them. There are totally ways you can bring in your personal life into your feed while also referencing your business, service, or product. Ask yourself how you can share the “why” part of being business or the “how” - what you offer can impact lives. Sharing a bit of your personal life puts a human face to your business which is often forgotten when we follow businesses online, and it helps to break up the posts where you might be “selling” to your audience.
No one cares what I have to say / No one reads what I post: So, this one might be true (for now). Ha! But, guess what, it’s okay! When you’re just starting out growing a presence online you might only have your mom and your best friend listening. The more you post and the more you write for your audience the more impact you will have on those readers. Someone out there right now needs what you offer. They won’t find you on day one, but keep doing it for them anyways. Ready to change the game? See you how you can Snap, Style and Sell here.
If I’m not on every social media channel, what’s the point: Social media overwhelm is a real thing, y’all. It’s why we pretty much quit Twitter and why we put Periscope on the back burner (because let’s be honest, Facebook Live is starting to rule the roost). We knew we could only handle two to three channels well. So we chose Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. We’ve gotten into a groove with these channels now, so we might be adding in some live streaming channels soon. The bottom line is, don’t feel like you have to be everywhere right now. Choose the ones that you like and that you know your audience is hanging out on. Master those and see if you want to add more in the future.
There’s constantly something new to learn about Social Media: Even though Facebook does change their algorithms practically on the daily (or at least it feels like it), this doesn’t impact the foundation of your presence on that platform. Other channels do change some features, but remember that they are generally geared towards making viewer experience even better, so we can’t blame them for that. You will never have to fully relearn how to be on a specific channel (unless you’re considering MySpace, ha!) so don’t let the “tech” part scare you off.
Being on Facebook is pointless these days: It’s true that not all of your audience will see your posts on Facebook. It’s true that Facebook is charging you to “boost” your posts to the people who already like you. All of that aside, it’s still super beneficial to be on that platform. We also have to remember that to have an account is free and the reward for using it properly can be super powerful for a business. We are on Facebook for two major reasons. One is so we can stay engaged with our private group that’s for members only. We see so much engagement in that group and love that they can feel comfortable to ask questions and share personal journeys, since it isn’t public. The second is so that we can run targeted ads to a very specific audience, so we can grow and be in front of people who are interested in what we’re putting out there. You have to have a Facebook Business Page to run ads, which are powerful in growing your audience - so it’s definitely not pointless to be there!
