Your Small Business Social Media Needs Work and Here's Why

Your business is missing its marketing department: let’s talk social media for a minute. When was the last time you sat down and looked at your social media efforts with the eye of a business boss? Are you able to look at your posts on the various platforms you’re on and tell us the data? Do you have reasons as to why you posted that image or that caption on that day or time? Or is what you’re doing on social media similar to your mindset when you’re strolling through the Dollar Spot at Target?

This looks good - I’ll take 12 of these tiny erasers - I’m sure I’ll find a spot for these copper metal baskets!

Look, we’ve all been there. We create accounts for our business on all the platforms and post here and there thinking we’ll unlock the code. We keep half-assing our presence and wondering why we’re not A) growing, B) making sales, and C) enjoying it. We look at everyone else’s account and think that they’ve must have found the magic pill for social media success.

Hint: there is no magic pill for social media success (or heck, any success).

In order to grow we need a mindset shift. So often we tie our feelings towards personal social media to business social media. They are not the same.

You might limit screen time for yourself or your kids personally. Maybe you say they can only be on their phones during certain times.

You might hate the drama that stews on one platform because your feed is filled with old high school buddies or weird family members.

You might be tired of that ex-coworker trying to constantly sell you multi-level-marketing products that are guaranteed to make you lose weight while eating only cheeseburgers.

Whatever your personal beef we need you to check that at the office door. Consider this your virtual office door. You’re now stepping into the boardroom to have a meeting with your marketing department. Sure, it might just be me, myself and I, but your business has a marketing department whether you know it or not.

It’s damaging to your business to bring those personal beefs with social media to work.

We are in the digital age and it ain’t going anywhere. Instead, let’s figure out how to create a strategy that’s not only in line with your business goals, but your actual schedule.

No matter which social media platform(s) you choose to be on for your business, the takeaways you need are these:

• Is your audience there?

• How do they use those platforms? Search? Commenting? Sharing?

• Are you letting your audience know what you do in your profile and bio?

• Are you reminding them with your posts (both indirectly and directly)?

• Are you showcasing your products or services well?

• Is it clear what you offer or you type of business with your imagery?

• What’s your engagement when you post in the morning vs. the afternoon vs. the evening?

• Are you giving clear call-to-actions in your posts?

• Have you set target goals for number of followers on your accounts?

• Do you have plans in place for you to reach those goals?

• Have you tested a variety of different types of posts to find the ones that convert the most?

• Are you giving your audience or customers something to do on your account (buy, sign up, register, read, etc)?

• Are you consistently showing up so the platforms don’t dubbed your account inactive?

You notice how none of this has anything to do with the so-called “growth hacks” you see pop up all the time? Like the ones that say “if you post at 9, 1 and 6 you’ll catch the most traffic!” or “if you post these kind of stock images you’re going to get higher comments” or “if you like and comment on 7 accounts every hour you’ll increase your following by 1,000!”.

Because, let us repeat: there is no magic pill for social media success.

You know what works? Doing the work and paying attention to the results. Shocker, we know.

This is why if you haven’t sat down with your marketing department to answer those questions above, your social media probably needs work. This is why you get so burnout using social media and think that “it’s not for you”. This is when it’s so easy to let those personal beefs with social media cloud our thinking and let us toss out excuses for why it’s not working.

This is where that mindset shift is so freaking crucial.

So instead of buying into the next thing that says it’s guaranteed to double your following how about you gather the data first? Know the answers to the questions above inside and out. Know how you can tweak them ever so slightly and track the results of that tweak.

It’s amazing what happens in business when we know the efforts of our time.

When things begin to pay off we start to create a better energy about actually doing them. That’s what we want for you and your business.

We believe in you. We think what you’ve got going on is pretty incredible. We’re stinking proud of you.