Social media, love it or loathe it, is one of the major ways we as business owners stand out there in a sea of competition.
It helps people get to know us.
It helps them understand who we are, what we do and why we get up in the mornings.
It shows people how we can help them.
It helps us get new leads and clients.
It gives us more opportunities in front of a wider audience.
There’s just a few challenges that get in our way when it comes to having a really solid online profile and presence these days.
And I bet you’d agree.
There are, in fact, 3 major challenges that stop business owners from getting the most from their social media platforms and using it efficiently and effectively to grow and scale their business.
Let’s take a look at what they are.
- Problem 1: Overwhelmed and don’t know where to start
When I’m speaking with business owners one of the most common social media problems they tell me about is overwhelm.
There are two parts to this problem.
- Overwhelmed because there is so much information out there about the socials and what platform to be on.
- And overwhelm because there is so much to do in relation to the platforms and content they are creating.
Let’s talk about the first point … there’s so much information out there I don’t know who to listen to.
You listen to your target market and understand where they are hanging out. Choose the social media platform where they are hanging out in the masses and focus on that first and foremost.
It will depend on your target market as to what this platform/s is so you are going to have do some research on your people.
Follow a few key people online and on the social channels you are going to utilise so you can start learning from the best and get the most up to date information. I always share quick tips on LinkedIn, so please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.
This will get you started and cut out the confusion and any overwhelm from too much information.
Now, if you are overwhelmed because there is so much to do with your social media presence and you are getting too bogged down, it might be time for you to delegate the tasks (or at least some of them).
I wrote about delegation in a recent post where I said if I did everything in my business I wouldn’t be able to grow or scale – and I’m pretty sure I’d be losing my sanity too!
This is one of the most major problems I see with business owners and their social media accounts.
In the beginning you have time to work on your profile and presence but then you’ll get busy and it’s not the best use of your time to working on the creation of content and growing your following.
So outsource it. You can engage a virtual assistant, have a team member work on it or get a marketing agency to handle it for you. There are plenty of options to free up your time so you can work on the bigger-ticket items of your business.
We call this the difference between being “IN” the business, and working “ON” the business. If you’re in the business, you are the business. And without you, things grind to a halt.
This means the business is running you, instead of you running it. So here’s an easy step to take yourself out of the equation, and begin working on the business instead: Start tracking how much time you spend per week on your less than important tasks, then get quotes for what it would cost to have someone else do them.
Getting help means you can either a) put those hours into higher value tasks only you can do, or b) have better quality down time.
- Problem 2: Don’t know your target market
This is major social media (and business) issue because if you don’t know what your audience wants from you, how can you help them?
How will you know what content to put out there for them?
The simple answer is you won’t.
There’s a lot of content out there on knowing who your ideal client is, your client avatar and your target market.
You want to attract the right customers … these are the ones who will stay with you, talk to you on social media, share their experiences with you, share your content, refer you on to their friends, and give you a lot of topics to create content around.
These types of customers will help you grow your business and in return you will help them with amazing content to overcome the problems they are having.
And you really need to take the time to do the work on this – and while there are people out here who can help you discover this people, you really need to sit down and work this out for yourself.
Think about these questions:
- Who is your best client?
- What do you like about them?
- What do they do?
- Where do they live/do they have a family?
- What to do they enjoy doing in the business?
- What do they enjoy doing in their free time?
- Where do they hang out online?
- What areas do they need help in?
- How can you help them?
Also look at where the leads are coming from…social media, word of mouth, referrals and so on.
It’s answering questions like these that will help you get to know your ideal clients and what they need from you. And you should always be re-evaluating the answers to these questions.
Look for the similarities in your client base and you will find a group of like-minded people who love you and what you do and vice versa.
When you know this information about this group of people you can create content that they will read and they will find value in.
This is how you build trust with people you’ve never met and the reason why they follow you. This is how you pave the way to growing your business.
- Problem 3: No engagement from your content on social media
Another huge social media challenge business owners have is engagement online. Now this all comes down to the content you create.
Is it boring? Is it salesy? Is it all about you?
These are mistakes I see all the time and they are very common, so don’t worry if this is you. You can fix it!
Just make sure you are creating really useful, helpful and valuable information. Now these words get thrown around a lot … but that’s because they are important.
Your content has to be about your audience. Always.
Do a review on your content … what received the most comments, likes and shares – the most engagement? And what had the least?
Record it and set this as a benchmark. Test it. For example, you know I love quotes, but if quotes aren’t working for you (just say, for argument’s sake) then you will need to find a type of content that does.
Another way you can create content that your audience laps up is to ask them what they want to know from you.
We regularly do this with our audiences so we can always be giving them content they want and will consume.
You will be wasting your time otherwise!
Find out what problems they are having and then create content around those problems.
Just say they are struggling with time and getting everything done … what type of information can you share that you know will help them? Time-saving tips? Two-minute fast results orientated videos, weekly “live” question time.
If you don’t know how to help thme, all you need to do is ask! Ask your clients, your list and put it out there on social media. You people will tell you!
If you are not getting engagement from your content, it will come down to:
- Not knowing your target market
- Giving them content they don’t want or need
- Not posting on the right platforms
I hope this information has been useful for you. Do go and try some of these tactics and tips and put them into practice. You will reap the rewards when you do.
If you would like some help … Here are 4 ways we can help you accelerate your Lead Generation results:
- Grab our free 4-Week LinkedIn Profile Optimisation Course
It’s the road map to positioning your profile in the top 5% of the 550 million LinkedIn users currently active – Click Here
- Join our LinkedIn Group and connect with entrepreneurs who are scaling too
It’s our Facebook community where smart entrepreneurs learn to get more leads and smart ways to scale using LinkedIn — Click Here
- Join our LinkedIn Influencer Program so you can “Show out” instead of just showing up
Every 8 weeks we have a new intake into our 12 – week Influencer program… Click Here for more details
- Work with our team privately
If you’d like to work directly with us to create new marketing opportunities send us a quick message Click here … tell us a little about your business and we’ll organise a time for a deeper chat