Social media is one of the most effective ways for a small business to stay connected with customers and attract new ones, but it can also feel like one more thing on an already-packed to-do list.
Between running the business, serving customers, managing employees and everything else, social media often gets pushed to the bottom of the list.
The good news? You don’t need to become a full-time content creator to have an effective social media marketing strategy.
Here are four of the most common social media struggles that we hear small businesses face along with some practical ways to combat them.
1. “I Don’t Know What to Post”
You know you should be posting, but when you sit down to create something, your mind goes blank. This phenomenon happens so often whether you own the business, manage a department or even have social media strategy in your job description.
How to combat the blank mind blues:
Create a few content categories that you can consistently, and easily, rotate through. Try something like these:
- Educational: Tips, FAQs, how-to information
- Behind the scenes: Employees, projects, production, daily operations
- Products/services: What you offer and how it helps customers
- People: Team members, customers, community involvement
- Proof: Reviews, testimonials, before-and-afters, completed projects
- Personality: Fun facts, holidays, humor and company culture
You don’t need a brand-new idea every day. You need a handful of reliable content categories that you can swap in and out. If you change up the format when you repeat them, most people will be none-the-wiser. And repeating information is not a bad thing as your reach and company grows.
2. “I Don’t Have Time to Keep Up With It”
Social media can easily become something that takes far longer than expected or something you constantly feel guilty about not doing. You may scroll through your own social feed during down time and feel like your business could benefit from similar posts to the ones you’re seeing, but you’re just not sure how to fit it in to your already-packed schedule.
How to combat the busy bee syndrome:
Stop trying to create new content every single day. It is impossible for anyone, no matter how much time you have allotted to social media marketing, to come up with new ideas and be social media focused all day, every day.
Instead:
- Set aside 30–60 minutes once a week
- Plan several posts at once
- Take photos and videos while you’re already working
- Schedule posts ahead of time
- Keep a running list of content ideas on your phone
- Save Reels and posts from other businesses that spark ideas for your business
- Repurpose content across platforms
A contractor might take photos of a project throughout the week. Those photos can become:
- A before-and-after post
- A project spotlight
- A short Reel
- An educational post about the materials used
- A customer testimonial
Build social media into the work you’re already doing instead of treating it as a completely separate job. As you build your library of original resources, images and documents, you’re social media posts will practically write themselves.
3. “Our Posts Aren’t Getting Much Engagement”
You post consistently, but only a handful of people like or comment. It can make you wonder whether anyone is actually paying attention to what you post and if it is even worth it to take the time to create all of it.
How to combat the chirping cricket’s complex:
Remember that engagement isn’t the only measure of success. While it is more helpful to your reach to get people talking, it can take a while to get comments and reactions from a broad audience. Especially if your industry has a lot of competition, many big name businesses in the mix or if you’re just starting a true social media marketing strategy.
There are so many other data point to focus on as measures of success. Try creating content that gives people a reason to:
- Stop scrolling
- Learn something
- Save the post
- Share it
- Visit your website
- Send you a message
- Remember your business when they need your service
Then encourage interactions by incorporating some of these social media techniques:
- Ask questions
- Use polls and Stories
- Ask for opinions
- Respond to every legitimate comment
- Feature customers or community members
- Create posts people can easily relate to
A post with 10 likes can still put your business in front of the right potential customer. Many people who have called to book appointments with you or who have walked into your store have possibly never left a comment or reacted to your posts.
One thing to remember is that you don’t want to chase likes. Focus on being useful, recognizable, memorable and most importantly, human.
4. “We Don’t Know If Social Media Is Actually Bringing Us Business”
Many business owners wonder, “We’re spending time on Facebook and Instagram, but is any of this actually helping us?” It’s a very valid and important question when you’re reviewing your company’s ROI.
How to combat the data to dollars dilemma:
Just like starting or focusing on any area of marketing for your business, you want to determine goals and parameters. Set a clear purpose for your social media so you can look back and measure success appropriately. Planning to make a post that immediately turns into a sale is probably not a possible goal, at least in the beginning.
There are many ways to analyze the usefulness of your strategy. Choose a goal that is quantifiable as well as pertinent to your strategy. That might look like:
- Building local awareness
- Staying top-of-mind with existing customers
- Driving website traffic
- Promoting a specific service
- Generating inquiries and further questions
- Showcasing your work
- Building credibility
When you focus on the business social goals above, you can then pay attention to meaningful actions such as:
- Website visits
- Phone calls
- Messages
- Form submissions
- Link clicks
- Profile visits
- Leads that mention seeing you on social media
Most importantly if you want proof that your work is worth it, YOU HAVE TO ask customers how they heard about you. There is no other better source of insight that asking your clients directly and hearing what they have to say. Sometimes social media influences a purchase without being the final step before someone contacts you and the direct links are not always connected if you’re only looking at digital info.
Social media doesn’t always produce an immediate “I saw your post and hired you” conversion. Often, it helps build familiarity and trust before the customer is ready to buy, which can be weeks, months and even years in the making, depending on your industry.
A Marketing Tip from the Pros
Small businesses don’t need to be everywhere.
Instead of trying to maintain five different platforms, focus on the places where your customers actually spend time. The best way to find this out is to ask them. Yes, we are going to keep reminding you to do that!
A strong presence on one or two platforms is often better than having five abandoned profiles. And you can spend more time getting it right on the platforms you’re feeding versus kind-of, sort-of doing on too many platforms.
You’ll want to take into consideration the who, what and where of your customers. Who are they, what do they need and where can you find them.
Then determine what you can actually maintain professionally and thoroughly.
Social Media Should Work for Your Business
The biggest social media mistake a small business can make isn’t having a small following or occasionally missing a post. It’s making social media more complicated than it needs to be.
You don’t need to post constantly, chase every trend or become an influencer. You need a strategy that fits your business, your customers and your available time. Think consistent and valuable. Your customers will appreciate that way more than if you can learn the latest TikTok dance.
Need help figuring out what to post, where to post it and how to create a strategy that fits your business? Green T Design helps small businesses develop practical social media and marketing strategies designed to keep them visible without taking them away from running their business. We can do as little or as much as you need while you get back to work. Reach out to schedule a consultation.
