We’re already at the end February (and the countdown to spring is on!). If you’re like most small business owners, you kicked off January with a new and improved plan for your business, and most likely that included marketing to new prospects and collecting leads.
There are several challenges we’re seeing with small business, specifically around marketing:
- Small business owners don’t have time to market online -there’s a tendency to get lost on social media, in fact some refer to it as noisy.
- Small business owners don’t understand how to make the most of the marketing they’re doing – This really comes down to strategy, what do you post when? If you’re investing the time, you want to time it when you’ll have the most eyes on your feed.
- SMBs don’t have a clear plan for market online (specifically with social media) – its not just what to post when, but it’s the connection between the platforms that seems confusing. This is why a plan is essential.
- Small businesses understand the need for automation, but don’t like the feel of automation – you know what we mean here, there are emails you receive that just feel canned and generic. How can automation work when it feels so impersonal?
- The learning curve is steep and continuous – even those of us who work in social media daily need to work to keep up on changing algorithms, so we get it!
What can you, as a small business owner, do right now?
- Watch the efforts of someone you admire, how are they marketing? Actively analyze what they’re doing by examining when they post and what they post. Do you see any trends behind their efforts, for example curated content versus original? Time of day? Tone?
- Accept that you’ll always be learning and look to subscribe to a blog or podcast that regularly posts about social media trends. Endeavor to try something new every month (yes, that may mean video!).
- Embrace video, that’s YouTube, Facebook Live and Instagram. Everyone feels uncomfortable at first, but when you start seeing the results, you’ll quickly embrace it. Remember, people want to connect with you before they buy, and sometimes that seeing and hearing you!
- Don’t feel like you must do everything alone, do what you do best, outsource the rest.
- Create a content schedule and mix planned content with spontaneous content.
Source by Peg Murrah