As a business owner who implements social media as part of your marketing strategy, part of your networking strategy, or part of your sales process, you need to take it seriously. Social media for entrepreneurs is, as the title implies, serious business.
Funnily enough, social media is by definition, social. “Social” is not the same as flaky. If you want your business to succeed on social media, if you want to be able to use it to generate leads and/or sales, or if you want to be able to use it to nurture your reputation, then you need to take it seriously.
Why so serious?
By taking it seriously, you give yourself the best possible chance of being taken seriously by the rest of the world. Your social media strategy should not, and absolutely cannot, be something that you dip in and out of. If you want to use it, then use it. Otherwise, you’re just pissing in the wind. Nobody wants that do they?
Why did you get on social media as an entrepreneur in the first place?
Do you have a goal with it? Or, is it just a case of maintaining a presence because that’s the done thing? Doing something just because that’s what all the gurus are telling you to do is just about the dumbest shit you could ever do. Like anything else in life, you have to have a purpose. It has to lead you somewhere and achieve something. It has to actually achieve a goal, otherwise, it’s a waste of time.
When you have a purpose in mind, then you can create a plan that will actually get you there. You can do something that will ensure that your end goal is actually achievable. If you are just turning up as and when you can be bothered then it’s never going to achieve anything for you. It’s never going to be of any benefit to you whatsoever.
Social media for entrepreneurs – Consistency is the king of kings
Just like any other aspect of life, it requires consistency. When you have the end goal in mind, it makes showing up more important in your mind and have more value in your life.
Some people will tell you that setting that goal is difficult, but it’s not. It is the easiest thing you could do. There are very few things that can be achieved through social media when it comes to being an entrepreneur. So, you don’t have much to choose from. Do you want to build a brand, do you want to build your personal and corporate brand, do you want to market your services and sell your products, or do you want to use it to increase the size and the value of your network?
Be specific, pick a goal and make a plan
That right there is not a very long list of things to use social media for, but those are the main things. So pick one. Maybe pick a couple, if not all, but if you are going to use social media as part of your business need that goal so that you can show up consistently every day.
That doesn’t mean that you have to post to every platform in the world to achieve that goal either. Pick a platform, pick a message, and pick a target audience. Show up every day for a year, two years, three years, whatever it takes. You pick a platform, pick a goal, choose your target audience and you post consistently.
Do what it takes, not what you think people will put up with
It doesn’t matter whether you post once a day, twice a day, five times a day, or ten times a day. No one in your audience actually cares how much you post. What matters is what you post and the value of that content. I’m not saying that you have to show up and give value posts every day, how to do this, how to do that, tips and whatever every single day. What I mean is, does it have value for your audience? Does it show your audience who you are and what matters to you? Does it guide your audience, slowly over time (it’s a cumulative effect after all) towards that end goal, whatever that is for you? If it’s not doing that, or you’re not doing that, then it’s a waste of time.
Social media for entrepreneurs is not hard, it is easy
You want to create awareness, you want to build the brand, then the thing that you need to do is show your personality, be you, relax, have fun, show up do your thing. Do that every day. It doesn’t have to be massive, it can be done in some small way every day. It’s really simple.
If you want to market your service then you need to show up every day, finding and engaging with the people that are most likely to need what you’re offering. And the same is true for products. You engage with those people, you weave yourself into their world. The way you do so is through conversation.
Communicate with meaning and intention
No meaningless emoji comments, that is just bullshit and it is tiresome. People get really pissed off with having 100 different comments on their posts that are just people clearly engaging for the benefit of the algorithm. Screw that crap, don’t be that guy. Only say something that is worth saying. Share you see opinions and your perspectives, but don’t share your six most recent emojis or whatever BS the gurus are telling you to do. That crap brings the value of social media down as a whole.
People are a bit tired of social media at the moment. Now that we are post-lock down, and the world’s opening up more, more and more people are going back to work rather than home working from home. People are physically coming together again. The lockdowns and COVID and all of that stuff forced people to go home, shut their doors, and open up their social media apps. That is starting to change.
People are experiencing social media fatigue
Social media is not going anywhere but people are tired of it. They’re tired of those tweets of just emojis, they’re tired of the bro marketing, they’re tired of the nonsensical “Yes bro, fire emoji, strong-arm emoji,” and they’re tired of the so-called motivational quotes. (Who the fuck decided they were motivational anyway?) People are tired and they’re exhausted. They are still on social media and are not going anywhere but they are less active and they’re less attentive.
If you want to succeed in that space then you need to make sure that you earn their attention, their engagement, and their commitment to your message. There are no hacks, no shortcuts, no nothing. You have to earn your place in their world. And because of the fatigue that they’re now experiencing, and you probably are too, that place is a little bit harder to earn. That place is a little bit more tricky and is a little bit more coveted than it was six months ago but it’s still there. It’s still possible, it’s still doable. You can still earn that place in their world, you can still earn their attention, you can still earn their engagement, and their want to listen to you.
Don’t resort to nonsense, social media for entrepreneurs requires thoughtful action
No more spamming people’s posts, no more DM’ing in the shit out of people. No more hijacking other people’s posts to share your stuff. Be considerate. Look at it this way, if you were in a bar and you repeatedly interrupted people, you disrespected them by hijacking the conversation, and took away their opportunity to speak, then you’d get punched in the face. On social media, people can’t punch you in the face but they can block you. They can unfollow you, they can tell people what an absolute knob you are. So think to yourself, if this was face to face would they punch me in the face? Or, would they want to listen to me and engage with me? And if the answer to that is, they would want to punch me in the face, then don’t do it. It’s really that simple.
Social media is overrun by people that have no respect for the people that they want to buy from them, that they want to engage with them. People are so tired of that, people wouldn’t stand for that face to face. They are starting to take a stand in the online space too.
Your behaviour online is being monitored by the people who matter, your potential customers
Brands are getting boycotted for poor behaviour, companies are being put under by their bad behaviour online. There has never been a time where you have to be quite so careful about what you say. You need to be considerate, you need to be thoughtful, and you need to be respectful. All of which is much easier when you have an end goal and a plan.
When you have a target in mind, a goal of some kind, a target audience, and an actual purpose, it makes it much easier to be the real you. Because you’re not blindly spamming people with the, “yes bro!!!” and all the emojis. You’re being thoughtful and considerate about what you say and who you say it to. You are sharing content that is actually interesting and useful, or funny and engaging. The time for throwing as much at the wall digital as possible and seeing what sticks is dead and gone, stop that shit.
Take social media for entrepreneurs seriously, treat your audience with care
If you want people to take your business seriously and you want to utilise social media for your business, then you need to take it seriously. You need to be consistent in your approach, have a goal in mind, and be a decent human being. That is not complex, it’s not difficult, it just requires you to be a little bit thoughtful, which you’re more than capable of. So don’t tell me that you can’t.
Social media for entrepreneurs requires compassion and empathy
If you really want to succeed in the online space then you need to ensure that you act with compassion and are guided by empathy. This is a topic I have already discussed in another post, which you can find here https://mybizacademy.co.uk/building-a-brand-with-empathy-and-compassion
If you want some help to figure out a social media strategy that will work for you and your business then get yourself booked in for a 1:1 session with me. You can do that here https://mikethebizguy.co.uk/Contact