I know you’ve read the articles, watched the videos, and heard from your friends that you need to put your small business on social media for it to really work. But maybe you have a nagging voice in your head saying:

“But where do I find time for that?”

“What would I even share?”

“I’m not tech-y/creative/interesting enough to do that!”

“What if I just use my personal account?”

All those thoughts and feelings are valid, and trust me when I say, I’ve thought them all too.

But I do believe there is value in having dedicated social media accounts for your small business on Facebook and on other platforms too.

Here’s why:

1. People expect it: We live in 2019, ya’ll. Social media platforms are constantly changing, but they’ve been part of our lives for well over a decade by now. With that, people have grown to expect that we as business owners have some type of online, social media presence where they can get information and interact with us. Think about what you do when you’re needing to know the hours of operation of your favorite boutique or need to make a reservation for an event. Many of us now do that through the ease contacting businesses with a couple taps on our iPhones. Don’t make it hard for your potential clients to engage with your business. Get online.
2. Google score: The more consistent information across the internet, the more frequently you’re updating your website and social feeds, the more you’re interacting and engaging with your online communities, the more Google knows you’re a reputable, valid business. And because of that, you will rank higher on their Google searches. There are lots of strategies to improve your Google score, but in my opinion, having active social media accounts is one of the easiest, cheapest, and most effective.
3. Easy to update: Correcting a typo on a flyer that has already been distributed or a misprint in the local paper takes time and money to correct. With digital and social media outlets, you can create real-time content to address customer questions or update your business information.
4. Data: Social media is a treasure trove of information to get to know your online audience. Now, I’m not talking about the creepy looking for their addresses or anything, but I AM talking about knowing when your followers are most likely to be online, how far away from you a majority of them live, their age and gender demographics, etc. And all of this data can be used to inform and craft content that is most helpful and relevant to these followers.

Ok, ok, you’ve convinced me that it’s important, but now what?

My approach: master one platform then move on. Other people have other strategies, but this is what I’ve found to work best.

EVERYONE NEEDS A FACEBOOK PAGE. period. end of sentence.

Because Facebook is the mothership. Alllll the people are on Facebook, even if they don’t admit it, and Facebook has the best ads and data around, so you need it on your marketing plan.

Once you’ve mastered Facebook, then look into branching out on the platforms your audience is likely to be found.

“But what other platforms should I be looking at?”

It highly depends on your industry:

Creatives: get on the ‘gram

Services: head to YouTube

Professionals: LinkedIN is where you want to go

Younger demographic: Instagram, TikTok

NOT SNAPCHAT…this is super hard to create community around, and community is what will drive your engagement and grow your business.

What if you agree, but you still have that nagging voice?

Time: it’s going to take an investment. Either an investment of your time, or if you don’t have time, your money because you can outsource it to someone like me who is an expert and can help you build and grow faster.

Sharing: start by thinking about your audience. What are their problems and pain points? build content around that to get you started. Once you are comfortable with that, then you can branch into talking about yourself, your team, your products/services. But it starts with your audience first.

Techy/creative: Google and YouTube are your friends. OR go to my MKM video library. I’ll walk you through my favorite tools that helped me get started. Creativity comes from you actively working and trying new things with your marketing. The more you do, the easier ideas will start to flow and momentum will begin to build.

Personal account: Personal accounts connect you to friends and family, but you don’t get the level of tools and data accessibility that you get from a business account. With a business account on Facebook you can schedule posts, see trends, analyze success/failure of campaigns and posts, pay to advertise and more. A personal account is just a personal account. And on top of that, if you use your personal for too much business marketing, Facebook may flag you and put you in “Facebook Jail” or shut you down.

In Conclusion…

Phew!

We covered a lot of ground in this one!

If you’re still wondering if social media marketing is right for you, head over to Molly Knuth Media on Facebook and start watching previous episodes of MKM LIVE. These tutorials walk you through my systems and processes, favorite tools, and strategies for making social media marketing a fun part of your business that you get to use for you rather than a frustrating headache that you “have to” knock off your to-do list.