The Benefits of Good Social Media

Somehow social media has become a strong focus of many entrepreneurs’ work. Instead of focusing on their business, target market and impact they are busy figuring out digital marketing tactics, sales funnels and webinar settings. As a result, many business owners often lose the track of what really matters. Social media can really help power that what really matters. However social media shouldn’t be the sole focus.

Many business owners are trying to do too much on social media. They are on every platform, and they are churning out content left and right, but they are not leveraging it properly.

An amazing success strategist for women in service businesses and the host of the Women in the Business Arena™ podcast and program, Sonya Stattmann invited me on her podcast to talk about how good social media can really benefit business owners. We talked about the dangers and misunderstandings. We touched on honesty and the importance of not offering help if you are unable to help, which is counterintuitive to most marketers’ opinions and practice. And we talked about what really matters.

I feel that everyone is obsessed with social media tactics. It’s been epidemic for years now. Many marketers are selling templated solutions and give out crazy promises. Many business owners are concerned with Facebook algorithms and complex advertising settings. I think social media can really help us run a business, but often entrepreneurs get lost when trying to implement it in a strategic way. Instead of doing good social, they end up running themselves into the ground and produce no results from their efforts. Many entrepreneurs wonder which platform to focus on, if they should run paid ads, or how much content they should be creating each week. All of the details can feel paralysing.

The truth is, none of that matters. It’s your work that makes your social media flow. When you are solving a problem and doing something amazing already, social media can enhance your work accelerating your success.

Social media will enhance a service with a solid business foundation, but it will not build the foundation.

Thus, people in established businesses collect better fruits on social media while many others are struggling to make sense of it. I think with more honesty in this space, many entrepreneurs can drop social media all together focusing on things that matter to them.

Sonya asked me a very good question: What are the pieces that need to be in place for social media to have an impact?

In my ten years in social media marketing I’ve watched and worked with so many different businesses from eCommerce, start ups, established service businesses, global brands and small local traders. I’ve understood and solidified my work with the help of my experience. Today, I focus on creating solid social media strategies for entrepreneurs in established service businesses and not for profits because they are those I can help and impact the most. In turn, they help making our world a better place.

For social media to be the most impactful in your business, you need 3 main elements:

• intimate knowledge of your target market,
• validated work (successful sales record over at least three years),
• and a loyal and engaged community online.

Let’s unpack this.

Intimate knowledge of your target market

In order to be able to serve someone you need to be able to communicate what you do. This is often mistaken for taking about oneself a lot. Other way round, it’s about your target market and their needs.

When you really know who you serve you know what pain you help them ease. Your solution is what they are after. When you are solving someone’s problem, money rarely matters. You don’t have to discount your work or show off any awards. None of the traditional marketing fluff matters. That doesn’t mean, of course, that you should be over charging people in need. In fact, finding the perfect packaging and pricing for your work is important. Sonya is amazing at helping with this.

Once you know your target market beyond their gender, location and age you know your business and marketing messaging and you wrap your work around it.

For example, one of my clients serves aviation and history buffs. We know exactly what type of people they are. We might not know their individual details and we appreciate their diversity but we know what they are expecting from my client and give them that. We know their language and their tenacious attention to detail. We know all that because they tell us. As a result, we design social media strategies that help my client meet their specific goals, one of which is maintaining and growing their loyal community. Amongst other things, we really want to be connected to the people who are following them. And we know how we are doing because they tell us.

If you are unsure about your target market and need some help working it out, I can help you. However, before you invest in paid marketing you might want to reach out to a knowledgeable business coach (not a marketing coach!), like Sonya, who can help you test your assumptions and get the clarity you need before employing marketing.

Validated work

Your work lays out the foundation for your marketing, not other way round. A business with solid foundation and years behind its belt will do a lot better on social media than a start up or a struggling business. This is because marketing doesn’t solve a foundation problem.

Whenever I talk to entrepreneurs who are a little unsure about their offering or offer too much or have just pivoted in their work, I often recommend reaching out to someone who can help them with their foundation and validation. In the nutshell, you need to go out and test that the world wants your work and you need to make sure you know who are those people who want it. Sometimes it’s about tweaking a few things like your business model or messaging and sometimes it’s about changing your path. Either way, if there is not enough clarity, marketing won’t help you.

Engaged community

Most of my clients have large and well-engaged communities. As a result of years of their work and connecting with their target market, they’ve gathered people around their business who love them. When your work is seen and needed and you are solving someone’s problem, people are drawn to you. You are grounded, truthful, helpful and unique and that powers your mission.

Having an engaged community helps improve sales, spread your ideas and test assumptions. It can also be hazardous; because there is always a watchful community that is seeing your every move even the lack of. This is why I work with my clients to help them really leverage their social media following.

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here how I can help you leverage social media technology to really power your mission:

I design simple and effective social media and Facebook ads strategies helping gifted not for profits and businesses for purpose leverage their social media technology and loyal community to really power their mission, building more donations and creating impact. My work is custom solution aiming at the specific needs of your work.

There are many ways you can reach out to see if I am a good fit for your goals. Check out the Facebook Messanger bubble on the bottom right, contact page on the top and/or a form and a calendar, if this type of communication suits you better.

I look forward to supporting your vision of the future!