themoneyshed
Today we have a guest post from Markie Reeds who runs the fantastic social media agency Digital Reeds. If you are setting up a new website or business they are the perfect agency to help attach some rocket boosters to your social media journey!
Social Media can often be seen as something teenagers do from their phone, and somehow make millions through crazy brand deals. This is the exception and not the rule. There can often be unrealistic expectations put on social media, and younger people too.
There have been many instances where the company apprentice gets given the task of managing the company social media. They might understand the platform, but they won’t necessarily know your business goals. This results in less than desirable results.
Marketing is never ‘just’ anything. The quick hacks or tricks we seek, are rarely what makes a business sustainable or successful.
Whether you are a solo business owner or have employees investing in your social media might save you quite a headache!
Grab that attention
Social Media grabs a lot of attention. You’d be foolish as a business owner to not make the most of that attention, right?
Facebook alone has over 2.32 billion active users with 94% of adults in the UK between the ages of 25 to 34 having their own profile.
Through organic or low-cost strategies you can create a community of fans around your business. This helps create predictable leads and sales for your business.
Social Media grabs attention, builds trust with your audience, and takes them through your process to hopefully make that sale!
If it feels too much
Social Media is fast-paced, with changes and updates happening weekly if not daily.
It can feel like a full-time job to stay up-to-date with this.
By not complying with some changes you could be locked out, or lose your account entirely.
You do not own social media. It can be taken away from you in a heartbeat.
Most things in life are either time or money. The fact that social media is relatively low cost should tell you that it will take time. It takes consistency and great strategy, to get real results.
You need to be strategic
The world and his dog are selling their strategies for success on social right now. But you can’t pick and choose the nice bits from each Guru and hope it works. Depending on their background a social media expert will hone-in on a specific niche or industry. This means they are utilising their experience as well as their knowledge leading to more consistent results.
When you start online, there is a wealth of competition and you need to stand out. You need to understand your brand, positioning and ideal client before you even start to think about goals and content strategy.
There is a lot of depth that needs to be considered. Spending some time with a specialist in your industry will mean you are able to find the key areas to focus on. You can, and I know you have, spend countless hours trying to implement different strategies that just might not work for your type of business.
You can find some of my tips on kick-starting your social media here.
What to invest in
Take a look at how you are currently spending your time marketing your business online. Where are you struggling? What takes the most time?
You can work with Social Media strategists to help you focus your energy on the right things to hit your goals, a copywriter or content creator to help you get the perfect messaging or even a virtual assistant to help with scheduling and engagement.
Getting help with social media doesn’t always mean adding another body to your office. They can work from anywhere in the world, and to scope and time that suits the role.
For example you can hire a VA from as little as £120 a month.
So much more than you think
As someone who works with small business owners starting their social media journey, I know how overwhelming it can feel. There is so much to consider when planning your social media marketing.
A social media manager understands and can help with:
- trends and industry insight
- building a message in line with brand identity
- identifying target audience
- establish KPIs and ROI objectives
- new tools and apps used in social media strategy
- SEO strategy
- Building community and partnerships
- Customer service
- And so much more!
A good social media professional will be open to helping you improve your understanding, as well as set realistic expectations.
Social media has evolved from being just one person’s job, to being something larger scale. It shows times have changed, and we need to understand that copywriting, photography and video are part of a powerful team. There are lots of technical aspects that might also need to be considered when looking at wider scale digital marketing, including email marketing and SEO.
Social media isn’t something you can do once, it is ever-evolving and takes a long time of being consistent to get any results.
You can handle a lot as a business owner, but the growing importance of social media and standing out from the crowd, I’d let the specialists handle it!
This i good advice. I struggle with social media, I feel like I am constantly on it and it drives me nuts! It doesn’t help that I’ve taken over the socials for the school I work at.
It’s a great tool though so getting it right is really important x
I would love something like this if I was a bigger blogger haha! It’s so hard to find the time to keep on top of everything all the time – especially my SEO and Facebook.
Social media can be so time consuming. I can totally see the benefit of small businesses using a service like this one.
I always try and schedule as much as I can of my social media otherwise it can get on top of me and take so much time up.
Couldn’t agree more with this! Social media can seem totally overwhelming if you are not used to it, and I am a big fan of outsourcing otherwise social media can really suck all the hours of your day!
I definitely think investing in social media support is a good investment. I am a VA for a few clients and run their social media and they all say they couldn’t be without me – because they don’t need to worry about 1) knowing what to post, when and why and 2) having to find the time to schedule/post it.
This is spot on!! I could not agree with you more, as it can be too much and yes also take up way too much time x
It takes up loads of time. I do it often but could do with extra help myself to be honest.
I couldn’t agree more re. outsourcing whenever you can. Social media strategists are the best people to really help focus your efforts where it will make a difference