People do not want to follow socials that are poorly disguised as ads. Period. Your business is probably making this crucial mistake online, and unless you enjoy burning cash, it’s time you learned how to make socials work for you.
It blows my mind that professionals get duped into hiring ‘agencies’ (or marketers who are friends) to effectively post straight ads disguised as organic content on their feeds, and can’t understand why:
- They don’t get business from socials
- They don’t get new followers on socials
- Nobody ‘likes’ or ‘comments’ on their socials content
Unfortunately, many professionals are overwhelmed by the online world, and this lack of understanding allows them to fall victim to marketing Charletons. This article will help you understand the nuance of social media and why everyone talks about it being so successful for their business (if done properly).
Social Media is Everything.
Social media is our main source of entertainment– it’s the modern-day TV screen and where we spend most of our free time daily. Like TV, no one wants to spend their TV time only watching ads. We want to watch and follow interesting content.
You might find your new tax program to be interesting and of great value. But posting a stock graphic with a sales pitch is boring…and not what social media is for…. and it won’t work.
People want a solution, not a service; your offerings have to be disguised in your content with a primary focus on education and storytelling. You can sell your tax program 10-fold if you focus on education and explain what benefits you can provide with your knowledge, expertise and services. People buy through stories; if you explain case studies of clients you’ve helped or common issues that your service can solve, you will connect with clients at a deeper level and will get engagement (and engagement is the number 1 metric online to aim for).
It doesn’t matter how ‘boring’ your job is. If someone needs your services, you will sell them online by creating engaging content that is relevant to:
- The person you sell to
- The services you sell
Many business owners haven’t taken the time to really understand the nuance of social media and see hiring an agency or person to run their socials as a huge but necessary cost. It is often this same mindset that enforces every post to directly correlate to sales. We hear time and time again from misinformed business owners that paying for marketing services is a huge additional cost, and therefore they want every post to be an ad. This thinking is flawed and results in a larger loss of cash because it’s tone deaf to the reality of how we use social media.
When it comes to social media, you need to let go of the short-term ROI thinking and see every post to be a building block to your personal brand online. It takes time to build credibility and trust online, but once you reach that tipping point, you can generate huge sales online. You must change your understanding of socials and see your monthly fee as a continual investment in your brand awareness. People do not see one tax ad and drop what they’re doing to call and hire you. Users online need to be educated and connect with several pieces of your content to either:
- Decide they need your services.
- Or when the need arises that they require your services, they think of you.
With socials, you’re investing in the future; it can be tomorrow, or next year; you never know when your next client will come to you from the online world, but it requires consistent and engaging content. Engaging and interesting socials keep your brand top of mind so that when someone requires your services later, they think of you first.
This is where positioning comes into play. By creating consistent content that speaks to your expertise, you are indirectly signalling that you are the best person for the job before they even need your services. This is worth your time, money, energy and effort because connecting with your future business before they need you will cost you less than hoping to win during the small window of them requiring your services and hiring a provider.
Creating a successful social media profile for a business is a delicate balancing act between organic, educational, and promotional content. You probably won’t see a sales spike based on one post, especially as a service provider where clicks don’t necessarily equate to sales. But with a content calendar that strategically balances your objectives and core content pillars, you’ll see the growth that compounds over time.
For example, if you’re a lawyer posting a description of your services on social media because “that’s what you sell,” you’re probably not going to get a flood of clients coming your way. You might think that’s the best way to promote yourself, but in the end, your message falls on deaf ears.
On the other hand, if you consistently post engaging and educational content that showcases your expertise and you as a person, you’ll find that your message will connect with the right people. Your message will stick with that person, and you will be top of mind when they need your services.
You didn’t discount your prices, you didn’t explain your service offering, and you didn’t tell them to “call now!” you simply gave them a glimpse into who you are as a professional, and they liked it.
Positioning is the way to win in the digital world. It takes time, but the quality of clients you will bring in will pick up and be consistent. We live in a digital world. We refer businesses digitally, we research businesses digitally, and the time has passed for you to decide whether or not you should be online.
If you have any questions or want to learn more about how socials can help your business, send me a note!
Thanks for reading,
Camille