The biggest social media mistake I see small businesses make
While social media can support many business goals, I have found that my clients are most often turning to social media to reach more customers. This is especially true for small business owners working to keep marketing costs down by managing their own social media accounts.
While there is not a single ‘right’ way to do social media, there is one mistake I see business owners make that limits their ability to reach more customers using social media.
Business owners are talking to each other – not to their customers
The biggest social media mistake I see small businesses make is sharing content that interests them, rather than sharing content that interests their customers. The danger here is that they’re often reaching other business owners, not potential customers who are ready to buy.
To increase your followers on social media without turning to spammy follower bots, you need to be publishing content that is relevant to your customers.
It’s easy to brainstorm content that you’re interested in. It’s much harder to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Let’s take this Instagram post from Australian wedding stylists Two Lovers as an example.
This is such a great post. It shows that they understand that their customers are couples planning their wedding, these customers are interested in wedding planning, and they’re looking for ideas and inspiration on Instagram.
Two Lovers could have shared a post about how to get capture cool wedding photos, however, photography tips would better suit other wedding industry professionals. The couple themselves are not going to be taking their own wedding photos. Their ideal customer just wants inspiration for cool photos that they can save and share with their photographer.
Share content your customers want – not what you are interested in
If you want to make sales using social media, create content that your customers find valuable, interesting or entertaining.
To reach relevant customers who are actually ready to buy from you, ask yourself these questions when planning your social media content:
Who is my customer?
What are they interested in?
What kind of content are they looking for on social media?
It’s time to take action. Here are two things you can do today
Look at the social media posts you’re publishing and honestly evaluate whether you’re addressing your customers’ interests. Are you speaking to your customers or other people in your industry?
Book a Marketing Audit with a social media consultant – that’s me! You can DIY your social media audit but a fresh pair of eyes is invaluable to help see the forest for the trees. An audit with an expert involves a review of your social media profiles and content plus advice on how to optimise your use of social media to reach your business goals.
Not ready to dive right in? I offer free discovery calls for small business owners that you can book below.
This blog post is part of a series focused on helping small business owners reach more customers using organic social media marketing.
If you found these marketing tips helpful, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to send me an email or message on Instagram.
