3 Common Mistakes Small Biz Owners Make on Social Media
As a small business owner, you wear SO MANY hats and manage various parts of your business. Ok, maybe you manage ALL parts of your business all on your own.
And marketing your brand and connecting with customers on social media is critical, but there might be a few things holding you back. Some things you are unsure about when it comes to your overall social media strategy as you are running your small business on and offline.
Some of these things are holding your business back from taking advantage of the full potential of showing up on social media platforms. And these things are all an EASY fix.
And social media in and of itself can be overwhelming, right?
You know it's integral for reaching people, but actually developing and executing an effective social strategy is tough. Between producing content, posting consistently, analyzing data, and getting engagement, it's a lot to balance on top of your other business responsibilities.
The last thing you need is to put time and effort into social media only to later find you can easily make a few small changes to make that strategy (and how you use your time) even more effective when showing up online.
So… we want to explore three of the most common, yet overlooked social media mistakes, made by busy small business owners that we see everyday as social media and content experts.
We'll look at actionable tips to help you avoid these things, improve your social presence, and connect with more consumers. With a few simple adjustments to your social strategy, you can start maximizing your reach and seeing better results.
Mistake Number One: Using Content Only Once
Creating great content takes time and effort. Let’s not waste all of your precious time that you took creating content for it to have a short shelf life, or for a fraction of your audience to see it only one time. Right?!
There are a few main benefits to repurposing and reusing your content over and over again on social media.
You can relay your message over and over again in your content
You can save even more time when creating content in the future
You can actually spend less time on social media and focus on other things
An example of reusing your content: maybe you have a popular Reel that got a lot of engagement. It's easy to be satisfied posting it once and then moving on to create something new. But this is a huge missed opportunity - you can repost it again a month or two down the line. Yes. Just repost it again, we do it all the time.
That Reel now has a longer shelf life. The portion of your audience that didn’t see it the first time has a chance to see it again. You didn’t have to do anything extra except maybe adjusting the caption and changing the audio or song. And you get a nice boost in engagement again because you KNOW it worked so well the first time!
On top of just reusing your content, you can also REPURPOSE your content!
Repurposing and redistributing your top-performing content across multiple platforms and formats is a smart way to maximize its impact. That stand-out blog post could also be adapted into an Instagram Carousel or take the main talking points and create an Instagram Story. Or maybe that viral Tweet could become a full blog article as you dive deeper into the topic.
As a small business owner with limited time, you have to work smarter, not harder when it comes to content creation. Look at your best content and find ways to give it new life.
Don't just create an amazing post and use it once! With a little extra effort, you can extend the reach and longevity of your top content. Find new ways to give your best performing content a second life across multiple platforms. It's an easy way to save time and connect with more potential customers.
Mistake Number Two: Not being Salesy Enough
It's understandable to worry about being too "salesy" on social media. You don't want to come across as pushy or self-promotional all the time… but we have to give you a bit of a reality check here. You are running a business, not just an expensive hobby. You have to sell and promote more on social media. Plain and simple.
When you only post about tips and tricks, education, and inspirational posts without any direct promotion or calls-to-action, you are missing out on sales opportunities.
Here is the thing: social platforms give you a direct line to reach potential customers. But, you also have to think about this from a number’s perspective too. Let’s run through an example here.
Let’s say you have an audience of 1,000 people on Instagram, and your engagement rate is really high at 5%.
On average, 50 people see and engage anytime you post something.
And then let’s say you have a conversion rate of 1% anytime you post. You’ll be lucky to make one sale.
So if you are only creating one “salesy” post a month, you aren’t going to hit your sales goals.
You have to remember to ALWAYS create content that talks about your offers, along with calls to actions and incentives so people will swipe that credit card to work with you! And your posts don’t always have to be: BUY FROM ME NOW. You can have a lot of fun creating content that engages your audience and also sells. Check out some of our favorite “salesy” templates below:
Remember, you don't have to worry about being overly "salesy" - your followers want to know about deals and new offerings. They follow you and are a part of your community for a reason! You can grow a community while also promoting your offerings!
Mistake Number Three: Posting Graphics That Are Hard to Read
Visuals do wonders for capturing attention on social media. But cluttered graphics, overly complicated designs, and walls of text will make it hard for your followers to digest your content. Not to mention you need to keep accessibility and readability in mind when designing.
I can almost guarantee it’s not the algorithm “limiting the reach” on your post like you think - it’s that your audience can’t read your graphic so they keep scrolling.
Some things to keep in mind…
Keep visuals clean and simple for maximum impact.
Use high-contrast colors that are easy to see at a small size.
Limit your text to short headings, labels or captions rather than paragraphs.
Use negative space around images and text so that everything doesn't feel cramped together
Design visual content specifically for mobile, considering smaller screens.
Size images appropriately for each platform.
With social media posts, you have just seconds to get your message across. Don't sabotage great content ideas with overly complex designs. Follow simple design principles to create graphics and visuals that stop scrollers in their tracks.
So, whatcha think?? Pretty easy things to fix right?!
By making these small changes and adjustments, you can be far more impactful with the content you create on social media to market your small business!
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Manu Muraro is the founder of Your Social Team, an Instagram training membership and content shop to help social media managers and Instagram savvy women entrepreneurs to beat the algorithm and grow their organic engagement (yes, even in 2021).
This year she also launched Your Template Club, a Canva Template subscription to provide social media managers and Instagram savvy business owners with content templates designed for engagement in their inbox.
Born and raised in Brazil, Manu moved to the U.S. in 2000 right out of college to work for Cartoon Network, where she made an award winning career in creative and strategy. In 2017, Manu started Your Social Team with the mission of helping women entrepreneurs and social media managers grow engagement and sales through Instagram without the overwhelm.