The 3 Biggest Struggles Our Clients Have with Social Media

Social media is a big, wide world and navigating it can be challenging. For many small business owners, it can seem like a daunting, yet necessary component of increasing sales and establishing their brand. Having worked with many small business owners, I've seen plenty who have set up their social media accounts and completely neglected it or if they are active, they have no clear direction and find they have lost their motivation to post and therefore aren't seeing any results.

Here, I take a look at the top 3 biggest struggles business owners are currently facing with social media and tips on how to overcome them.

Struggle 1: I have plenty of followers and likes but I don't get any sales

If you're currently seeing an increase in followers and likes that aren't translating into sales, then try taking a look at your sales funnel. A sales funnel shows the stages that a person takes to become your customer (from awareness through to purchase).

If you already have a large following then you've more than likely ticked off the 'Awareness' phase. The part you're struggling with would be the 'Action' phase. Are you making it easy for a lead (or potential customer) to buy from you? Have you given them a little nudge by offering a Welcome discount or some sort of incentive to bite the bullet and send through an enquiry form?

If you have a physical product, then consider setting up Instagram Shopping which allows you to tag posts with your product links and users to shop directly. You will have to submit a request to have this available for your business and there are some criteria you'll have to meet which you can see here.

There are plenty of other ways to increase your e-commerce sales with social media so please keep an eye out for my next post which will delve a little deeper into this topic.

Struggle 2: I post frequently on social media but get low engagement

You have a plan in place, religiously stick to it - yet crickets. No likes, no views, no comments. It can be frustrating especially if you've put so much time and effort into planning your social media. If you're not sure where you're going wrong then you may have to revisit your social strategy and take a look at your content pillars. Are you posting what your audience wants to see? Are you posting too frequently or not enough? Are you only posting one type of content e.g. static images when your audience are actually watching reels?

Another recommendation that I let my clients know and that I implement for them when I manage their social media is to ensure that they create content that lets their audience feel like they are in some way involved.

Let's take a look at these two captions and tell me which one you'd be more inclined to engage with.

Caption 1:

Take a look at our amazing new journal that comes in over 10 colours. Click the link in our bio to shop.

Caption 2:

What an exciting day for us here at Journal HQ! We've just launched our new journal which you've all been a part of and now we've got one last question for you.. Which colour do you love most? Take a look and let us know below..

As you can see, there isn't a massive difference in the basis of the caption. It's there to announce the launch of the journals but what the second caption is doing, is involving the audience and letting them know that their opinion is valuable. Keep your captions open ended and always be mindful of your audience - let them be seen!

Struggle 3: I have no plan and just post whenever I can

This is one I often hear from clients that I take on board.. This is you if you know the impact that social media can have on your business but you just don't have the time or capacity to fully commit to it. I often have clients who have multiple businesses and within those, multiple employees and as you'd know, they simply don't have the time to then manage their social media accounts - in some ways, it's a full time job in and of itself.

If you don't have the capacity to outsource your social media accounts to a freelancer or agency, then one thing I would recommend is to dedicate at least half a day per month to sit down and focus entirely on planning your content for the month ahead. This will be lead completely by a social media strategy, where you will identify your key audience, your content pillars and really delve into what kind of content has worked and how you have been performing.

Once you have completed your social strategy, then it's time to compile all of the content you'll be using and scheduling. For those that aren't able to outsource, I would recommend starting with a spreadsheet with the following columns to plan out your schedule.

CATEGORY DATE TIME CONTENT TYPE IMAGE CONTENT PILLAR CAPTION CTA / LINK TAGGED ACCOUNTS HASHTAGS STATUS COMMENTS

Once you have completed the schedule, you can use Meta Business Suite (which is free and accessible via your Facebook account) or you can utilise a social media scheduler which allows you to post for free (up to a certain number of posts). Once you've scheduled your posts for the month, then you know you've got content that will be rolling out but don't think that you can just 'set and forget'. Keep yourself active on social media, engage with your audience and respond to comments and messages. Upload stories when you're out and about and use some of the features Instagram have rolled out and have fun with it!

Remember, social media is not meant to be a chore! It's a platform for you to be 'social', tell stories and make connections. As I like to say, progress is better than perfection. Simply posting won't suddenly make you go viral and that's okay. Nurture your existing audience, share your stories and have a clear strategy in place and be consistent!

If you're still feeling stuck and need additional assistance with your social media accounts, we offer a range of packages from a strategy session through to full service management. Take a look at our services here or get in touch with us directly at hello@themarketinghouse.com.au