The Problem With Social Media
I've been thinking about social media a lot lately. I'm old enough to remember the days before internet was commonplace in every household.
And I remember when Facebook was new. I was working as a holiday rep and up until Facebook came along, I'd used email or MSN messenger to stay in touch with friends, would buy phonecards to call my family every few weeks, and I had used Bebo to share updates when I was travelling around Australia - I guess that was my first blog.
Then Facebook came along. Everyone was talking about it and I finally gave in and set up an account. And it was brilliant. I could keep in touch with friends from home, friends I'd met repping, and friends I hadn't met yet.
I actually first started talking to my husband on Facebook. We'd just had our placements for the upcoming season and connected as we were going to be working in the same resort. We chatted on Facebook loads before we met (back when Facebook Chat was a thing). We arranged to meet and travel up to training together - our first adventure together.
But Facebook is a completely different platform now.
I don't use it to keep in touch with family or friends - we use WhatsApp, WhatsApp groups and good old fashioned phone calls or in-person meet-ups to catch up. Hardly any of my friends or family post on Facebook anymore - my feed is mainly full of ads, news stories, or posts from various groups I've joined over the years. I barely use it.
When I first started my business, Twitter was my go-to social media platform. I spent every Friday afternoon scheduling posts for the following week and I'd join Twitter chats. I even went on a Twitter course. And I got business out of it. But I gradually stopped using it as I moved towards other platforms and I recently deleted it completely. It's definitely changed in recent years (especially since it became X).
Then there's LinkedIn. I joined LinkedIn in 2012, but didn't really use it with any consistency until the end of 2019. From 2020 until last year, it was my biggest source of new leads.
But LinkedIn has changed too. Personally, I think it was at its best during the lockdowns and just afterwards (so from 2020-2022). People were stuck at home so they were using it more and it was one big giant networking site. It was a fun place to be and you could actually get to know people and make good connections.
But the last couple of years, it's gotten a bit stale. And you can tell people are getting tired of it. People aren't networking as much - they are simply going through the motions of sharing a post and liking a couple of posts. Some people have moved onto other platforms completely.
And that's one of the biggest problems with social media. They start out as one thing but they change.
They usually start out as social platforms - places where people can connect, learn, or be entertained. They are good and people like them, More people start using them and they grow in popularity.
Then businesses start to find ways to use them and some of them see decent results. So more businesses move towards them. And courses start popping up, and pods start popping up, and people start looking for ways to cheat the system or game the algorithm. And the feeds become full of people talking sharing tips for how to use the platform. And the platforms start offering more and more paid ad opportunities (and why wouldn't they - they have to make money somehow). Gradually, the platforms become full of ads and shit content. People's feeds are no longer full of the stuff they want to see so they move on.
I'm not saying using social media for business is pointless. But it's important to understand that people are rarely ever on social media to buy.
I don't go on any social media sites to buy. If I want to shop, I go to shops, or I head to the website of shops I want to buy from. Or I search for the thing I want to buy.
Now, that's not to say I haven't bought stuff after seeing it on social media - I have and I do. But buying is not my primary reason for being on social media. And it's probably not your either. And it probably isn't your ideal customers' either.
Most of us use social media because we want to be educated or entertained.
So how do you stand out enough on socials? How do you get the attention of people who aren't there to buy what you're selling?
You give them what they want - you educate or entertain and then you get them to engage with your content elsewhere. Start a newsletter, a community, a subscriber list, a membership, a blog, a podcast, a channel, a group, host workshops, webinars or events - build a place where you can communicate with your ideal audience directly.
Social media is a good place to get the attention of your ideal audience, but if you want to build meaningful relationships, you need to hold their attention. And if you need help with that, you know where I am.
Your weekly ten-minute task
The weekly ten-minute tasks are short simple tasks that should take around ten minutes to complete (although you can spend longer if you want to). The goal is to help you improve your sales and marketing processes.
Completing these tasks won't magically transform your business, but doing one small thing each week to improve is better than doing nothing. So block out ten minutes in the next few days and complete the below task.
Note down where your last 10 enquiries came from.
One thing freelancers often forget to do is track where their enquiries come from. If you don't know which of your marketing activities are working, how do you know what to do more of or where you need to improve?
So this week, I want you to make a list of your last ten enquiries - not just the enquiries that turned into clients, but anyone who got in touch regarding your services.
Note down the nature of the enquiry and where they found you.
Some will be easy - a referral from another client, for example. Some will be a bit harder to nail down but do your best - ask the person who enquired how they heard about you.
Going forward, I want you to keep track of your prospects - how did they hear about you, and how did they get in touch?
Where do your best enquiries come from? How can you build on this?
Tracking your enquiries can help you understand what works and what doesn’t. You might be surprised by the results.
Weekly anagrams
Sometimes you need a little break from work or something to get your brain going while you have your morning brew. That's where the weekly anagrams come in.
And this week they are all fast food restaurant chains:
- kerb urging
- buy saw
- dime soon
- cold damns
- and son
If you are unfamiliar with how anagrams work: An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, using all the original letters only once.
Feel free to send me your answers once you’ve got them all – there’s no prize, but it’s always good to share your achievements. I'll give you the answers in next week's email.
And talking of answers, here are the answers to last weeks coffee anagrams:
- cap cup icon = Cappuccino
- nice aroma = Americano
- a doctor = Cortado
- lift wheat = Flat White
- am chaotic = Macchiato
Thanks for reading
That's it from me this week. As always, if you'd like my help with anything sales, marketing or business-related, you can book 90 minutes with me.
