Does the idea of posting your company’s updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn fill you with dread? Do you find it confusing, terrifying or otherwise heart-stopping just opening up one of these apps? Or have you closed your mind to it completely, believing that it’s a fad that’s not for you? Well, here’s the truth – Facebook has been around since 2004, Twitter since 2006 and the Grandpa LinkedIn started back in 2003! These sites are not going away anytime soon, and while it’s ok to feel overwhelmed by them, like all other ways of promoting your business, you need to find a way to come to terms with them.
So let’s start with why you might not be keen to use social media for your business:
- People can say bad things and give bad reviews
- I don’t understand it, what if I do it wrong?
- What if a competitor steals my clients
- We’re doing fine without it
Let’s start at the top, yes, people can say negative things about your business on your business’ social media page. But, if they want to say something bad, and you don’t have a page, they’ll post it somewhere else you have no control over. By using social media you can see any negative comments and address them rather than leave them to fester elsewhere for potential clients to find them.
Not understanding social media is not an excuse, as there are so many free courses available to help bring you up to speed. If you are not comfortable with social media, the fear of ‘doing it wrong’ can certainly be a show-stopper. The importance of having a social media plan and guidelines in place before you start posting cannot be over-emphasised. Knowing what you should say and when will take away a lot of the fear and overwhelm.
Worrying that your competitors will steal your clients is a strange fear. If you are engaging with your clients on social media, and they are happily talking back to you, why would your competitor approaching them frighten you? Engaging with customers increases their loyalty, so statistically social media is more likely to help you retain customers than lose them.
Your business may be growing steadily without social media. It may even have been going for hundreds of years without the need for Facebook and its siblings, but is that a reason not to use it? Ignoring progress and the opportunity for growth is not a way to improve your business. If your competitors are all on social media you cannot sit back and pretend that it is not an important outlet for your business.
If you are a small business, or an individual coach, trainer or speaker and you want to embrace social media but are unsure where to start, then outsourcing is a great way of overcoming social media dread. Working with an external expert can help you to build a successful presence online with less time investment from you.
© Pinc Marketing 2019