Before I get into this blog I want to give a massive caveat

“Social Media has changed my life beyond recognition and it’s changed many business owners life’s beyond recognition”

It really really has – I grew up in the world of dialup internet and this new world didn’t seem possible back then

But when I chat to businesses there’s a lot of information about Social Media they don’t want to hear – they want the sexy stuff, the big wins, they want a feeling that within an instant, social media can change their life

When I tell them the real talk – many Social Media “Gurus” won’t – they start to realise it’s not as easy as they imagined and then understand the value of why businesses like ours exist

So here are the things businesses need to hear about Social Media

SOCIAL MEDIA TAKES TIME – A LOT OF TIME
If you want Social Media to work for your business you are going to have to invest a sizeable amount of time into it

It’s easy to read about scheduling updates, automation and chat bots and think you can game the system in some way

It’s easy to think that people are idiots for daring to spend the time to chat to people on Social Media

After all, you might have seen some faux Social Media Guru that never talks to people and is just automating the same 20 updates for the past 6 months

But being real, being authentic and actually having an engaging Social Media Marketing campaign takes time to run

And importantly winning business from Social Media takes time. It’s highly unlikely that you will start a Social Media campaign and win business immediately

YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH CONTENT
If you went way back to a time before Social Media existed and ask a PR Company what their biggest problem with clients was it would be – They never provide us photos to go with the stories

If you forward to 2016/17 and ask a Social Media company what their biggest problem with clients is it would be – They never provide us photos so we can do the best job possible on Social Media

Social Media needs a constant stream of fresh content to keep an audience engaged – that content can be photos, videos, blogs, graphics and so on

But it needs to be regular and it needs to be fresh

Businesses seems to have this bizarre view that this heavily visual thing called Social Media doesn’t need new content and yet they understand traditional advertising be it newspaper adverts or flyers could NEVER go out text only

If you don’t treat content seriously on Social Media – Social Media won’t take you seriously

A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THOSE THAT FOLLOW YOU WILL SEE YOUR UPDATES
All that time you’ve spent building up your Facebook likes, Instagram followers, Twitter followers and LinkedIn Connections

And then not everybody will see your updates

It’s true for 3 reasons

1. Not everybody is online all day
2. Social Media is increasingly noisy
3. There are algorithms which impact on what you will see

And remember – when we market – often we’re simply marketing into people’s spare moments. The TV Ad breaks, the 5 minutes they have because a friend is running late, the 15 minutes they use to pass the time

The subliminal sells from that are huge – but we are marketing into people’s spare moments all the same

PEOPLE CAN BE SELFISH
As I write this blog there’s a Social Media shitstorm going on over Toblerone changing size and downsizing

Your friends can often seem to care more about mindless things like this, than they do about your small business

They will often share updates from newspapers more than they will share updates from their best friends business

They will vote for I’m A Celebrity Contestants, but not have the time to vote for you in business awards

They will mention things face 2 face they’ve seen you post on social media, but they won’t spread the word further online

People can be selfish and they will never support your dream as much as you do

When you’re a small business setting up – this can be a hard thing to accept

YOU WILL FACE CRITICISM ON SOCIAL MEDIA
If you do something wrong – you will face criticism on social media

If you do everything right – you will face criticism on social media

And it’s the latter that is really really frustrating

Just the very act of being successful or well-known is justification for some to attack / troll you on a regular basis

Ultimately though you have to balance the scales and look at all the great things you’ve achieved from Social Media and your supporters vs the occasional negative

NOT EVERYTHING WILL WORK
Not everything you post will work

There are do’s and don’t on Social Media, but not everything you post will work

Things that look good on paper might not get the response you expected them to

And things that you thought we’re merely “ok” might go on to win over loads of customers, get massive reach and engagement

And come the point where you have that magic formula, the social media platform will change the rules and you have to rethink everything you’re doing

SO – ARE YOU READY TO WIN NOW?
Information is power. Use all the above to your advantage and start to win big on Social Media

All of the above isn’t new – the reference points are – but if you re-read through the above the core messages could have been there from the days of cavemen or biblical times, from the early days of print to the advent of TV and Radio

The delivery changes. People often don’t.

Since I started up Altrincham HQ in 2009 I’ve been
* Able to help our home town when the tabloids called us a ghost town
* Able to help 1000s of businesses with Social Media Training and Social Media Management
* Built a business that has enabled us to work across the whole of the UK
* Raise £1000’s for charity with the help of social media connections
* Met friends I would have never known without Social Media
* Had a lot of fun along the way

Speak to us about the truth on Social Media – Call 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

Alex

Alex McCann is owner of Altrincham HQ – a social media management and training company based in Altrincham, Cheshire that has worked with 100s of local business developing their social media strategy. Alex has 500+ LinkedIn testimonials and is Ranked Number 1 for Social Media Marketing in the UK via independent customer reviews on Freeindex.