FDMC SOCIAL & DIGITAL MEDIA LLC

Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, and now Clubhouse (IOS only for now)— it's all a little overwhelming, isn't it? So many entrepreneurs get into an anxiety-induced frenzy over which platform is right for their business. They start to have a "Fear of Missing Out" and jump onto the newest, shiniest social platform — only to crash and burn with a zombie account that is rarely updated because the password has gone missing and they've moved onto the next platform just to do it all again. In a world where your voice is amplified to millions of potential followers who can take your business to the next level, how do you do it all without burning out? Well, you could hire a marketing professional or if you are a one-person band, step back and take a deep breath! But let us be real. Seriously in one answer you just can not be everything to everybody.

I'm a firm believer in reducing friction to make a business run smoothly, so I advocate we all take a step back and stop trying to be everywhere. Using every social media platform that is out there doesn't amplify your message. If anything, it dilutes it. To keep your platforms running, you've got to constantly run back and forth, adjust the speed, maintain the balance and be sure you don't stumble and ruin the whole show. If you are a Mom and Pop business, can you really do all that? I think not.

The secret to being successful on social media

Consistency. That's it. It's a stupidly simple concept but incredibly hard to implement. It's like a marathon race. In the starting gate, you're with this huge group of people, all vying for the gold. As you move further along the route, the group starts to thin out. Then as you keep going, you find yourself against maybe two or three other runners who are super-focused. Now you're no longer up against hundreds of other runners.

It's the same way with social media. How many of your competitors post consistently enough to end up being a threat to your platform? Probably not as many as you think. I've seen so many businesses get into that "shiny object" phase of posting. They post a bunch of content in a quick burst, and then it is gone and all you hear are those dusk crickets chirping.

Then those annoying and confusing algorithms.

Consider the behind-the-curtain world of social media platform algorithms. While we don't know the actual coding behind it, it's safe to make some assumptions that can help us win favor. Social media platforms make money by showing ads, so their goal is to show as many ads as possible. To do this, they have to keep their users on the platform for as long as they can. Based on some terrifyingly accurate data scraping, they're able to find out what content is appealing to you, so they'll show more of that with the goal of keeping you scrolling.

But we know that algorithms can have delayed and yes, inaccurate information. It doesn't want to work hard to find content that keeps you interested, so it looks for simple information that it recognizes you're interested in seeing. What is this simple and consistent information? An account that is seen as a reliable source of content because it regularly publishes new posts. It's safer for the algorithm to source content from an active account than it is to keep scouring for new sources, so it decides to use that content stream to its advantage. Understanding the algorithm of social media platforms gives you an edge. If you can create a plan that makes it easy for you to consistently push content, then the algorithm will take notice and start trusting your account as a reliable source.

Figure out where you can be consistent

It's so much easier said than done when it comes to this part. So let's break down how you can figure out which social media platform is the best fit for your business and where you can confidently say you'll be able to consistently publish content:

1.   Who is your audience? Knowing this is the first step in figuring out where to put your energy. Don't look at competitors here, as too often your competitors are just following everyone else and haven't taken the time to figure out if the customers are actually there. Consider the demographics of each platform ahead of time and see if it matches up to your profile. Luckily, many platforms are now out there as public entities. this information is easily accessible by Googling the platform demographics.

2.   How do they use the platform? Think about how people actually use each platform and be honest about if your business fits those use cases. Social platforms such as Pinterest and Linkedin have very different uses, so your posts will have a vastly different outcome on each. Just think something like this scenario. "Don't waste your effort trying to blab into a mic when no one is listening."

3.   Do you have a plan for how you can source and post content consistently? Are you able to source content consistently to post? If you don't have a lot of products or aren't a visual image company, image-heavy platforms like TikTok and Instagram might not be the best use of your efforts. On the other hand, if you're a very visual and consumer-driven brand, platforms like LinkedIn and the new Clubhouse app for IOS might not be the right fit.

Marketing A Small Business With Big Box Store Ideas

Every business was considered “small” at some point in its history. Some go big, but some stay small and do quite well. The size of a business in common measurements (revenue, employees, locations) is less relevant than the size of your customer base and the corresponding loyalty of customers.

In a small business, your customers are your investors. They expect to see a return, whether it comes in the form of trust or hand soap. These investors know you and you know them. It becomes an important relationship and far more meaningful than those in big business.

Small business is an intimate business.

There are so many things a small business brand can do that don’t cost a dime—but do require creativity, sometimes a shift in thinking, and the fortitude to make it happen. Here are three to frame up a perspective:

Consistency. The more intimate the relationship, the more consistent you need to be, from how you communicate to the visual and written language of your brand. Striking a consistent tone communicates stability, professionalism, and thoughtfulness, which engenders trust.

Loyalty. The economics of loyalty have a currency in punch cards, points, and rewards. But true loyalty can’t be bought; it has to be earned. And loyalty is a two-way relationship. The larger the brand or business, the more likely it is that we, as customers, become transactions. As a small business, loyalty can be a social contract with a stronger bond than any legal contract. The results should be rewarding for both parties.

Personality. The factor that changes everything. A personality makes a brand interesting and is often the most challenging to manage. It is a perceived risk to have “too much personality,” hence many brands have too little and forgo opportunities to form deeper relationships. Brands of all sizes have the capacity to be creative—they just need the confidence to express it.

Now let’s get down to the practicalities, because the smaller the business, the less time for contemplation and pontification. A small business needs to be nimble and pragmatic in the face of slow-moving larger competitive machines. Here are some questions you can start asking yourself and working on now:

Who is responsible for the marketing work?

If everyone does it, then no one does, so assign the tasks. Writer, designer, developer, and decision-maker—those are the essential roles to get a brand set straight. If you don’t have those, you can contract a part-time marketing firm.  Auditing how you’re doing requires a researcher and some marketing expertise to analyze the findings. Yes, there are a couple dozen more roles that could be filled, but a small business needs more generalists than specialists.

Where does this fit in the budget?

Any marketing budget should include content creators (writer and designer), content distribution (ad buy, social, PR, digital development), and measures to gauge whether it’s working (research and analysis). Getting someone to write an article about your team is no different from hiring a writer for a creative ad campaign. Many businesses feel comfortable investing in a physical asset; building a brand requires comfort investing in an intangible asset. And just as you’d have someone “tune-up” a physical asset, you’ll need to do the same for an intangible one. I fully that budgets vary with small businesses and there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to marketing dollars. Especially in today's Covid-19 pandemic.

How do we measure the results?