Top 3 Things to Know About Having a Business Page vs a Personal Page in Social Media

When it comes to social media, there’s two main components when it comes to visibility: personal visibility and professional visibility. Anyone with a social media account has some level of personal visibility on social media. While some small businesses use their personal feeds and accounts to market their business, most companies create a separate professional account or feed for their promotional posts. 

We are often asked: is it okay to post business content on our personal pages and do we really need a professional presence for our business on social media?

This is a good question. Here is our best advice.

No One Likes Spam

You are probably connected to a lot of people who have started a small business who use personal accounts to market their businesses products or services and who add you to groups (without notice), and private message you at random about their products wanting you to buy them based on the fact that “they have seen a result and you should buy because you trust them”. This is called spam. And no one likes spam.

Too many small businesses, especially MLM salespeople and network marketers, use their personal feeds to market their products and services. The idea behind this approach is many small businesses have a much bigger following on their personal pages than they do on their business feed (if they’ve set up a business feed at all). Plus, if you are selling for another company, there can be rules against representing yourself as more than just a salesperson for that business. 

While it’s a sound theory, it has some flaws. 

  • People, unless they are also trying to sell you something, don’t become your friend or follower on social media to get spammed by your advertising. This is an instant turn-off causing your followers to not engage with your posts and, therefore, teach the algorithm to not show them any of your content.
  • Just because they know you or are related to you, doesn’t mean that they are your target audience. You could be spending a lot of time and energy advertising to the wrong crowd.
  • Social media users are smart and they can see a salesperson a mile away. If you want to lose social media friends, start treating them like walking wallets.

You Don’t Own Your Audience

Facebook’s Terms of Service state clearly that you aren’t to use your personal profile for business purposes. If enough people report your posts to Facebook, they can shut down your entire account (and there goes your entire audience with it). 

Because you don’t own your audience, at any time, a social media account can change their algorithm, change their rules, or shut down completely – and your entire marketing list vanishes. There are popular social media channels that no longer exist today. 

It’s much better to provide value-added content that your audience enjoys and engages with and then convert those people to a platform you own – like your email marketing list.

At least with a business profile, you know those individuals want to hear what your business has to say and they are more likely to tolerate a few promotional posts or be tempted to join your email list than random folks on your personal feeds. 

What You Should Do Instead

Top 3 things you can do to build your professional social media audience the right way: 

  1. Network with people, actually get to know them and build trust through your relationships and knowing things about their lives. These are warm leads that will be more interested in what you have to offer. 
  2. Don’t add everyone to your FB groups, instead post about your group and ask people to join of they are interested.  You can even private message them, inviting them that way to join (but only ask once).  Give an incentive, offer a fundraiser to host your party or host an event with a collaborative partner to co-host something instead.  (P.S. – a Handwritten note or mailed invite goes a long way and is way better than spamming!)  
  3. Having a business page or profile will actually help you track numbers, sales, and engagement vs tossing spaghetti at a wall on your personal account to see what fits (and losing people you actually care about.)

Is it a struggle each month to create and post social media content for your business? Do you just not have enough time in the day to get it all done? The Social Media Advisor team are experts in helping you stay consistent online! We’ll work with you to create an editorial calendar, messaging, and branded images aligned with your culture and promoting your business so you don’t have to worry about it anymore! Find out more about our Monthly Social Media Support package on our website.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedInFacebookTwitterBlogGoogle+YouTubePinterestInstagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media TrainingSpeaking and Strategy Consultations.

What is the Difference Between Relationship Marketing and Lead Generation?

Business owners often enter social media marketing with the expectation that simply showing up and posting about their products and services is enough to convert strangers into customers. They are being told that they ‘need’ to be on social media because that’s the way to market their business and find more people. While this is certainly true, it’s also misleading. 

If you come to social media only to sell, you’ll walk away disappointed in your results. In fact, I’ve had many business owners tell me that social media marketing doesn’t work at all! I know when I hear this that this individual approached social media with a lead generation approach and didn’t take establishing and nurturing relationships into the equation.

When Social Media Marketing Goes Wrong

People have come to believe that you can use social media as JUST a marketing tool to sell your widget, product, or service.  This is false.  Social Media was always intended to be a social experience, meaning you were always to build a relationship through conversation and that these interactions could lead to a business relationship.  

Back when Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, it was a connection tool for college students. It is still intended to be a connection tool today.  When people wonder why their $2,500 workshop doesn’t sell on FB, I tell them it is because it isn’t a low-cost widget and people want a bit of foreplay before they purchase something so big.  

To benefit from social media marketing, you must build relationships through consistent posting of value-added content (in other words, content that your target audience actually wants). When you try to sell something on social, offer a low-dollar way to engage with you (an online workshop, an informative, whitepaper, an interesting video or a way to opt-in and get something desirable). Once people opt-in or follow you, then you’ll need to nurture your relationship with them by creating a welcoming environment and posting content that encourages them to respond and engage with you.

Social media marketing is not advertising. It is not now, nor was it ever intended to be, a place where people go to buy stuff. However, with the right connection and relationship, you can, over time, convert your followers into buyers.

Lead Generation

In the days of old, salespeople worked a system called lead generation to drum up new business. You could create or acquire a list of leads and then reach out to those people through visits, cold calls, direct mail, and advertising in an effort to convince them to buy. However, the best salespeople will tell you that high-ticket items like coaching, masterminds, and retreats would require more than a cold call. For higher investments, there was always a need to establish a relationship with a lead by taking them out for dinner or drinks, inviting them to a ball game, playing a round of golf, and other means of wooing leads into becoming customers.

This same process is even more true for social media. You can run some Facebook ads for your $9.99 product to drum up interest and build your list but you will struggle to sell your $500 package to strangers no matter what marketing tool you use. Why? Because your audience doesn’t trust you yet.

Trust is the key to making a buying decision.

And you can’t build trust by spamming your audience with sales posts on social media or in emails. It’s a sure-fire way to get someone to disengage with you, lose trust, and forget you exist.

Relationship Marketing

If you are looking for a quick fix to filling your client list or selling out your program, class, or event – it doesn’t exist. Sorry to disappoint you. Marketing doesn’t work that way and neither does social media.

Relationship marketing is just the modern-day terminology for that old-school sales technique of getting to know your leads better and establishing a connection with people before going for the big ask. If you think of your audience as your own community, then engaging with and nurturing that community is paramount to success. Will there be people in your audience that take years to say yes? Absolutely. Some of them may never pay you a dime. However, they may mention you and what you do to a family member, friend, or co-worker. 

Once you gain attention from your audience and then earn trust, what you want will fall into place.

Is it a struggle each month to create and post social media content for your business? Do you just not have enough time in the day to get it all done? The Social Media Advisor team is experts in helping you stay consistent online! We’ll work with you to create an editorial calendar, messaging, and branded images aligned with your culture and promoting your business so you don’t have to worry about it anymore! Find out more about our Monthly Social Media Support package on our website.

 

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedInFacebookTwitterBlogGoogle+YouTubePinterestInstagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media TrainingSpeaking and Strategy Consultations.

How Can You Show Your Customers You Are a Thriving Business During a Pandemic?

During the first few months of the pandemic, many small businesses went quiet. They went quiet because they weren’t quite certain how to show up in a way that was respectful and appropriate for the situation. They were concerned about saying, posting, or doing the wrong thing at a highly sensitive and critical time. As the months passed, many companies pivoted or figured out ways to remain relevant and survive. Not all companies made it through. 

News and the media have flooded our feeds and it’s been difficult to keep track of our favorite bakery, nail salon, brewery, restaurant, life coach, etc. This is especially true for small businesses that haven’t been proactive about consistently posting and engaging with people online. Don’t assume that your customers know that you are still in business. Your die-hards will hunt you down but the rest are trying to get through each day, just like you. The only way your people will keep you top of mind and know that you are still in business is directly related to your commitment to posting online, sending your newsletters, and continuing with your marketing efforts.

If you’ve been quiet but are ready to get back in the game, here’s what we suggest:

  • Update your CRM software or email newsletter database and make sure it is current and then send out an announcement. Let your audience know what you are up to and what you’d like them to do next.
  • Post consistently to your social media channels at least 3x a week. This works best after creating an editorial calendar and marketing strategy. Contact us if you need support getting this set up.
  • Create some custom offers to thank your audience for their loyalty during this trying time to reward them for past business and encourage them to continue working with you, to sign up to work with you or to refer their audience to you.

Out of sight, out of mind is very real when it comes to running a small business. Do your brand a favor and start getting back out there. Your audience needs you to show up and show them the way.


Having a strategy in place for your social media postings will be key in developing relationships, staying relevant, and knowing how / what to post so you don’t run out of content.  By signing up for Quarterly Roadmap sessions, we will also cover the best ways to use ads and you’ll learn how to read reports so you aren’t wasting a ton of money. Instead, you’ll be strategic about your spending so you see results for your efforts. Contact The Social Media Advisor today to get started!

 

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedInFacebookTwitterBlogGoogle+YouTubePinterestInstagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media TrainingSpeaking and Strategy Consultations.

How Can You Expand Your Business Activities Online to Serve Customer Needs?

In the last year, we’ve really seen a larger focus for small businesses in transitioning to doing business online. This pivot was essential and it kept many companies alive during a turbulent and uncertain time. Since so many business owners in our network are relying on social media marketing to bring in new business right here, here are our best tips to converting leads into customers online.

Be Found

Are your profiles complete and appealing? Once you gain a social media user’s attention, the next thing they are likely to do is to visit your profile on that platform. Too many small businesses rush through the process and don’t take full advantage of all the space and opportunity available to convince viewers to click through to their website or a landing page. 

Also, every social media platform is searchable. Do you have the right keywords and information on your profiles? If you want to be found in the right searches, your profile must contain the right keyword phrases. 

The first thing we want you to do is to make sure your profiles are all up-to-date, with robust and relevant keywords, and that your website site copy accurately reflects your current offerings and business hours. It’s a shame to do all that work to lead people to your website but then lose them because your copy is not detailed enough or is outdated.

Be Transparent

There’s been a trend in recent years where small business owners were encouraged to not put their packages and pricing on their website. This was to encourage people to reach out so that you could customize a package just for them OR to be able to capture their information before you give over the ‘goods.’ 

However, with this move to online marketing and business transactions, do you want to be the transparent business that makes it easy for a lead to make a qualifying decision about working with you, or do you want to play the hard-to-get role that encourages your audience to look elsewhere? There are too many people out there that do exactly what you do. Your copy should convince people to contact you, not your unwillingness to post your prices on your website.

If your prices drive people away, that’s actually a good thing. Those individuals either aren’t your people or aren’t ready for what you have to offer. This will save you time, and money, in the long run because you’ll avoid wasting time trying to sell people who aren’t right for you. This will free you up to find and convert the right customers. 

There are also ways to post your packages and pricing on many of the social media platforms so we recommend getting that all set up as well.

Be Creative

What are some ways to create pathways to work with you outside of your traditional offerings? Could you provide gift card options for your customers to encourage them to refer you to others and give you a try? Could you add a subscription option, allowing you to have recurring income while building that connection with your audience each month? Is there a package you could create so your clients could have an hour or more on retainer with you each month for support? Once you figure out the different pathways to working with you, make certain you communicate those options in social media and through your email newsletters so that anyone on the fence about taking the next step could be encouraged to sign up.

Thinking creatively about how you can show up for your audience and bring value to your customers is one of the ways successful business owners survive crisis situations and learn how to thrive regardless of external circumstances.

Having a strategy in place for your social media postings will be key in developing relationships, staying relevant, and knowing how / what to post so you don’t run out of content.  By signing up for Quarterly Roadmap sessions, we will also cover the best ways to use ads and you’ll learn how to read reports so you aren’t wasting a ton of money. Instead, you’ll be strategic about your spending so you see results for your efforts. Contact The Social Media Advisor today to get started!

 

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedInFacebookTwitterBlogGoogle+YouTubePinterestInstagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media TrainingSpeaking and Strategy Consultations.


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