7 tips to simplify your social media marketing

If the thought of social media marketing makes you feel overwhelmed, icky or anxious, or you’re beginning to question what the point of being on social media even is, you’re probably overcomplicating it all. Here are 7 tips to simplify your social media marketing.

 

 

 

7 tips to simplify your social media marketing

Repeat after me: Social media marketing shouldn't be complicated. If it feels like you're pushing an elephant up the stairs, that's a sure sign you're overcomplicating your marketing.

Here are 7 ways to simplify your social media marketing (and maybe make it fun again!)

1. Know what you want to achieve

As with everything in marketing, you need to start with your goals. Otherwise, you’re not going to have a clue where to focus your time and energy, and you’re not going to know if you’re making any progress. And that’s when it starts to feel pointless.

Maybe you’re on social media to sell more. Maybe you’re on there as a brand-building exercise. Maybe you’re trying to make business friends.

Whatever your reason for being on social media, write it down and set a target.

For example, if you’re on there to make business friends, maybe your goal will be to catch up for coffee with 3 other business owners you’ve connected with via Instagram this month.

Knowing your goals can give you a sense of purpose. It’s such an important part of your social media marketing strategy, so don’t skip it.

2. Know who your business is for and get crystal clear your messaging

Knowing who your ideal customer or client is, what you stand for and what your point of difference is, can bring focus to your content and how you show up on social media.

Not being crystal clear on these things can result in a brand that’s all over the place on social media – one day you’re posting about protein powders and the next you’re posting about keratin treatments for dogs.

And not knowing who your audience can mean that you’re posting content that doesn’t resonate – and that doesn’t bring you any closer to achieving your goals.

3. Don’t try to be everywhere and do everything

There will always be new social media platforms and features popping up. But, just because they're there doesn’t mean you have to be using them.

You don’t need to be on every single platform. You’re better off picking a few that work best for your business, and sticking with those.

One thing I’ve been seeing lately is businesses on Instagram that really don’t need to be on there. This might sound a bit weird, but bear with me here: Instagram isn’t right for every single business.

If you only have the manpower to run one social media platform, and your audience spends more time on Linkedin than Instagram, guess where you should be focusing your time and energy…

Just don’t feel like you have to do what everyone else is doing. Which brings me to my next point…

4. Don’t feel like you have to post 3 x a day

I can’t think of any business owners I know who would have enough time in their week to come up with quality content for 21 posts a week.

And if you’re not coming up with quality, it’s just going to be fluff. People are sick of seeing fluff in their social media feeds, so they’re not going to interact with it, which tells the social media algorithms your content is fluff. And your content reaches fewer people in the future.

(Or, these people will see your fluffy posts and unfollow you).

If you can only post 3 x a week, but those 3 posts are bursting with value and are well-written, then commit to that. And don’t feel pressured to post more than that simply because your friend’s cousin’s Cavoodle told you that you have to post 3 x a day to succeed.

(PS. Here's how often you should post to Instagram).

5. Keep an eye on what’s working (and stop doing the things that aren’t)

You’ve likely heard the quote: “the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results”

Well, this applies to social media too. Kind of.

You do need to stick with it and do what you’re doing consistently for a little while before you change tack. But after a while, if you’re not seeing results from what you’re doing, something needs to change.

Most social media platforms will have some sort of social media analytics you can look at to see what type of content performs best. Though you can usually tell by which posts get the most engagement.

And you should also have Google Analytics installed on your website, so you can see what’s working for driving sales or enquiries.

6. Repurpose your content

If you’re creating blog content, video content, or podcast episodes, try to repurpose this content into social media posts, so that you’re not always feeling the pressure to come up with new content.

People aren’t going to see your content in every single place that you post it, so you don’t need to feel like it’s overkill.

7. Don’t feel like your content has to be 130% perfect all the time

There’s a difference between quality and perfection. Your content can still be impactful and valuable, without being completely perfect.

If you feel like everything you post has to be perfect, guess what? You’re not going to post at all.

Sometimes I get stuck in this trap, and then one of my business friends will be like “hey Steph, you haven’t posted to Instagram in a while, is everything ok?” And I realise that I’ve been stuck in my little perfectionism bubble again.

You might also like: 7 social media post ideas to get you inspired.

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