My Amazeballs Posting Guide for Small Biz Socials
You’re back there again.
Sitting at your computer at 11pm after finally setting aside some time to ‘do some marketing’, and you’re drawing a massive blank on what to do with your posts.
Do you do a video? A photo you took in-store? A product shot?
What do you say in the caption? Should you use hashtags? Which ones? How many can you use?
Sound familiar?
Guess what - me too.
Lately, I’ve been trying to walk the walk with my personal marketing - I’m that typical tradie that is always flat out making magic for all my small biz peeps that when I get home, I have the marketing manager equivalent of a leaky tap, unfinished wiring or half-done paint job.
And one thing I’m constantly getting bogged down in is having enough variety in the kinds of posts that I do. I have a semi-long list of things that frankly shit me in the social media marketing world, and so I’m always very certain on the kinds of posts I don’t want. But that often leaves me pulling my hair out trying to create each post as unique from the last.
So I did what I normally do - I created a tool to make my life ten times easier, and then I realised that I’m not alone in this, and I better share this with my SBO family.
Which brings us to here.
First, I’m going to go over my top 3 non-negotiables for creating social media posts that actually matter and will provide value to your audience, as well as opportunities for connection & engagement. Then at the end, to save you as much legwork as I’ve saved myself, I’ve included a FREE guide for all the different kinds of posts you can do that meet these 3 crucial criteria.
But first, let’s agree on the 3 fundamental must-haves for your posts whether they’re on Facebook, Instagram or any other platform of choice:
#1. Variety is the spice of life.
It also stops people from getting bored out of their tree.
Variety applies to both the message and the visual.
A good variety of messages would look like this:
Featuring a customer success story
A project from start to finish
A product or tool recommendation
An explanation of one or your products or services in use
A round-up list of top tips, no-no’s, what-to-look-for’s, etc.
Successful visual variety would be:
Before & after shots
Walk-through videos
Time lapse videos
Sneak peak
Inspirational quotes
This is also a great way to test your audience and see what’s most effective with your particular target market.
#2. It must be (mostly) original.
Sharing content from other accounts, profiles and sources you respect has its place - it indicates you too are still learning by engaging with others, as well as showing you don’t profess to know ‘all the things’.
BUT.
Your social profiles are most successful when they’re used to document your story.
As humans, we respond most strongly to storytelling - it’s how we have passed information between generations for thousands of years. It’s connected to who & what we fundamentally are as a species.
And the best part?
We all have a story.
Your business’ story is just as valid as your competitors. Because it is unique.
All you have to do is get really good at telling it.
Now what does that look like in practical terms?
It using your posts to talk about:
Your brand values
Customer success stories that give you all the feels
Products you’re proud to use
Your ‘why’ - the reason you brought your business to life
Your passions & areas of specialty
‘How it works’ in your business
These are all fantastic ways to give value with generosity, show what your business has to offer and also give a preview as to what it might be like to do business with you. This goes a long way towards converting potential customers into actual customers (which you can read more about in this post).
#3. Post with purpose.
Posting for the sake of filling up your feed, or dropping in an image because it’s part of your Instagram’s overall ‘look’ is basically a waste of space.
Nothing makes be unfollow faster than a feed full of posts that offer nothing beyond a ‘Friyay vibes #insertthirtyobnoxioushashtags’.
To me, this is purely about getting numbers up - users will utilise programs (‘bots’) to nominate hashtags or accounts to follow and the software will automatically like, follow and/or comment as pre-determined. The idea is for this activity to encourage these accounts to like, follow and comment in return. Everyone wins!
*cough* Not *cough*.
Not only is this in violation of Instagram’s terms of use - it’s inauthentic and frankly, pointless.
For example:
I might have 2k+ followers thanks to clever use of hashtags, comments and images. Those followers could be from all walks of life, all over the world.
If you’re a hairdressing salon in Regional Victoria (AUS), is a follower in Barcelona really of any use to you? No.
Are they likely to become a customer? No.
Are they likely to visit your salon? No.
I’m sure there are plenty of good hair salons in Barcelona.
So stop focusing on the numbers for a second.
When it comes to social media, it’s the same as the social circle you maintain in real life - do you really want 2,000 friends at your next birthday party? Gawd no!
In business terms: could your business really handle 2,000 customers tomorrow? How many car spaces does your premises have? Like, 30?
It’s all about quality over quantity.
If you’re a local bricks-and-mortar business, 200k followers all over the world means nothing. But 200 followers in the same postcode as you?
Jackpot.
You my friend are on the right track.
So don’t create posts for the sake of pushing your numbers up. Instead, create posts that seek to either:
Educate
Entertain or
Engage
Top tips, fun facts, epic fails or conversation starters are all fantastic ways to generate dialogue between true followers on your accounts and create a sense of community around your business. Every time you create a post, think to yourself: what’s the takeaway here? What do my audience stand to gain from this?
It might be a better understanding of your brand, a mistake to avoid making, something to try at home, or words of wisdom to lift them up.
If there is no clear & tangible value associated with what you’re about to post…
Forget it.
Don’t waste your space.
Next steps
Now we have an agreement as to what thou shalt and shalt not post *insert dramatic voice*
But what do you post?
Well, here comes the best bit.
I’ve created a paint-by-numbers posting guide perfect for small businesses in the retail, hospitality or service industries (or for those clever cats that are a bit of all of them). It will give you a month’s worth of daily ideas as well as examples as to what you posts could look like (don’t worry, I know the visual can stump you just as much as the theme).
You can grab your FREE copy here:
Wrapping up
Your social platforms are just that - platforms. They’re the stage from where you make your own, unique music for your audience to hear.
If you had the chance right now to grab the mic and speak to a stadium filled with potential customers, what would you do?
You wouldn’t sing someone else’s song.
You wouldn’t give someone else’s speech.
You wouldn’t tell someone else’s jokes.
You would use that time to shine, to tell the world how amazing your business is and how they’d be crazy not to be a part of it.
You have the stage - don’t waste the space.
Until next time!
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Meredith Paige is a freelance marketer dedicated to giving small business owners the tools they need to DIY their marketing. She creates courses, templates & workshops to make small biz marketing achievable & affordable - just the way it should be. You can check her out on Instagram & Facebook, or send her an email to say hi. |
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