One of the struggles that we have faced ourselves, and that we hear from talking to other SME’s, is trying to decide where to invest your marketing efforts when you have limited time, and limited budget.
Social media can be one of those seemingly endless areas where you could always have another account, another platform, another thing to add to the list. If you feel the fatigue setting in consider these following tips:- Only publish what is natural for your business/brand
Is it really the more the merrier, when it comes to Social Media accounts? With all the data out there about how beneficial it is for your business to have a social media presence, you could easily think that you should be on as many platforms as possible. In reality this can lead to repetitive content, unclear strategy and, ultimately, burnout in the internal marketing team. It can feel exhausting trying to maintain multiple social media platforms, especially if it isn’t even the right platform for your business.
Are you an accounting firm? Instagram or Pinterest probably isn’t for you, but maybe Twitter is the place you could shine with regular snapshot updates of market trends. Are you a boutique clothing store? Instagram would be the perfect place for you to show off your gram-worthy clothing pieces, but maybe LinkedIn isn’t of much use to you. To make the most efficient use of your time, it makes sense to prioritise the channels where content flows naturally for you.
- Add value not confusion
If your marketing team is small, or you have limited time, it’s important to focus your energy in the areas that serve your business most. Is logging on to a Twitter account every few days just to post sporadically a good use of your time? The reality of Social Media algorithms these days is that unless you are posting consistently, when you do post your reach will be drastically reduced. So, in order to post frequently on many platforms, we see many SME’s creating one piece of content, say a blog piece, and sharing it across all of their networks. Sound familiar?
If you are asking a user to follow you on Social Media, there is a transaction taking place. They are giving you their time and attention, and in return you are giving them content that is of interest or value to them. What you are saying to the user when you share the identical piece of the same content across all of your platforms, is that they have no extra value to be gained by following you on more than one platform.
Do you need to create new content for each platform that you have a presence on?
Yes and no – the key here is repurposing, not reusing. The core content that you are presenting can work across all platforms – for example, information about the latest SEO trends. How you present that information is what could change. Repurposing content in different ways takes a time and, often, financial investment, so if you are short on either then it’s worth focusing all of your effort into one or a couple of key platforms.
Let’s look at an example of how you could leverage that content:
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- Delete inactive accounts
Has that Google Plus account for your business sat there neglected for months? Are your followers disinterested, if the account has any followers at all? It’s important to remember that an inactive account is not benefiting your business in any way, and in fact it is potentially harming your business. At every touch point with your customers, you want to be putting forward the best possible version of your brand and an empty, unused account is not that! Don’t be afraid of that delete button; by focusing your efforts into channels that work for your business, you are reducing time and resource wastage.
If you are feeling worn out from maintaining multiple social media accounts that don’t seem to ‘fit’ for your business, you’re not alone. It’s important to remember that sometimes less is more with social media, and dormant or empty accounts can harm how your customers see your brand.
Summary
If you do have multiple social media accounts to maintain, you don’t necessarily have to create completely new content for every platform. By re-purposing content in clever ways, you can give your customers something different on every platform that they follow you on – after all, who likes seeing the same reposted link over and over again? If you’re not sure where to get started get in touch with us below about how we could help.
