71. Creators > Influencers: Social Media Tips for Small Business Owners
Listen + Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
There’s a conversation I've been seeing floating around pertaining to content creation as a business owner. There’s a lot to it, but the gist is this: if you are a business owner, stop trying to be an influencer.
It can sound harsh, but it really is true. Navigating social media as a business owner requires you to prioritize different things than influencers do. Let’s break down the differences between being a CEO of your business and being an influencer, and some social media tips for business owners.
The Influencer
So, firstly, we have the traditional influencer. Keep in mind that influencing is a newer part of social media and marketing that really came into being alongside Instagram and YouTube over the past decade.
When I talk about an influencer, I’m referring to the traditional influencer that builds an audience by sharing products, sharing sponsored posts, and creating content. That's the biggest part of their social media presence.
Social media tips for influencers look different. For influencers, audience size is important. It's part of how they monetize within social media platforms, because brands do care about seeing that follower count. Analytics also matter because when you're talking to brands, brands are probably wondering what the numbers are looking like. They want to see that data.
The reason you’ve likely seen these social media tips floating around is that community trust is needed for one to be able to influence. No one is letting themselves be influenced by someone they don’t trust. And while many social media tips for influencers don’t apply to businesses, do keep community trust in mind. People aren't going to buy products if they don't trust you. People aren't going to engage with sponsored posts if they don't trust you.
The CEO
Content Days
On the other side of things, we have the CEO: someone that is the founder or head honcho of a small business. For CEOs, social media tips will lean in a different direction. For instance, you don’t need to focus on social media tips for growing your audience. Audience size doesn't really matter. What does matter is having an audience of the right size and the right people. You could literally have thousands of people in your community, and that might not do anything for your small business. Literally nothing.
I’ve seen the proof of this with one of my greatest friends. She's an amazing sales coach, and I remember she literally had her first six-figure year with only a few hundred people in her audience. She still doesn't have a big audience, but she’s now hit the seven figure mark.
Here’s where social media tips for small business owners begin to shift: if you’re wanting to make conversions, if you're wanting to make sales, if you're wanting to reach all the right people, your audience size really doesn't matter. What matters is who makes up that audience.
What To Focus On (Hint: It’s Not Follower Count)
Follower count is such a natural thing to obsess over in the social media world. After all, it’s quite literally put right in our faces; it’s the first thing we see when we get on our pages. It’s set up to be an indicator of success, and it’s just not.
On top of that, analytics don't really matter as much either, because sometimes the goal isn't engagement. Sometimes the goal of whatever you're creating, whatever you're posting, is not engagement. Instead, it might be conversions. It might be brand awareness. It might be community connection.
You could have the best engagement and it might not result in a really awesome launch. In fact, when you're launching or selling, you should actually have low engagement, because that's not the goal of the content you’re putting out. Community trust is what you need when you’re launching a new offer.
We talked about the influencer needing community trust in order to influence, but community trust is needed by small businesses for a different reason: to result in more conversions. If people don't trust you, they will not convert.
Community trust doesn’t necessarily mean that people like you; it just means they trust that you know what you’re doing. They don't really need to know all your personal business, but they do need to trust you.
The Creator
We’ve talked about the difference between being a CEO and being an influencer, but what about being a creator?
Here’s the thing: while not everyone can be an influencer, everyone can be a creator, influencers and CEOs all. If you’re creating content, if you’re willing to show up, pick up the phone, and be in your videos, you're a part of that creator economy.
You don't need to be an influencer and do sponsored content to be a creator. You don't need to have a small business to be a creator. But a shift that we've seen is that as a small business, yes, you can autopilot your content with social media graphics and outsource your social media content and never touch it. As someone who was a social media manager, I see where people need that.
But the audience using the apps that we're creating content on are now looking for deeper connection with the small businesses that they follow more than ever. That is what helps you stand out. That is what influences their purchase decision. That is what keeps them coming back and participating as a part of the community.
As a CEO, you have everything you need to be a creator. You might follow other people that say you don't need to be one, but I think being a creator is a non-negotiable part of how you're using video for your business.
Maybe you don't want to be a creator. You probably didn't sign up to run your business to be a creator. But I want to push you in that direction anyway. If it’s about privacy, you don't need to share all your personal business to be a creator for your brand. You should incorporate connection points, showing the person behind the brand, but you don’t need to share everything. You don't need to share what feels the most personal to you to be a creator. That’s the first social media tips myth I want to get out of the way.
The second social media tips myth is the obsession with followers and other numbers. You don't need 10,000 followers to see your results. You don't need the engagement. You just need the right people, and you need to clearly know what each piece of content is doing for you. That's why the first part of my Shine framework inside my signature video confidence program is strategy.
One of the social media tips I have for everyone, not just business owners: without the strategy, we literally can't create. We can't set up the systems, we can't post the video, we can’t do anything if we do not have a strategy to make sure that we're getting all the right people here and bringing them along on that follower journey. We're getting them to that point of conversion.
Another social media tips myth I want to bust: you don't need to have picture-perfect content on your page. When influencing started, it was all carefully curated content. While there's definitely a time and place for that, all you really need to do to create is show up in your content. It really is that simple. You need to talk about your unique point of view. You need to share your offers and products—actually you, right? Not just a hand, not just a magical floating object. You need to bring people into your business behind the scenes, let people feel like they're connected to it, and you need to share your personality. Share what you're interested in.
Ultimately, with social media tips for business owners, it’s really as simple as being able to embrace being the creator of your small business. If you're willing to show up and create for your brand, you can do it sustainably. You can do it simply. It doesn't need to take up all your time. We didn't sign up to be creators, but it's something that is so powerful right now that you can truly leverage. It might even be that little tweak you need in your video content strategy.
The last of my social media tips for you: don’t think of content creation as a burden. Think of it as an opportunity you have to really build your brand’s social presence, and all the ways this can be so valuable for you.
If you’re not sure how to set up that all-important strategy, my signature program will give you everything you need to show up confidently with the skills and systems to fuel your business’s growth. Join the waitlist here: https://shinewithnatasha.com/accelerator
You can also participate in the FREE video challenge: http://videoconfidencechallenge.com/
CONNECT WITH ME:
Website: https://shinewithnatasha.com/podcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shinewithnatasha/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL2BMkT_7jIu5NeV_yAXScw
Share the love
Screenshot and share your favorite episodes on Instagram with tag @shinewithnatasha & #TheShineOnlinePodcast to show us how you’re enjoying the podcast!
