Are You Caught In A Social Media Trap Of Your Own Making?

A conversation with a friend recently got me thinking. She wanted to meet up for a coffee and a bit of a catch up as it had been a few weeks since seeing her. However, when it came to trying to schedule that time and date, she kept sighing and muttering about how she couldn’t do this day or that day because she had a blog post to write or a Facebook update scheduled that she needed photographs for etc.

My friend was effectively caught in a trap – a cage of her own making that she couldn’t see a way out of, even though there was an obvious one there.

Most small business owners are in much the same position – mired in a trap of their own making, a ‘social media trap’, where they have mapped out a routine of regular postings, updates, Q&A’s, polls and discussions across their social media accounts with little to no elbow room to fit in a bit of human contact away from work.

It is almost like they have made a form of self-made and self-imposed prison where their freedom to do other things has been severely limited.

[bctt tweet=”To escape from your social media trap, you cannot just sit around and wait for things to change” username=””]

As humans and as business owners, we get into habits and routines very easily, but it isn’t until we raise our heads up and try to do something else that we realise that we feel trapped, and that we will probably be trapped for good if we carry on in the same way, following the exact same routine.

Our work/life balance needs to shift so that all the important social media tasks that need doing to maintain our business profile online continues smoothly, but at the same time be allowed to free up some of our time for other creative jobs, networking, catching up with paperwork and finances, and other day-to-day tasks needed that go into running a successful small business.

Kick start your changes

To escape from your social media trap, you cannot just sit around and wait for things to change. It doesn’t work like that. To enable change – you must do the changing. But don’t worry, change isn’t as scary as you may think!

The hardest part of implementing a change is actually getting started, but if you are fed up of not having the time and freedom to run your own business as you first thought you would, then NOW is the time to act. Not tomorrow. Not next month. NOW.

Why you should outsource your small business social media

Your social media chores are one aspect of your business that you would do well to outsource. Social media plays a bigger role in the success of a business today than it has ever done before, and many small business owners struggle to effectively leverage their social media to take advantage of it.

As an interactive and very cost-effective communication tool, a B2B company or B2C company can use social media to build their brand credibility, raise awareness of their company, make and strengthen business relationships, provide good customer service and build trust, value and consistency with their target audience.

Social media marketing requires a large amount of time and skill, so how can a small business owner maintain their levels of social media engagement while still being able to nurture and grow their business outside of their social media task constraints? Do you have the time and knowledge to manage all of your company’s social media accounts? Can you dedicate a team member to the task without taking their focus off other important matters? Are you a sole trader and therefore cannot pass these important tasks to someone else? Can you afford to employ a dedicated employee to manage your social media for you on a full-time basis? Let’s consider why it is a good idea to outsource these chores shall we….

Content writing: The most effective way to drive web traffic to your site through social media is to create valuable content. How can you post to your platforms without anything to give your readers? Quality blog posts and content can boost your SEO results and there is a huge need to keep feeding your hungry readers and followers fresh new information to maintain their interest and keep up engagement.

Creating content can become extremely time-consuming and as a busy small business owner, sitting down for a few hours per week to write engaging content away from the phone, emails and text messages can be extremely difficult to achieve. You cannot simply go MIA every time you need to write a new piece of content! Fortunately for you many digital marketing agencies can produce regular, unique and engaging content for you.

Experience and knowledge

Professional social media marketing agencies have trained specialists that have the skill-set to implement effective social media solutions that will help carry your business forward. If you are concerned about outsourcing such an important task to someone else, then look for a smaller agency that will be able to provide a more hands-on approach to your needs. You may find a smaller company much more effective than a larger national one because you will be working with a dedicated person who will essentially become part of your team and get to know your business inside out.

Saving you time and money

Very many small business owners cannot afford to employ a member of staff to dedicate to their social media management. They certainly cannot afford to waste time and money, so delegating the tasks that are not in your own skill-set to a company that is made to take on the job makes perfect sense. Why waste your precious time on creating posts and content when you are a little confused about what to do with social media, or how to do it right. Struggling on is already wasting a lot of your valuable time, and it probably isn’t getting you the results you expect either. If you can delegate your tasks to someone you can count on outside of your business, then it will be very worthwhile.

There is no doubt that having an efficient social media presence can boost a small business brand enormously, as well as promote awareness, build solid relationships with both customers and other business contacts, so should you really leave these important daily tasks to chance? So, what are you waiting for? Make that change today!