Erik Qualman once said, “We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it”.

Can you believe that, folks? Social media is a key generator for your business; let it be either an online or a brick and mortar business, you need social media to literally survive in this world.

The challenges small businesses face is inevitable. Yes you — small business owners will face tons of obstacles which will either demotivate you or burn a hole in your pocket. As a social media consultant, I dare to say that there will be challenges in social media especially in two phrases; entry level and sustaining a marketing strategy to compete with the rest.

As Erik said above, social media is no longer a luxury; it is a needs that will determine success in business.

So, what are the challenges small businesses will face in social media? How do you overcome them?

Let’s break them down in this article, shall we?

1. Choosing the right social media platform

Are you going for the 6 seconds video marketing on Vine? Or maybe, constantly publishing videos on YouTube? How about content and social marketing?

Small businesses doesn’t have the budget like those big boys do. Business owners probably need to form out additional money just to participate in the rat race using Facebook ads.

Sounds familiar, right?

So, which is the best social media platform for small business?

Solving this social media challenge is simple. Business owners need to ‘F-O-C-U-S‘ and this means that “Follow One Course Until Success“. Yes, this comes directly from the mouth of John Lee Dumas at Entrepreneur On Fire.

Focus on one platform (any platform of your choice) and find ways to master it. Don’t even think of changing to another social platform until you have completely leverage the true power of that social media platform.

And on the side, allow me to introduce Kabbage. It offers small business loans that could allow entrepreneurs to grow their business in various ways. Business owners could use this working capital loan to increase their budget for more effective social media marketing.

 

2.” I don’t have enough time to manage social media” type of mindset

Time is the holy grail for any business owners and entrepreneurs and it is a no brainer that this is one of the biggest challenges faced by businesses in social media.

Sure, social media takes a lot of your time daily and you have a business to run. Managing one-single social media account (process of engaging with your followers) takes forever — hours and hours of hard work.

And you’re pretty sure you can make more money selling whatever your products are than just doing social media.

Don’t bother answering. I know it’s true!

The way to solve this challenge in social media is simple: Use social media automation tools.

There are free social media management tools like Hootsuite that allows you to schedule posts at anytime you want, across several social media accounts at once. Spend 30 minutes a day on scheduling and you can literally ‘escape’ from the hectic life in social media.

If you are managing a medium-sized business, there are premium tools such as Sprout Social that offers more features and capabilities to manage your social media accounts like a professional. Plus, saving you thousands of dollars in hiring social media manager or agencies for the job.

 

3. How do I create a social media marketing plan for my business?

• How do you know if you are having the best strategy for your business?
• How do I find the right target audience for social media marketing?
• Is measuring success important?

Questions, questions and more questions. These are the questions that will be lingering in your mind especially when you are creating your own social media plan for your business.

Need some advise? Here’s how business owners can solve this problem:

Step 1: The power of clarity for your business goals

If you want to be successful in social media, be really clear in your business goals. What’s your goal in using social media?

Is it for branding, improve visibility, increase sales or gain more followers?

The clearer and more specific you are with your business goals, the higher the chances are for you to create a good social media strategy that fits with your business. Trust me.

Step 2: Understand your audience

How well do you know your audience? Social media marketing is not about the sheer numbers; it is all about understanding your audience. Knowing where they are and what interests them will provide better ROI (return of investment) in any social media plan that you have.

Why is this a common challenge business owners face in social media? They are targeting the masses, not specific audience who are potentially your future customers.

Step 3: Start developing a social media strategy for business

This can only be done once Step #2 is done. A no-brainer, right?

You know who your potential customers are and where they love to ‘hang out’ in. The next step?

Create a social media plan and engage with them. Always focus in being a solution instead of adding to the problem.

Step 4: Analyze everything

The last step is fairly simple … but time consuming. Analyze what works and what doesn’t. Take the opportunity to change and adapt to changes.

That’s how you and your business can grow in social media marketing.

 

4. Is paid advertising on social media worth it?

 

 

Yes – they – do.

With proper strategy, you can literally turn one time visit from Facebook (for example) into a loyal customer through advertising.

Sure, paid social media advertising is optional and you can still survive without it — but life will get harder for you.

If you want to ‘get out’ of this popular challenge business owners face in social media, then ask yourself if you are affordable for it. If you’ve the additional funds for marketing, it has absolutely no harm to use at least $20 a day on social.

Here’s an example of how Post Planner uses $20 a day using Facebook ads.

 

5. What is the best time to tweet or post an update on social media?

The answer? It varies depending on the social media platform that you are focusing on. Knowing the best time to tweet or post an update could increase your engagement, triple fold.

 

But how do you solve this common challenge business owners face in social media?

Knowing your audience (geographical data) and using the right tools will help in this case.

Most social media platforms provide geographical data (either simplified or detailed) for users to use. For example, there’s Twitter analytics report and Facebook Insights. These are absolutely free tools that will provide you important information which will make or break your social marketing strategy.

And if you are a social tool fanatic like me, there’s also Hootsuite analytics reports which you can extract at anytime (CLICK HERE to get a free 30-days unlimited access to Hootsuite Pro).

 

Conclusion

If you are struggling with social media, don’t worry; you’re not alone. I started my own business and got right into the social media mess. But trust me, challenges small businesses face in social media is easily resolved with some strategies set in advance.

And don’t look further. The above 5 are social media strategies you can start working on right now!

Leave a comment below and tell me what you think. Feel free to add more social media challenges that business owners will face too!

The post 5 Social Media Challenges Faced By Business Owners (And How To Solve Them) appeared first on Reginald Chan.

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Every entrepreneur wants to get noticed in a noisy world.

Yes, they do and so do you. But wait, me too! Today’s world is very much different. Entrepreneurs are competing with one another on a daily basis because we are fighting for the same pie. The pie didn’t increase in size over the years, but the number of entrepreneurs do.

We are constantly finding for ways to beat the competition. Take this website for example. I am constantly finding ways to build a bigger audience and increasing the size of my email list.

Getting noticed in a noisy world does sound like a daunting task, right? I bet.

They want to see you do good, but never better than them. Remember that – Unknown.

This quote is point-on. In this marketing world, there aren’t that many friends that wish you all the best with your business truthfully. And to be honest, they will welcome your failure because if you fail (and fail more), they probably have higher chance to success. Plus, lesser one competition to compete with them.

Make sense?

In this post, you’ll learn the tips I used to get noticed in a noisy world. I’ve been through some tough times, but with multiple awards and honorable mentions such as from Harvard University’s blog, I am sure I could do you some favors for free, right?

So, here’re some great stuffs you will find today:

• 1

  Finding a platform to start (and sticking to it)

• 2

  Understanding the importance of syndicating your content

• 3

  Getting noticed by being bold or different (but not overdoing it)

• 4

  Providing tons of value to your customers or followers

• 5

  Building a community that will make you stand out from the crowd

 

 

1. Finding a platform (and stick to it)

The biggest misconception about marketing and getting noticed is “the more places you are, the more visibility you get”.

In this case, a platform can varies from social media platforms to ultimate goals, from marketing techniques to entrepreneurship ideas.

Sure, you get visibility if you are everywhere but you probably won’t be able to leverage them to the maximum. You are starting out and most likely lack of budget.

Stick to a platform and work with it. Put in your heart and soul into the platform, and market your way to the top. Everyone is trying to participate in various marketing platforms — e.g. social platforms, marketing strategies blogging plans and podcasting.

The moral of the story is simple. Get noticed in a noisy world by being that good in that one, specific platform. When that happens, you’re literally golden. Trust me.

 

2. Syndicating your content

If you want to stand out in the crowd, you need to start syndicating your content. Allow me to give you an example for this blog.

In content marketing:

Four new content are published on a weekly basis and when these content goes live, they are distributed into various social media platform … automatically.

Using IFTTT or IF This Then That, I am able to syndicate my content across the web without hassle. Zero time lost and “booyah” to my productivity level. A more complex explanation using IFTTT can be found here.

In short, IFTTT allows me to share my content (in various forms) to multiple platforms with just a few clicks of the mouse. With the time saved, I could focus on things that matters most to me; writing better content to serve my audience (yes, you!).

 

In overall marketing strategy:

I have big plans for this website and one of them is to create my own video audience on YouTube. When I create a video, I would then extract the voice and turn it into my podcast show.

And even live hangouts or interview series could be transformed into a super awesome podcast series thanks to the marketing tools from the Rainmaker Platform.

If syndication isn’t your marketing strategy, you got use it .. or face the consequences of losing out in the near future!

 

3. Get noticed by being bold

Being bold isn’t being stupid or rude. It is the smart way of gaining attention. When do you bold statements, the spotlight will be on you.

Y-E-S, YOU!

Take the opportunity to shine and at the same time, be smart enough not to create a backfire.

Take a look at the image above. Daniel Craig (before and after). Which attracts your eyes better? I mean, seriously!

So, how to be bold?

The easiest way is to create a statement against the norm.

You are an entrepreneur and you are most likely to sell / promote a product. There are competitors, alright — and that makes creating bold statements much easier (but riskier). Take a look at the tweet below:

Bold statement from the folks at @BrilliantBooks, who are offering refunds to GSAW customers. (via @sarahw) http://pic.twitter.com/mKHo5Zn7sW

— Alex Shephard (@alex_shephard) July 15, 2015

We all heard about the drama around the book series, “To Kill A Mockingbird” — if you have not, don’t worry. A quick search on Google would provide you with some answers real fast.

Now, back to the story. Do you think the company had released a powerful and bold statement? Yes, yes and yes!

But there’s one thing you need to know. Being bold usually comes with the positive and negative side; you either get tons of support or making a fool out of yourself.

Important takeaway: Learn to be bold at the right time, but not all the time.

 

4. Providing value (without asking for return)

It is noisy in whatever industry you are in. People are constantly sharing information on a daily basis. For instance, there are over 500 million blogs out there (as of today) and 2 million blog posts are published every day.

I bet it is extremely ‘noisy’ right?

Think about it this way instead.

Everyone is sharing content and the real fact is that most people are selling or promoting a product for their own gain.

Now, imagine what happens when you put on your game face and reach out to the mass public by providing enormous value. And, you aren’t asking anything back in return — not even an email address.

What will happen when do you that?

• You’ll build trust
• You provide value (more than anyone else)
• You start building brand loyalty

And when you do this long enough, you will become an influencer in your own niche.

 

5. Creating a community can get you noticed

Don’t believe me?

Check out the Facebook Group Email1k created by Noah Kagan of AppSumo. He created the a community for free, thanks to Facebook powerful community feature.

The disclaimer taken directly from the group:

This group is for people working through Noah Kagan’s Email1K course. It’s to support and help each other get more email subscribers.

What you can do here: You can ask questions about the content in the Email1K course, questions about using the SumoMe tools and questions related to building your subscribers. You can help others out by contributing your knowledge. Please do. That’s what makes this group a great community.

The main goal of this Facebook group is simple: Share ideas and get more email subscribers.

He did that by providing tons of advice (being active in the community itself) and providing free email templates to grow the member’s email lists. The results? Happy, happy community members.

What can you learn from Noah? Get noticed in a noisy world by providing value — yes value that will turn on your visitors into loyal readers and making you a well-respected person (for the value you provide, not politics )

 

Are you ready to get noticed in a noisy world?

Leave a comment, share this around or hit me up on social. Tell me what you think about this and if you have more ways to get yourself noticed in your own niche.

See you in the comments below!

The post Get Noticed In A Noisy World: 5 Simple Steps To Take You From Here To The Top appeared first on Reginald Chan.

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