Crippled CEO Blog #138:
I think every small business should be posting on Facebook and Instagram, preferably at least once per day.
This is only helpful, however, if you are posting the right thing.
I see so many small businesses that treat their Facebook posts like ads in a newspaper or magazine.
And that is fine occasionally, but it can’t be the majority of your output.
Here is my mantra for posting to social media as a business:
Be the show, not the commercial.
Regardless of what you do, people are going to be more inclined to care about the “show” than your commercial.
Think about it: you will tune out a 30 second commercial for a real estate broker or an interior designer, but these shows on HGTV get tons of people watching for a half hour at a time.
You would fast forward through a commercial about a pawnshop, but Pawn Stars was a huge hit raking in millions of eye balls.
Literally nobody wants to sit through a commercial for a venture capital investor, but Shark Tank is excellent TV.
I was asked once what the difference is, and my answer was short: intent.
There are four kinds of content you can put out where you’re the show and not the commercial, and whichever you are doing, if your intention is correct, people will notice.
So, what are the four kinds?
1) Educational content. If you own a business, you are an expert in something that other people need or care about. You have valuable insight that you can share. Share it. And share generously. Don’t worry about giving away what you think you’re selling. People will still end up hiring you. If you’re a web designer, and you give a step-by-step tutorial on how a company can build their first website, even though you just gave away all of the information so people could do it themselves, that tutorial is going to make them more likely to buy from you, not less. Knowing how to do something isn’t what’s stopping people — actually doing the work is.
2) Document what’s going on in your business. Turn your company into a mini reality show and let people feel invested in being a part of the journey. Share the good, obviously, but don’t be afraid to share the bad, also. People who feel like they know your company and come along for the ride are going to refer you and be about as loyal as you can get.
3) Fun stuff. There isn’t much educational about filming your staff doing the latest TikTok dance, but it’s fun, people will like you more, and folks are more likely to buy from companies they like.
4) Curate other content. Being a source for things happening in your industry is a great way to provide value without having to actually create any original content. If you are an automotive repair shop, and your Facebook page always has all the latest and most interesting car news, that’s going to get people coming back while increasing your credibility.
You don’t have to do all four of these. In fact, I would recommend focusing on one, maybe two, and then sprinkling in the others when the opportunity arises.
And that’s that. If you do this consistently, you’re going to do well on social media. Just take a step back every now and again and make sure that your content hasn’t drifted over into being a commercial, and you are still the show.
Welcome to show biz.
(You know who put on one heck of a show last night? Your mom. Your mom also gets a text from me every Sunday with a link to the latest blog post. Send a text to 561-726-1567 with the word CRIP as the message to get a link to the blog as soon as it’s up.
Did you know that I have a YouTube channel now? I do! I am putting up two videos every single week. Go search for Crippled CEO and you’ll find me. I would appreciate it if you subscribed.)
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