4 Tips to Help with Social Media Overwhelm
Social media overwhelm is a real thing.
It is not your imagination, and no, you are not the only one going through it.
We are all struggling with how much there is to know, when to be on social, what platforms to use, how to engage with our community… heck, how do we even find our community.
The struggle is real, and honestly, it isn’t getting easier!
So what do you do as a small business owner trying to figure it all out?
We have 4 tips that we work on every single day in our business that we hope will help you.
1. Strategically plan what you can (and can’t) keep up with
We can’t do it all. But we do need to make sure that where we do decide to spend our time is the best place to be. You love Instagram but your ideal client is not on Instagram, so is that the best place to put all your energy. Perhaps not.
It also means not comparing yourself to what others are doing, but actually focusing on what you can accomplish (without completely burning yourself out!).
It is easy to be intimidated by the constant updates and the content overload from other businesses on social. As we know, social media does not tell the full story. That business or account that seems to do it all might have an entire team managing their social media marketing.
Instead of comparing yourself to these accounts, we recommend taking the time to work on what is within your control. Solidify your marketing plan to identify who your community is, where they are spending time and what they are looking for from you. This will help you make sure you are reaching the right people with what they need.
TIP: Don’t just post for the sake of posting – have a plan and stick to it. You can learn more about target marketing at our SMC Summit with a session from Nikki Thibodeau from Shopify on understanding your target market and Angela Henderson will help you with a simple sales framework to help you map this out.
2. Find tools and systems to make your life easier
There are lots of tools and systems available for free or a low cost, but these are some of our favourites:
CANVA – where were we before this app was developed? And the advances they have made in the last few months are outstanding. If you haven’t been in there for a while, we highly recommend checking it out. For free (or pay a bit more for a pro plan and get a ton of extras) you can be making your beautiful posts, reels, stories, and more right in the app. Simple and amazing.
TIP: Learn everything you can about Canva as an amazing resource to simplify your life! Shayla Bre will be walking us through the latest in Canva and how to build your visual brand using this simple tool.
LATER – once again, another app that outshines the rest, this scheduling app with its simple to use format and bonus extras is our go to. If nothing else, make sure you follow them on Instagram and sign up for their newsletters as they are full of jewels of information.
TIP: Scheduling can save you much needed time. Chrissy Abram of Later will be speaking at our SMC Summit. Going to be an excellent session on Later, plus she’s going to talk influencers as well!
ASANA – we love Asana! This project management tool helps us here at SMC organize all our social media, build out our to do lists, manage our marketing assets and connect on all our projects.
MAILCHIMP – or any list building platforms is key to your success. Don’t let social media be your only way to communicate with your followers. Get directly into their inbox with content that does the job.
TIP: Don’t rely completely on social media! Alisha Kumar will be showing us how to grow our lists during SMC Summit and Alex Emm is going to help you make sure your copy is spot-on.
TIP: Reach everyone the best way possible for them. And while this isn’t an app, it is something we need to be thinking about with our social media and our websites. We have Dave Bahr presenting on how to make your social media more visual for the non-visual person. Everything we do to reach all our potential clients is so important and this simple step will help you stand out from the rest.
3. Find a way to sell without being super salesy will make your heart feel better
If we are selling all the time, then we are working too hard and not feeling as good as we should about our social media. Which then leads to that overwhelm of I’m not doing enough! Finding a way to be useful to your followers to guide them towards buying from you is key to your success on social media. No one wants to be sold to 24/7, so figuring out how to be informative vs salesy is so important.
TIP: Find your way to reach your followers without scaring them with the sales pitch. At SMC Summit, Kristen McCall is going to help you develop a storytelling method to help you be that person your followers want to keep hearing from. And Tara Clark will help you reach your ideal client with organic selling, while Isabelle Mercier will show you how to use helpfulness to convert.
Keep remembering that you want to be the educator, the ambassador, the storyteller, the resource for your community. When you do this, they will be your fans for a very long time.
4. Continue to learn from the experts
If one thing is clear, social media changes on a daily basis. Just when you mastered Instagram Stories, they brought in Reels. And now you need to be on TikTok too? And live on LinkedIn. HELP!
With an ever-changing market, it is hard to know what to do, when to do it and why.
Take a moment to check out our SMC Summits and the experts and their topic areas. We have pulled together five summits this year to help you with social media overwhelm, providing bite size sessions that provide you with nuggets of wisdom to make sure you are moving forward with your social media.
TIP: Remember, we all start somewhere. Two of our keynote speakers have taken their business idea and grown it into their dream businesses. Jam Gamble is an advocate for using your voice and how important your story is. And Ashley Freeborn of Smash + Tess has used social media and influencers to build a brand that has exceeded all expectations in 2021. But they both started small and have done remarkable things with their businesses. They both learned from others and are now the experts sharing their knowledge to help others grow.
TIP: Keep learning! So whether it is Facebook ads with Tom Earl, or breaking down the difference between Reels and TikTok (and yes, take away some of the scary so you too can make a Reel!) with Katie Malone, remember you have to keep learning.
What is your social media overwhelm? Make sure you follow us on social media so we can help you feel less overwhelmed. And check out our SMC Summit HERE or any of our other Summits HERE.