In this instructional video, Dan Willis of millennialmotivator.ca addresses small business owners and entrepreneurs who are unsure how to start with digital marketing. He outlines three foundational steps for beginners: (1) Choose a single social media platform (or at most a few) that you can manage consistently, rather than spreading effort across many networks; (2) Post content as frequently as possible—ideally daily—using formats like live videos, recorded videos, photos, or blog posts, to keep the brand visible in users' feeds; (3) Treat digital marketing as a two‑way conversation by actively engaging with comments, responding to audience feedback, and reaching out to other creators to build relationships. Throughout, Dan emphasizes the importance of continuous learning from other marketers and staying adaptable. He closes with a call‑to‑action asking viewers to comment on their primary social network, promising a follow‑up video based on the most popular choice.
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You hear small business should be using digital marketing more often, but you're not sure how to get into it? Stick around, I'm going to help you out. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I am Dan from millennialmotivator.ca. I'm here to help you guys learn how to create, engage, and inspire. If you are new to the channel, go ahead and click that subscribe button, that notification bell down there. I do videos Monday through Saturday to help small businesses, entrepreneurs learn how to use the internet effectively to grow their business online. So if that sounds like it's up your alley, you're looking how to learn, this is the place for you. Without further ado though, today what we are getting at is how does a small business or an independent entrepreneur actually use digital marketing to their advantage? For the most part, people get a little confused about how does this work? How do I plug in? What network should I be using? What one shouldn't I be using? And the reality is oftentimes people get too bogged down in the details. So what I'm going to give you are 3 simple steps that you should take if you want to have some engagement, some growth, and some sales come in through your digital marketing. Now, disclaimer, warning, note, these are beginning steps. So is this a cohesive video of every digital marketing strategy out there? No, this is not that. This is beginner steps for small businesses or entrepreneurs that are having no success online with their digital marketing and the steps that they can take today, small incremental simple steps to grow their business and start to see some success. So without further ado, let's hit it. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, first and foremost, we're going to tackle what social networks should you be on? This question I must get asked 10-15 times a week. Should I be using Instagram? I hear that Snapchat's big. I hear that YouTube's a thing. I hear Twitter's coming back. I should be over here. I should be doing this. And I have to call it out. Stop. Stop. Full stop. Stop everything that you're doing. Forget everything. Don't listen to the dialogue. Don't listen to your aunt. Don't look at the other people that are using social networks. 9 times out of 10, people get so bogged down chasing and firefighting social media That they get lost and never achieve anything. Okay, so what's the solution? It's simple. Pick one. Pick one. There are so many social networks out there with so many different opportunities, so many different ways that you can go. And the reality is this, guys, it— each of them can be successful if you use them effectively. So let's take a hypothetical small business. Let's say you are a photographer. Okay. Okay, and you go, I want to use Facebook. Okay, no problem. You want to use Facebook? Let's use Facebook. Make sure that your photos are there. Make sure you have good albums. Make sure you have galleries. Make sure you're engaging with people on there. Make sure you're using the network as much as you can in as many different ways as you can to showcase your photography, to showcase your skills, to showcase what you can do. We'll get to a few of those things on later points, but the reality is make sure whatever networks you pick, you are using Don't pick 10 networks and not use any of them. It would be better for you to pick 1, 2, or 3 that you feel you can actually dedicate the time to, put content onto, and use effectively. Okay, so that's the first one. Which social network should you be using? Which direction should you be heading? It's as simple as use what you are familiar with, what you feel you can actually use well, and dedicate the time and commitment to it. Don't get caught in the game of playing the next flavor of the month. Use what you know, use it frequently. That's the first step. Let's get on to it. Next up, guys, how often should I be posting? That's your website, your blog, your vlog, your social media, your tweets, your posts, your Instagram photos, your stories, your Tumbles, whatever it is, how often? And this answer, guys, is going to blow you away. As a small business, you should be posting as often as you possibly can. And a lot of people say, well, you don't want to flood people. You don't want to— the reality is, guys, I get a dozen bleeps, bloops, posts, you name it, a day on this. A day. It's constantly bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. People are going to filter that. The reality is it doesn't matter whether it's you or someone else. When they open up those notifications, if they see something eye-grabbing, it's going to work to your case, okay? So you have to make sure that what you're doing is getting your content out there, getting your business, your product, your service, your expertise out there as much as you possibly can. Now I know we all have a business to run and therein lies the sanity of this, okay? You are running a business. You don't have time to be creating content all day long. I'm a digital marketing consultant. I've got other clients to work on. So as for myself, I can manage feasibly a live video a day, and a recorded video a day, and then I use this recorded video to share out among my other networks. So for me, I can dedicate the hour it takes to create a live video and a recorded video and put that out there. If you don't have an hour a day to market your business, I think you should try to find it. But if you don't, fine, make it a half hour. What can you accomplish in a half hour a day? The reality is the more that you can dedicate to it, the more success you'll see from it. But don't get bogged down with, oh, Dan said I had to do 12 posts today. Oh, Dan said I had to do 3 posts today. Oh, the Algorithm Hacker said I had to do— forget it. Put out as much content as you can possibly put out in one day. Put it out there as much as you can. It's so vital, it's so crucial, and the last piece of the puzzle is coming up here, okay guys? It's the last piece. All your digital marketing needs to be a 2-way street. So it is not simply about you spewing onto everybody that's out there. The best way, the best way that you can engage is to engage. Create conversations. Put content out there that is going to create a conversation. People are going to talk about it. People are going to have something to say. Again, we'll go back to being a photographer. Shoot crazy photos that nobody had thought of shooting before. Put it out there. Show people how you shoot those crazy photos. Create videos of that. All kinds of great ideas for content out there, but the reality is make sure that you're out there and engaging with the people. You put a photo out there and somebody says, this is an amazing photo, I love your family portrait that you did, do you do family portraits for other people? Engage with that. Even just a thank you, if it's, this is great, thanks. Take the time to engage back, create conversations. If somebody drops something more than just an arbitrary, this is great, that's cool, this is interesting, If they take the time to put some comment that shows they saw what you did, they liked what you did, they had a commentary on it, take the time to put a commentary in response. If you guys go back and look at some of my other videos, you'll see that there are people that regularly engage on these videos, and I always take the time, always, to reply to their comments in a meaningful way. If somebody gives me, thank you, this is awesome, I reply back, no, you're awesome, thank you for watching the channel. If somebody gives me a longer dialogue on, Oh, I like this video. I'm going to do this with it. I will take the time to say thanks for watching. That's a great idea. I'd love to hear how it turned out. Always, always, always be engaging in the community. Take it a step further as well, though. Don't just stop with your content. Go find some people out there that have content that's appealing to you and your business. Reach out to them. Talk with them. You know, if you're a family photographer, looking for family on Instagram, bam! There it is. I guess Instagram would be this. Oh, look, look at this family. Those are beautiful, beautiful photos of their kids. Wow, you guys have an amazing family. Love it. I would love to shoot you guys in a photo. Who knows if that's going to turn into anything or not, but the reality— turn into anything or not. But I do know this. What I know is the more that you're out there, the more that you're talking with people, the more that you're involved and engaged, the more it's going to create relationships, communication, and a community around your brand, product, or service. Okay, so the keys are these, guys. How many social networks do you need? As many as you can manage. How often should you be posting? As often as you can. As often as you can. Is it enough to just spew out there onto the internet? No, it's not. You have to have a two-way street. It has to be a dialogue. You have to communicate effectively. This is going to be a bonus to close us out here, guys. The last thing that you should be doing is is constantly learning. Learn, learn, learn, learn, learn. So whether it's this channel here or guys like Roberto Blake, Tim Schmoyer, Derral Eves, Gary Vaynerchuk, Tim Ferriss, whoever it is, whoever's your guy out there, whoever's your girl out there, whoever's the person that just gets you hyped up and blows your mind and gives you new things that you want to try, try new things. Learn, grow, expand. Don't get stuck in a rut doing the same thing Over and over and over and seeing no results for it, that's insanity. Don't be insane. Think what you're doing, learn from the others that are doing it, give it a shot, give it a try, see how it works. That person's doing really well on Instagram as a photographer, great. See if you can do something similar. Don't copy, don't copy, be your unique self. But create, create, and then engage, and hopefully that will inspire. And that's it for today, guys. I hope you liked the video. Question of the day is, which social network is your social network? I'd love to hear that in the comments below, and whichever social network I see as the number one will be a video later in this week. I will do something on that video to help you guys learn how to use it more effectively. Have a great night, guys, and I will catch you tomorrow with another video. Later! Later!
