Special Edition - Stop Ignoring Your Social Media

You know, where are your clients going? They're going to your social media pages and they're seeing that, you know, some people don't even have a profile picture or, you know, they don't have anything in the about section or their last post is from, you know, I've had clients that it's been as long ago as 2015. I'm like, come on guys, like, you know, this is, it's an integral part of your business now.

Okay, Jodi, here we are. It's a special episode. We're not numbering this one, but this is very important because I see this all the time. People are either overthinking their social media, they're getting down to the level of like, should I post this minute, this time, this time of day, how many posts a day, all that kind of stuff. Or they're just like, hey, I don't have time for social media. It's, you know, I don't, I don't believe in it or whatever. And from a marketing standpoint, I mean, this is our business, but I think when you look at where consumers go online to find things out, you know, social media is important, right? And that's what I want to talk about with you today, um, and your experience and what you've seen that's out there. So I'm going to give my initial standpoint on this, is that if you are in business you need to be present on social media somewhere, right? Once your clients know that you're there, they will go there to, to engage with you and follow you. I mean, the number one, one that's out there is Facebook. So I mean, you should at least have a presence there, whether you post, you know, once a week, right, at the minimum, just so there's something there. But never be like once every 6 months, right? Right. Wouldn't you agree?

Yeah, no, definitely. And I would even say that, you know, once a week isn't isn't quite enough effort, and if you're finding that you don't have enough time, you need to outsource that, you know, period. I think what I see the most often is, you know, clients who either say, you know, I'm not really a social media person, or, you know, I get that one a lot, or, you know, I don't have time for that stuff. It's always that stuff. But I think what people don't understand is social media has become an absolutely, you know, key component to any business. It doesn't matter what industry you're in, you know, it doesn't matter what your business is, you need to have a social media page these days. You know, not only for that social proof, but also just, you know, to have some type of reputation with existing clients as well, right? And be able to showcase and show the personality of your brand. Because that has become key as well. And, you know, what I often say to clients who have said that, you know, I don't have time for social media, you know, I talk to them like, just ask them the simple question of, you know, when you go out and purchase something or are interested in a service, like, you know, where do you go? And they're like, oh, well, like the website, normally social media pages. And it's like, okay, well, you know, where are your clients going? They're going to your social media pages and they're seeing that, you know, some people don't even have a profile picture or, you know, they don't have anything in the about section. Or their last post is from, you know, I've had clients that it's been as long ago as 2015. And I'm like, come on guys, like, you know, this is, it's an integral part of your business now. And people definitely need to start paying more attention to that for sure.

Yeah, and people are going to Google. I think Google still outweighs that initial search when people are looking for something, right? So if they're looking for, you know, a plumber,, right? So they're going to look for plumbers in, you know, insert city, town, whatever it is there, and it's going to see what comes up. Well, I mean, Google's going to come up with Google Ads at the top. So if they're— if you're running Google Ads, obviously you're going to come up on the top of the page. And then it's going to start to bring up, you know, websites if they're done really well. But if there's a Facebook page that's categorized for the right, it's going to come up in that top level search because Facebook is a huge online entity and they're indexed very well. And people will click on that, right? And you obviously have to have stuff updated like your hours, your contact information. But I guarantee most people are going to start to scroll the first couple posts to see what you're doing, right? And that's your first impression. It's the same thing as if you have somebody come into your store, you know, you probably spend a lot of time making sure your store is clean, the people are there, um, you know, it's almost like, you know, not having somebody in your store to, to, you know, work with your clients that are coming through, you know. If you're not giving your social media pages attention, then you're really ignoring those people. And they will base their impression on what they see, see online.

Oh, absolutely. And I mean, like you mentioned, when people click on that Facebook page or visit that Instagram page, you know, they're gonna start scrolling through the most recent posts. So you need to have like almost a rotation of, of your, your objectives, right? So, you know, one that's really common with social media is you want to you know, engage and you want to create, you know, likability of your brand and, you know, that kind of relationship aspect. But you also have to, you know, inform your followers and, you know, just the general public that's searching your social media. You have to inform them about what you're all about and what your business does and, you know, your products, your services, your offerings, whatever it might be. And You know, a lot of people think that has to be in a really annoying, you know, sales-related way, but it doesn't have to be. You know, it can be very casual. You can just talk about it. Don't mention price. And, you know, that needs to be consistent because if people are coming to your page and, you know, the first 3, 4, 5 posts don't have anything about it, they're not even gonna know what you're all about, right? And, you know, then I— when I'm talking with clients, oftentimes I like to boil it down to 3 main goals or 3 main kind of purposes of posts because a lot of them like to post 3 times a week. That's kind of that golden area, I guess. And so you wanna have that personal aspect engagement, you wanna have the about your product and service offering, again, not in a salesy way, and then whatever is specific to that client, whatever your business focuses on what differentiates you, what's unique, you know, what are you offering that other people aren't. And I think that very basic equation can lead to a lot of success in your social media pages.

Absolutely. And, you know, I hear clients look at, you know, what's the return on it, right? So, you know, we use the term ROI, which is return on investment. And a lot of times social media doesn't have a direct correlation to dollar in, dollar out, right? It's very hard to track that. You know, if you are selling products on like an e-commerce store, you can get a higher sense of, okay, we're gonna, you know, spend $1,000 in ads this month and it will report back that we earn, you know, $2,500 in sales, right? Which is a 2.5 return on ad spend, which is great. But when you're doing your social media marketing, it's very hard to know exactly, was it that social media account that brought people in? And if you're not doing it and you're not asking when people come into the store, or you're talking about like, where did you hear about us, you'll never know. So a lot of times, you know, let's say you do a social post about, you know, a community involvement thing that you did, and, you know, somebody saw it on your page, and, you know, you're a plumber, and, you know, later on that day somebody's like, hey, you know any good plumbers? And that person says, oh yeah, this company I just saw, they're doing stuff, you should give them a call. Well, that person that calls you didn't see the post, but you influenced somebody else to talk about you, right? So there's a lot of indirect side of social media.

Exactly. And that's why so many people just put it on the back burner and forget about it and say, you know, well, it's not revenue generating. And the thing is, you know, it's difficult, but you can't know that. You don't know how many impressions and, you know, influences you've had on people that has, you know, impacted your, your, your revenue. But the thing is, you have to still prioritize it because there's all these hidden ways that it can positively impact. You know, just because you can't directly chase down exactly where, you know, and how social media is helping, it doesn't mean that it's not happening and it's not helping.

Absolutely. And, you know, the investment on it doesn't have to be super large. I mean, there's some time, um, but I mean, if you work with us, I mean, our lowest package that's in there that will allow you to be working with you, Jodi, you know, is just under $200 a month, right? And that's, that's a minimal investment. If you're, if you're listening to this going, well, I don't have $200 to spend on it, I wonder really what's your business model if you don't have that much to spend on marketing of some sort to have have that part of, of your engagement going. And then obviously you can scale up to any, any size, and that's happening there. But really where we get people thinking about it is, is what is going through the mind of those prospects when they're thinking about your product and service, and how can you talk to that, you know? And there's a whole customer life cycle from, you know, awareness is usually, you know, the first stage. People either have a problem that you can solve and they're aware of that, and now they're going online to search for solutions for it, right? So they become aware of you, they find your page, you know, and then we need stuff that's going to start to engage them. And that's the next thing is, you know, maybe they're not ready to call yet and commit to it, but can we give them something to go check out? Maybe there's some videos on YouTube that you're talking about, you know, that we're going to get them to click and go watch, right? Still not buying yet, but they're starting to engage and they're starting to become part of that whole ecosystem that you have. So that when they're ready to actually, you know, make that decision, that decision stage, they're going to, to think about you, right? Because you've, you've actually been top of mind in that social presence.

Yeah, definitely.

And one of the, um, the best examples I've ever had to give of this was one that I saw at a conference I went to years ago, and it was a pool company. And they did theirs on their website, and they also mimicked it on their social media, is they developed a guide that was a free guide that they were giving away, and it was like the, I don't know the exact name, but it was something to the effect of, you know, the top 12 things you absolutely need to know before making a decision to buy a pool, right? Now think about this. If you're in the mindset that like, wow, it's super hot, we'd love to have a pool, and you start to go look online, right? And you check out websites and social media, and you see this, I don't think you would turn that down because you're like, there's something in there that I need to know to make an informed decision, uh, behind that. You're going to opt into it. And they've positioned that document to speak exactly to their sales process, everything that their company offers that their competition probably does not, right? So you give that to them and then you start to retarget them, or they opt in and you can email them using Keep. And all those different things so that when the time comes that they're like, yeah, we're gonna do it, we got the money, who are they going to think of? They're going to think of the company that gave them information to give them that informed decision, right? This stuff isn't hard, it just needs to be thought about.

Yeah, definitely. And you know, that translates directly to social media as well, right? Like, you have to think of how your posts are going to provide value to your followers and, you know, your potential customers. You know, whether that be through, you know, educating them about your product or service or, you know, something that's relevant to it or some industry news, just sharing articles. You know, whether it's selling yourself as a person and as part of the brand, it just has to provide some type of value in order to even be worth taking the time to post because, you know, we either see people who are completely ignoring their social or sometimes they're just completely, you know, shoving content down people's throats, which obviously is not very enticing and, you know, if you're just posting because you want to meet that, you know, you know, that threshold of whatever, you know, you're thinking is the ideal amount to post, it's never that simple. It's always about the value.

Yeah, and I mean all these social media systems are all using machine learning and algorithm so every user that is on Facebook has a different experience than the person next to them, right? Because it's based on what they're engaging in, it's based on the times that they go online. All that's being tracked and stuff's being served up properly. So it's never very linear anymore where it used to be years ago where you try to post at a time because you knew that's when your audience was online. But now there's time shifting and all this kind of stuff that's happening. And it's not as important that way. It's more of having valuable content on there and just being there and showing up.

Definitely. And, you know, once again, as I mentioned, you know, every podcast that we do, metrics, right? Look at the types of content that are, you know, gathering the most views, the most likes, the most engagement. Or, you know, you can even go into, you know, Instagram and Facebook have their own built-in, you know, analytics tools now to see You know, what types of contents are doing well, your top post, everything along those lines to be able to make those informed decisions and really know what type of value that, you know, you're presenting is providing the most results.

Absolutely. And let's shift a little bit and talk about our process of how we're working with clients. So, you know, we've provided options for clients where You know, they can either get access to our tool, which we talked about, right? And they want to do it on their own, and they can do a once-a-month call with you where you're basically just their mentor and just, you know, going over what they're doing and doing it. We're not creating any content for them, right? That's the bare basis of it. But where we're really running to get the success is helping give our clients back time by having you create the content, posting it on their behalf, having them still provide some, you know, raw organic content that you will then schedule and post out. And I think that's extremely important, is you never want to just give full control out to someone else to be like, here, just do it, right? I don't want any part of it, just do it, right? I mean, if you're in that mindset, just— I don't even know what the advice would be to you. Is either got to change your mindset because it's not going to work. You need to be involved in it, but you can bring us on, right? It's kind of a sales pitch, but you can bring us on to be part of your team. And that's really what you try to do, right?

Oh, absolutely. You know, our strategy has always been, you know, working in collaboration because I always say, you know, I'm never going to know your business the way you do. I'm never going to be able to be, you know, the voice for your business on social media without your help. So, you know, those collaboration calls at the beginning of the month or weekly or whatever it might be are about me telling them the strategy that I'm seeing and that I've, you know, used countless times that has worked really well and finding a way to mold that into their brand's voice. And then, you know, I'll do up a, you know, social calendar with every single thing that I need for the month, have that content to me, you know, set up the due date and then And from there I can schedule everything out. But a lot of times in addition to that scheduled planned content, that's, you know, strategic, um, based on the metrics, you also need to have those things that are happening in the moment to have that genuine, you know, feeling to your social media page, which so many clients are and so many people follow for, you know, like if, if something silly is happening or behind the scenes or, you know, whatever it might be that is interesting throughout your day that you want people to see and that you think people will find interesting. Right. So that's kind of the strategy we've taken on at Blue Cow because, you know, hands down, it's the most effective and it's the most real and genuine for businesses.

Now, let's give our listeners just before we wrap up here, just kind of the insight as to what you do before you actually start working with a client, because a lot of times people hear social media packages and they think, I'll go to the website, I'll put in my credit card, I buy it, and suddenly I start to get content.

Right.

But we want to actually go through what's been done already, do some research, you know, provide kind of some insights as here's where we think the best opportunities are. Talk about what you do before you actually get a client to commit.

Right. So, you know, first when I see that there's a, you know, free consult scheduled, I'll immediately go into the website, find out every single social channel that they have. And do a complete audit. You know, what's their followers look like? Who are they? Who are their followers? You know, what brand voice have they really been communicating, if they even have one? Are their aesthetics consistent? Are the even posting times and, you know, how often they're posting consistent? Does it match their website? Are all of them, you know, do they, all social platforms and all online presence give a consistent feel? And is that what I'm understanding? Am I understanding what the purpose of the social platforms are offering? And then from there, you know, I have my notes going into a meeting with a client and I'm asking them what their comfort levels are with online marketing. Have they, you know, seen success? Are they really struggling? What are their pain points? Is it time? Is it, you know, consistency? What are their main goals with social media? What do they expect to get out of it? Are they realistic? Are they unrealistic? Or are they not shooting far enough? Do they not have the right ideas in mind or the right direction? And then from there, it's really a sufficient amount of information along with the actual concrete metrics on socials to really come up with an in-depth plan and a good starting point for where we should go with the social channels in terms of their frequency of posts, consistency, what type of content those type of viewers are going to engage with the most, the demographic and the key, the target of people, what are they gonna want to see? And just kind of going from there because marketing really is a trial and error area of business. You're never gonna be spot on the first time and honestly, you're never gonna be spot on 100% of the time even when you figure figure it out. You're always going to have to be trying new things and, you know, it's a very fast-paced industry. So, you know, no matter what your business is, you're going to have to remain, you know, up to date with what's going on and what the trends are and, you know, what hashtags to use and what people want to see, really. So it's a process and it's an ongoing process the entire time that you have your company, right?

It's consistent evolution. You just always have to be okay with, with constantly changing because it is a moving target. We're dealing with humans, behavior, um, you know, attention spans, all that kind of stuff. Popular culture changes, right? So, so if you're listening and you're like, this all sounds great and I'd love to talk to you guys, you can go to bluecowmarketing.ca, schedule a free consult there. Um, Jodi will get on the phone with you or Zoom call, whatever, whatever you prefer. And we can learn more about your business and help you out.

Yeah, for sure. And you know, last thing I want to add is a lot of people feel, they kind of feel like they're failing because they aren't, you know, keeping up with, with their marketing side. But you know, small business owners especially, you know, you're doing 600 jobs in one, right? And you know, my entire job is social media and marketing. So, you know, you should never feel bad for having to seek help or, you know, outsource that specific part of your company because, you know, it's, it's literally what we do, right?

So yeah, it's the difference between— I mean, you wouldn't get open-heart surgery from a general practitioner.

Exactly.

Yeah, you would trust that person.