Does this sound familiar? -->
You signed up to Buffer and scheduled a months worth of social media posts, but when they were sent out they barely got any attention.
You replied to tweets and Facebook posts that announced they were looking for someone with your skills, but none of them got back to you.
You came THIS close to deleting your social pages and cancelling your Buffer plan because social media felt like a waste of your time.
You've always winged it and got clients through referrals, so maybe that will be enough to keep your business going?
If that sounds like you then I want you to know I understand where you're coming from.
It's frustrating when you realize the time you're putting into social media marketing isn't reaping any results. I've been there and felt that.
Last year, I was ready to delete my Facebook and Instagram accounts because I felt like they didn't result in clients, customers or subscribers.
I'm eternally grateful I didn't though, because I now receive a hefty lot of traffic from Instagram and I get clients through Facebook!
I've had people tell me that those kinds of results aren't typical, but I'm here to tell you are IF you put in the work.
Who is social media marketing beneficial for?
Last week I told you 12 myths that freelancers believe about social media marketing, including this one:
"Social media marketing is only helpful for product-based businesses, not freelancers."
That's so untrue I want to scream it from my rooftop!
"How can a freelancer find clients on social media?"
"Isn't social media marketing for promoting products, not services?"
"How can I sell someone my $2000 package on social media? Isn't that impossible?"
If you're thinking along those lines then know that you're not alone. I used to think the same things.
It wasn't until I stopped thinking that way and started implementing a real social media marketing plan that I found clients through social media & booked up MONTHS in advance.
If that doesn't prove that social media marketing can work for service-based creative biz owners like you and then then I don't know what will!
But if you're wondering why its worked for me and hasn't worked for you (yet!) then here are my answers.
Why your social media marketing
hasn't worked so far
1. You're focusing on the wrong results.
Creatives tend to focus on how many likes their pages have, or how many hearts their scopes get on Periscope.
I hate the be the one to break this news, but it doesn't matter whether you have 100 or 100,000 likes: it's not real sales, clients or subscribers.
Sales, clients and subscribers are the only three conversions that matter, so don't waste your time trying to get hundreds of people to like your Instageam photos, and don't waste your energy doing a scope a day just to get more hearts.
Your clients and customers don't care how many likes you have.
They care about your skills and the quality of your work. They care about whether you're trustworthy or not. They care about whether you know your industry inside and out.
Instead of focusing on likes, focus on the level of interaction with your posts. (Click to tweet.)
Ask yourself- Is your community resonating with your posts and talking with you? Are you building a relationship with them?
You should also focus on the click-throughs to your website. You should track how many of those click-throughs convert into email subscribers and customers.
How can you track your social media conversions? I have a FREE Social Media Action Plan that will help you!
2. You're expecting the wrong results.
Let's use Twitter as an example. When people schedule posts to Twitter, they're usually hoping for one result: people will click the links in their tweets and read their blog posts, sign up their lists, or buy what they're selling.
This isn't what you should focus on.
I speent a whole day scheduling social posts to Twitter some time back, hoping it would lead some major traffic to my site.
But guess what?
It didn't make that much difference.
Don't get me wrong- I get a lot of traffic from Twitter and I still continue to tweet my blog posts. But, the traffic usually comes from other peoples tweets, such as the ones my super sweet friends sent below!
I had been expecting the wrong results from Twitter. What I didn't expect was that Twitter is actually best used to connect with others and create genuine relationships.
I've met some incredible bloggers and designers on Twitter! Twitter has even led to me collaborating with some of them! (Those collaborations are coming up in the next few months so stay tuned! They're going to be fun for me and suuuuuper beneficial for you.)
Stop expecting traffic from Twitter, and focus on building relationships there instead. (Click to tweet)
I've tried building relationships on all platforms: periscope, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram... But Twitter is by far the best.
3. You're not monitoring the results.
As I mentioned in the previous point, you have to monitor your results to understand which social platforms convert the best. When you do, you'll be able to understand if you should put more effort into a certain social platform or ditch it completely.
One way to monitor your results is by using Bitly.
When I share my blog posts on Instagram, I create a Bitly link for my post and I insert that into my Instagram bio. Then I post the blog post graphic and tell people to go to the link in my bio.
The Bitly dashboard allows me to track how many people click the link and which days they clicked it, which shows me exactly how much traffic Instagram drives to my website.
I was pleasantly delighted to see that about 30 people click through to my blog posts every time I post a blog post graphic to Instagram. It doesn't seem like much, but it is considering I don't spend much time there and I haven't invested much time in building my following.
If 30 people click through to my website from Instagram every day, that's 210 visits every week, which is 840 visits each month. AND, since most of my blog posts have content upgrades and sign up buttons in them, some of those Instagram visitors could convert into email subscribers.
You can use Bitly links on Periscope in the same way I use them on Instagram. Just add a Bitly link to your profile and track how many people click it! It will show you if Periscope is resulting in traffic or not, and then you can decide if you still want to spend time promoting your biz there.
Always monitor your social media results. It will help you determine whether to put more effort into a specific platform or stop using it altogether.
4. You're spreading yourself too thin.
There are tons of social media websites out there. Like, waaaaay too many to actually use effectively.
Don't feel the need to use every one of them.
You'll spread yourself too thin and you'll end up getting mediocre results from them all, when you could get amazing results from one if you focused on it. You just have to figure out which social platform is best for you.
Have you ever noticed how popular bloggers have one social platform they use way more than the rest?
That's because they've found the place that brings in the most conversions and they've put most of their effort there.
By all means, join 4-5 social media sites and share on all of them. But place your most of your effort on the one that results in the best conversions.
For me, that is currently Facebook. I've made some of my best business friends from Facebook, I've booked clients through Facebook and I've received really valuable feedback and advice from the people I mix with on Facebook.
My goal now is to find more ways I can utilize Facebook and make it my go-to social spot.
What about you? Which social media site are you going to focus on?
Leave me a comment and tell me which platform you think helps your business the most and how you're going to use it to grow your business this year!
I'd seriously love to know. I totally geek out over this stuff. :)
