Social media isn't your whole marketing strategy

Social media is a wonderful thing. (Obviously, I’m a fan).

It gives small businesses a way to stay visible, build relationships, share what they know, show a little personality and remind people they exist without needing an enormous marketing budget - but it cannot be your entire marketing strategy!

When we talk about marketing, we’re really talking about all the different ways people discover you, get to know you, decide whether they trust you and eventually choose to buy from you.

That might include your website, Google, email marketing, networking, word of mouth, referrals, events, partnerships, PR and, yes, social media, but it's so important to remember that the right combination is different for every business.

A local café is going to market itself very differently from an accountant. A consultant working nationally might lean heavily on LinkedIn and email, while a small B2B service business may find that networking, referrals and a good Google presence bring in just as much work as Facebook or Instagram.

That’s why I get a little twitchy when people feel pressured to be everywhere.

You do not need to post constantly across six platforms, start a podcast, send a weekly newsletter, make videos every day and somehow squeeze in some networking before breakfast.

You need to work out where your people are, how they tend to find businesses like yours and what you can realistically keep doing.

Social media works particularly well when it supports the rest of your marketing.

Someone might meet you at an event and then look you up on LinkedIn. A friend may recommend your business and your prospective client heads to Instagram for a little snoop. Someone discovers you through Google, reads your website and then follows your Facebook page until the time is right to contact you....and those little touchpoints work together.

So before you worry about whether you posted enough this week, zoom out.

Where is your business currently being seen? Where are your best clients coming from? What’s working? What have you been doing simply because you think you’re supposed to?

Social media is one piece of the marketing puzzle. The goal isn’t to make that piece bigger than everything else. It’s to make sure it fits.