Yes, doing less on social really is more... I PROMISE you! 

When it comes to growing your product business, do you find yourself chasing your tail and often feeling overwhelmed by social media?  If you are like the majority of entrepreneurs I expect you answered a big fat YES to that question!

There are now so many social media platforms out there, from Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, to newer platforms like TikTok - it is a constantly evolving beast.

Many product business owners I speak to find themselves in a bit of a spin when it comes to social - typically being spread too thin.  They are trying to actively run accounts on all of these platforms, but not really getting any traction on any of them!

My view? ... that it is FAR better to do less on social media. Simplify your world and just focus on one platform and do it really, really well.

The social platform challenge

There is a very real pressure as an entrepreneur to be "seen" across all platforms - I know because I felt it with my own ecommerce business and feel it today too - but where does that pressure come from really?  When you dig into this and truly ask yourself, it's usually only your own FOMO - fear of missing out. 

It may feel like you need to be making an appearance across all social media opportunities out of there but that's not strategically sound, it's actually a "scattergun" approach - because your very specific customer isn't necessarily on all of these channels... at least not in a meaningful way.

Most of your customers actually only have 1 or 2 "go to" social platforms that they check daily and the rest of the platforms rarely get a little look - perhaps once in a while if they are really bored, sat on the train! 

So can you imagine the amount of time and energy that would be consumed maintaining all of those accounts in the hope that your customer *might* be looking at your posts, and *might* be open to absorbing your brand content. 

From posting, to replying to audience’s comments, it's time to ask yourself can you really be everywhere all of the time as a growing product-based business - or would it make more sense to just pick ONE thing, ONE platform to smash this year? 

Customer expectations on social

We are a very switched on, face paced, modern culture, so your audience, whichever platform they are on, will expect almost instantaneous responses from your brand if you are online.

If, as founder of your brand, you are busy running your product-based business, and managing an array of social media platforms without the luxury of a digital marketing team to back you up, it can be safe to say you are going to miss things.  Something is going to get dropped.

For the life of me, don't let that "thing" be your customer reaching out to you in that moment.  It will do more harm than good.   

Why picking ONE platform and becoming awesome at it works

So - let's imagine being on just ONE platform...

If you picked just one platform to focus on, for the purposes of this example, let's choose Instagram - you could then make sure that you really stay up to date with all the algorithm changes, the latest Instagram trends and also the publishing tools for businesses.

You would have the time to focus in on peak performance on that platform.

Having authentic interactions with your customers, replying to messages personally and building a connection, not just sending them a quick "heart". 

You'll also get super clear on what's working ... and what's not.

All this means that each post you make is at maximum power - if it's reels that are now getting traction over images, then you are on it, and aware of it before your competitors and dishing out content that both your customers and the Instagram algorithm loves. 

Essentially, you will become an expert in the tools and attraction marketing strategies available to you, and you will become highly aware of best practice too. 

And of course, your brain will feel alot happier, knowing that you only have to produce and monitor one social channel... already feels alot less overwhelming right?

What will you do with all that extra time you are not faffing about with the other social channels?  Perhaps make a sales pitch to a new major retailer account?  

Which platform is the right one for your audience?

Have you ever considered where your audience is hanging out virtually? I would like to recommend that you sit down and brainstorm where you think the vast majority of your customers will be on social media.

The older generation tends to hang out on Facebook, whereas TikTok has a younger, even teenage audience, Instagram is typically for the millennials and the yummy mummys, plus it's is also very image orientated which is ideal for product-based businesses.

So, if your brand is all about showcasing beautiful and creative content, such as home decor, beauty or incredibly visually appealing products, Instragram would be the perfect platform for you.

Then of course you also have LinkedIn and Twitter, both of which tend to be much better for B2B companies or opinion leaders.

When you know where your, very specific Customer is hanging out virtually on social media, then you will be able to decide which social media platform to focus on.

Why doing less is actually doing more

It is far better to focus on one platform than to spread yourself too thinly. If nothing else, multiple platforms means multiple variations of content creation and multiple touch points and audience interactions.

Put simply you will have lots to produce and publish.

No one wants that, if there is a easier way. 

As I'm sure you are already starting to realise if you've had your product based business for any amount of time, you will also find that each platform has different styles. For example, Facebook algorithms prefer a mixture of image and text, whereas Instagram require visually creative videos, more often today with AR effects and appealing images.

It’s far better to do less but do your one platform really well, create meaningful posts on that platform and build up a meaningful relationship with your audience. That way your audience will build a positive view of the responsiveness and accessibility of your brand.

Your competitors will wonder how you have the time to be so attentive, your customers will love it.

You'll find they start to interact more purposefully on your social media page / profile and that in turns turbo-charges the algorithms into thinking you are a super popular profile... all the winning factors to building positive results and growth for your business.

Make It Happen In Your Business

It's time to start doing less on social media.  You brain and your business will thank you for it.  Pick your ONE social media platform that you want to give 100% focus to and create an incredible, well thought-out content publishing routine for the best results.

Next Steps:

• Consider where your specific customers "live" on social media - which ONE channel is their "go - to" must check every day platform?  If you are not sure, why not survey your customers via email, using a Surveymonkey.com tool and find out!
• Once you have the data, be brave and commit.  Pick your ONE social media channel and go all in.  
• Learn what success looks like for your chosen channel, take an online course if you need to and utilise the free resources that the platform themselves provide for business users. 
• Celebrate the freedom of not having to create and publish across multiple platforms and use that time well to go win some amazing sales accounts for your business!