Why getting visible on social media often leads to stress and disappointment

#1: Why use a thousand words, when a picture can – and should, say so much more?

It’s true what they say – a picture is worth a thousand words. We often struggle to find the right words to convey our thoughts, share our beliefs and evoke the right emotional response from our ideal clients. A picture can sum it all up beautifully. The attention span of your ideal audience is short. They don’t want to be reading long text-based statuses, blog posts or news articles. If an image can summarise what you want to say – great!

#2: A picture portrays a wealth of emotions

Images stay with us. You only need to scroll through the different newsfeeds to see, images are powerful. People relate to other people and, when you look at an image of a person showing a specific emotion, you connect with them, and either empathise with, or desire to experience, the emotion they’re illustrating.

#3: Your brand can be illustrated beautifully in an image

Companies spend thousands on logo design, because they need it to encompass everything about a company. Images can do the same. Want to come across as a friendly, vibrant company? You can beautifully illustrate that, with colourful images of smiling happy people.

#4: Images can summarise complex things nicely

Infographics are incredibly popular and get shared around fast. Why? Because they’re a graphic image that summarises a lot of facts and figures, easily and quickly. Another popular graphic image is emoticons. People love them as they’re an easy way to summarise how they’re feeling, with a simple click of a button.

#5: Images capture the imagination

We’re all predominantly visual-led beings. Images capture our imagination and open our minds to new possibilities and dreams. A picture can encompass so many emotions and words, as well as provoking a variety of thoughts. We can instantly be transported to different lifestyles, different worlds and different opportunities, outside of those we visualised, prior to seeing a simple image.

This is why it’s so important to use images in your branding. An image can connect in a way text or audio simply can’t. And surely, that makes it worth taking the time, to ensure that images become an ongoing and important part of your overall business brand?a

Social media is where the customers are at!

Whether you’re an online or offline business, social media is fast becoming the easiest way to build your brand, raise visibility and build better relationships with your fans.

Customers are bypassing the traditional email and telephone contact channels, preferring to jump straight on social media with their reviews and complaints. If they want to get recommendations on anything – from the best local coffee shop to the most reliable business coach – they’re asking online and checking out your Facebook page or Instagram feed.

So, if it’s that easy to raise visibility on social media – why are so many businesses finding it so difficult?

Why business owners struggle with getting visible on social media platforms

The problem is twofold.

Firstly, many businesses are still lagging, when it comes to social media. They’ve resisted the pull of the different platforms, initially out of uncertainty over their longevity, followed by fear or uncertainty over how to best to utilise them.

As a result, more social media platforms have launched, changes have been implemented and trends have moved on – leaving many business owners trailing in the wake.

Secondly, those same business owners are either giving up on their social media efforts or, trying too hard. For many, they’re frantically trying to catch up. They’re getting onto the different social media platforms and attempting to master them all, in one hit.

And this is the fastest way to end up stressed and disappointed.

If you’re struggling to raise your visibility on social media, here’s some pointers to help ease the stress and disappointment.

#1: Do your target market research.

Find out where your ideal audience is hanging out and what platforms suit your brand. For the majority of businesses, that’s most likely to be Facebook. If you’re targeting other professional businesses, look at LinkedIn. If your business is a more visual-based one (fashion, beauty, cars, food etc), check out Pinterest and Instagram.

#2: Make that platform the first one you target.

If they’re present on more than one platform – choose one to focus on. Far better to master one platform, than to fail them all! Only when you’re confident on one, should you consider adding another.

#3: Understand that raising visibility takes time.

Take the time to understand the platform. Test what does and doesn’t work for you – but also realise that success isn’t going to happen overnight. Raising your visibility takes time and consistent effort.

#4: Remind yourself you don’t have to be everywhere at once.

Not only do you not need to be everywhere at once, you don’t need to be everywhere at all! If you can secure the profile names and URL’s that suit your business on each platform, grab them. However, you’re only securing them, you don’t have to use that platform – now or ever. If your target audience isn’t using it, then you don’t need to be on there. Getting visible isn’t about being everywhere – it’s about being in the right place.

#5: Have a social media plan.

Finally, as the saying goes: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Get a social media plan in place. This will keep you on track and posting the right type of content for your target readership.