Introduction

A few years ago, I was contacted by a fairly large nonprofit organization, specifically their founder.

She is an older woman in her late sixties to early seventies, very proud, nice enough in demeanor over the phone, with her chief issue being that she did not feel she was generating any leads from her social media marketing efforts.

What Was Going On

She had hired a local neighborhood hobbyist to create a basic website template for her for a few hundred bucks, posted to Facebook and LinkedIn once per week, and was wondering why she wasn’t seeing an increase in visibility she had anticipated. 

No new donations coming in, events weren’t selling any tickets (unless they were purchased by direct employees and family members) and marketing just seemed dead in the water – no growth whatsoever unless it came from some other source.

After taking a look at her website, I quickly discovered that the site had no Search Engine Optimization at all, very little written content (most of which didn’t link outward to any other similar business sites), several pages didn’t load, the contact form didn’t work properly, the site was confusing to navigate, and there was a host of other, lesser issues.

Her Obstacles

When I attempted to explain these issues to her, she seemed confused, angry, and resentful. She also didn’t believe anything I was telling her. I tried to explain that I didn’t need her money, was reaching retirement, and was merely trying to help in a positive manner.

After discussing the matter for a few more minutes it became clear that the primary issue was that she simply didn’t understand any of the technical jargon: SEO, social media channels, content, linking, all were foreign words to her with no grounding in her daily life. Since there was no frame of context, the words were like gibberish to her. The fact that I was trying to explain how to seriously, legitimately build and promote a business through the use of digital marketing was irrelevant because I was using technical jargon, and she was completely overwhelmed in the process.

The second issue preventing her from making progress? And her budget for fixing the negative leads issues? Two-hundred dollars, tops.

Suffice to say I explained what was needed to reverse the negative traffic, understanding that she was still locked into one of the stages of digital marketig denial, and wished her well.

The Larger Problem At Hand

But the fact remains that negative lead generation or remaining stagnant as a result of engaging in social media marketing (either incompletely or improperly) is a very common problem for most small business owners, if not every single one I’ve ever encountered.

Few have time to post relevant content, know what their content should be about or focused upon, few have the interest level, or the technical capability. When you add to that bouillabaisse the fact that social media marketing content must be written a certain way, adhere to a brand identity, have some kind of SEO inherent in it, have at least one related image for the content…it’s a tough road to hoe for most. Then there’s the issue of posting regularly enough to actually move the needle and keep at it for months or even years while all the content is being indexed and gaining “online authority.”

It’s a lot of work, that requires heavy organization, scheduling, creativity, writing ability and technical prowess.

Now do that weekly on a regularly basis while managing a profitable business.

Now do that while producing video content, perhaps a podcast, coordinating that with offline advertising.

Now add a family to the mix.

And you can quickly see why this is why most small businesses fail horribly at social media marketing. They’re not bad people, and they may or may not want to do the work needed. Most are likely overworked, trying to do everything themselves, usually for free, inexperienced, and either unable or unwilling to get knowledgeable help.

The onus is on them to either stay where they are or get help. Larger businesses, on the other hand, have funding to hire staff, organization to delegate, branding already worked out, and have overcome most of the trials small businesses struggle to work through.

Your “Audience?”

I recently read an interesting article, also a sad article, that social media marketing is quite easy to manipulate, indeed hack, and use for whatever ills you’d wish.

In fact, the article pointed out, many accounts online that represent people or businesses are not real people. They’re “bots” or automated programs running ads or disinformation meant to sway a group of consumers (or voters) one way or another, or can simply be fake accounts set up by teenagers or business owners creating duplicate accounts. When the fake accounts were reported, most remained up and active long afterward.

So, when you realize that so many accounts are not representing legitimate business owners, you can also realize that much of what’s equated with “leads,” such as likes, can be smoke and mirrors that will never lead to actual participation or purchasing. The internet can be a giant global sea of inaction and apathy at times, where you’re always told to inspire action in the heart of consumers, to somehow get indecisive business owners to care about growing their business, create “Calls To Action” (CTAs) to motivate entrepreneurs to take action toward improving lackluster performance. In the case of the older woman who owned her own nonprofit organization, the time needed to educate her combined with the efforts needed to “sell” her on why she should care about representing herself professionally online was not commensurate with her very paltry budget for accomplishing even the most vague objective.

What to Do

Your audience may not be who you think it is. They may be bots, duplicate accounts, posers, or simply people and business organizations filling social media with their own ads. When you consider that so much of what what and who we see online probably is not a realistic portrayal of who we think they are; that social media marketing content needs to reach a pretty specific targeted audience in order to actually get an interested engagement, the reason for using social media changes.

Instead of bombarding the internet with incessant ads for our services or goods, it becomes trying to stimulate conversation with the right types of readers who need or could value from our services or goods….and then addressing their pain points.

Social media marketing is not the miracle balm it’s made out to be. Social media is not enough. It’s a means to an end, just like SEO, web design, User Experience, and all the other component parts that make up digital marketing. At the intersection of voice and authenticity must meet need and passion in order to reach those passing by. We may not always succeed, but it’s the fine-tuning that sharpens our core competencies.