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Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue.
Speaker:And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.
Speaker:These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and
Speaker:things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.
Speaker:If you'd like to submit a topic,
Speaker:DME over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped way back in
Speaker:1997, this new arena called social media arrived on the digital
Speaker:landscape. It started with a platform called six degrees.
Speaker:You may never have even heard of that before then came
Speaker:things like my space,
Speaker:LinkedIn and Twitter,
Speaker:with the cute little bird.
Speaker:And of course,
Speaker:Facebook, which was actually started as a site for college connections.
Speaker:And didn't hit the mainstream until about 2008.
Speaker:Since that time,
Speaker:social media has been a fast inactive playground with new platforms,
Speaker:emerging, others dying.
Speaker:Remember that brief run with vine and still others growing and
Speaker:morphine into versions that barely look like their original selves.
Speaker:They rise and fall in popularity and target audiences to think
Speaker:of what happened with Facebook.
Speaker:The platform wants being for the younger generations who have now
Speaker:mostly abandoned ship for Instagram and still other social media platforms
Speaker:get outright copied like reels,
Speaker:which of course rivals tic-tac.
Speaker:And that's not all Instagram offers new features,
Speaker:but only to certain accounts.
Speaker:Facebook changes its page layout causing confusion.
Speaker:That requires us to relearn the app.
Speaker:Privacy policies are forcing significant changes right now.
Speaker:And Facebook and Instagram go dark for hours and everyone panics.
Speaker:This has all been happening since the beginning of it's still
Speaker:young life.
Speaker:Social media is pretty much synonymous with change.
Speaker:That's great for people who teach us how to use all
Speaker:the various platforms,
Speaker:but not so great when we're trying to plan for our
Speaker:business visibility promotional posts.
Speaker:And when we want to run ads,
Speaker:the social media terrain is Rocky.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:So what's the answer.
Speaker:Just give up abandoned social media entirely.
Speaker:My answer to this may surprise you.
Speaker:It could be,
Speaker:yes. Sure.
Speaker:You can decide you're done with social.
Speaker:You're fed up with the constant change and feeling like you're
Speaker:at their mercy.
Speaker:I think one of the biggest frustrations with all these adjustments
Speaker:is it feels like we're never in control and it's true.
Speaker:We aren't,
Speaker:I've seen several businesses do this recently give up and close
Speaker:the door to social.
Speaker:They still have account,
Speaker:but either aren't actively working them or doing the bare minimum
Speaker:just to keep them updated,
Speaker:believe it or not.
Speaker:There are also some who never entered the social media scene
Speaker:at all and are doing very well with sales.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:And so yes,
Speaker:your answer could be to close down the social rat race,
Speaker:but then what do you do?
Speaker:Well, depending on your business,
Speaker:you can attract customers in other ways,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:brick and mortar shop owners and all those who sell wholesale,
Speaker:get visibility.
Speaker:The old fashioned way with walk by and drive by traffic
Speaker:and neighborhood promotional events that direct local customers to the strip
Speaker:malls and downtown shopping districts.
Speaker:There are also farmer's markets,
Speaker:church bizarres and small and large craft shows,
Speaker:which also bring large groups of people together.
Speaker:So you can interact with them and sell face-to-face.
Speaker:There's also networking,
Speaker:which many of snub their nose at in favor of social
Speaker:media, but are now rethinking their actions.
Speaker:I, for one have seen networking to be the easiest way
Speaker:to bring in sales,
Speaker:particularly for new business owners,
Speaker:there are lots of benefits to networking.
Speaker:Once you get past those initial fears.
Speaker:As a side note,
Speaker:I go through how to do this.
Speaker:Step-by-step in one of my mini courses.
Speaker:If you're interested,
Speaker:you can check that out at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com, Forrest slash network ninja.
Speaker:There you'll find all sorts of tips,
Speaker:like exactly what to say in your elevator speech and what
Speaker:to do when you walk in a room and don't know
Speaker:a single soul,
Speaker:I'm getting a little off topic here,
Speaker:but there are networking groups popping up all over national groups,
Speaker:like the chamber of commerce,
Speaker:BNI, and Nabo.
Speaker:And if you check your local community,
Speaker:you're sure to find others.
Speaker:Some are for women,
Speaker:business owners,
Speaker:some are for the tourism industry.
Speaker:It really runs the gamut.
Speaker:My point here is these networking groups wouldn't exist if they
Speaker:don't work.
Speaker:And they're another option for your business growth,
Speaker:because social is still the new and popular approach.
Speaker:People have forgotten about some of these other methods.
Speaker:There's also email communication and even direct mail marketing.
Speaker:Now having said all that,
Speaker:and even though,
Speaker:yes, you could abandon social media entirely.
Speaker:I wouldn't advise it.
Speaker:Social media can play a significant role in conjunction with these
Speaker:other types of sales avenues that I've mentioned.
Speaker:And I think this is where we've spun off track by
Speaker:relying on social so heavily for all our business acquisition efforts.
Speaker:What in the beginning looked like a fast track and the
Speaker:free way to attract a following was too good to last
Speaker:forever. Now that things are changing,
Speaker:many of us feel cheated when in reality,
Speaker:we are the ones who substituted other business practices and put
Speaker:so much focus on social.
Speaker:Of course we need to stay with the times.
Speaker:If all you were doing was spending ad dollars on newspaper
Speaker:print space,
Speaker:right now you'd be way off track,
Speaker:but that doesn't mean your local newspapers can't play some role
Speaker:in your visibility,
Speaker:getting featured or being part of a community story that gets
Speaker:publicity is well worth it.
Speaker:If your customers are primarily local as is sponsoring banners for
Speaker:a high school event or participating in the July 4th parade
Speaker:as a small handmade product business owner,
Speaker:you may not have thought of your business in the same
Speaker:way you think of your local bakery or gift shop.
Speaker:Why not?
Speaker:Even if you're a home-based business,
Speaker:your customers are out there wanting to support you.
Speaker:And the only way to get those sales is to tell
Speaker:them about you and your products and social media should be
Speaker:part of your strategy to do that,
Speaker:but how you deal with all the changes without going crazy
Speaker:in a second,
Speaker:I'm going to share with you two solutions to keep it
Speaker:all manageable and balanced within the full scope of your marketing
Speaker:plan. Understand that social media is one solution.
Speaker:When you aren't relying only on social media to attract new
Speaker:customers, capture sales and communicate with your audience.
Speaker:You're not at as much risk when things change or go
Speaker:dark. If you've been following me for awhile,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:about the sales channel panel,
Speaker:a sales strategy that puts in place multiple avenues for visibility
Speaker:and sales that can be adjusted as required.
Speaker:If your social sites are getting restricted,
Speaker:think the new Facebook ad privacy policies,
Speaker:no problem you up your intensity of emails or in person
Speaker:shows. Having a sales channel panel in place is a lifeline
Speaker:for your business,
Speaker:allowing you to weather any storm.
Speaker:Secondly, come to expect change from all social media platforms.
Speaker:When that change happens,
Speaker:approach it from a logical versus emotional perspective.
Speaker:How will the adjustments affect what you have in place?
Speaker:What tweaks do you now need to make to accommodate for
Speaker:the changes?
Speaker:So you can effectively move forward.
Speaker:Remember change.
Speaker:Isn't an automatic default to bad.
Speaker:Lots of times change is good.
Speaker:We just don't like it because it causes disruption,
Speaker:particularly when it's so frequent and completely out of left field
Speaker:as often happens with social.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:who could have thought that Zuckerberg was going to go and
Speaker:change the name of his entire company?
Speaker:As I wind down here,
Speaker:let me summarize by saying social media is an important part
Speaker:of any small business for wide variety of reasons,
Speaker:but don't rely on it as your single path to link
Speaker:you with your prospects and customers put together a healthy sales
Speaker:channel panel,
Speaker:including face-to-face shows,
Speaker:networking events,
Speaker:email marketing,
Speaker:a website,
Speaker:backed with rich search engine optimization.
Speaker:So Google can do its work.
Speaker:And then of course,
Speaker:a few social media platforms as well,
Speaker:social media is here to stay and I anticipate that it
Speaker:will get even more fast and furious in the years to
Speaker:come. That's okay.
Speaker:I've just told you how to control the seemingly uncontrollable.
Speaker:That's a wrap.
Speaker:I'm a get to the point kind of girl.
Speaker:And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek
Speaker:sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream
Speaker:of yours.
Speaker:Share your handmade products with us.
Speaker:We want them,
