It’s launch day for your business. You are ready to start implementing all those techniques you discovered from those social media gurus. They make it sound so easy. They also assume you have a few hours a day to devote solely to marketing your business.
Wouldn’t you rather be building your business in alignment with your vision than using social media to market it? Then you’re in the right place. You may need a social media marketing consultant to help you, but there are some workarounds. Let’s figure out what the best option is for you.
1. You don’t like social media marketing.
In your opinion, social media marketing is a necessary evil.
I did not like social media marketing when I first got into the business and now it’s my gig. Some of us grow to love social media marketing, and others will resent it until the day they kick the bucket.
DIY Option: Okay. You admit to yourself that you don’t like social media marketing. You have two choices: hire someone else to do it for you or figure out how to make social media marketing bearable for you. Simple as that.
2. You don’t understand why social media marketing is so important.
I’ve heard this all too many times, even though Facebook has been around for more than a decade. Your business may be humming along just fine via word-of-mouth, and you don’t see why you even need Instagram (or God forbid, Snapchat!)
DIY Option: If you don’t “get” the why behind social media, you should really consider getting a social media marketer on board to show you the ropes. There is a big WHY behind social media marketing, and it will drive business, no matter what market you are in.
3. You like outsourcing tasks to the experts.
So, you’ve been listening to guys like Ari Meisel or Chris Ducker. If you haven’t, you really should check them out for Outsourcing 101 topics. Sure, it takes a bit of cash upfront to hire a marketer, but you’re willing to do so if you will get big returns.
DIY Option: You don’t want to do-it-yourself, so just watch my video about how to figure out which type of marketer to hire.
4. Your social media marketing checklist gets longer by the day, but nothing is happening. You’re stuck.
This happens to the best of us on a regular basis. Even with the best of intentions, it’s easy to lose focus on the things that actually matter on social media. Anyone else get sucked into yet another time-wasting Facebook group when checking their Facebook page? Guilty.
We don’t have the time to do it all. A great social media marketer keeps you on track and helps you focus only on what will move the needle for you now and in the future. It’s a bit more complicated, but I’ll save that for another rant.
DIY Option: Choose three things you think will make the biggest impact on your business right now. Sure, you should also be building a solid foundation for your social media marketing initiatives, but unless you are a social media marketer by trade, this can be overwhelming. I’d rather you do something, than be paralyzed by the number of tasks you think you need to do.
5. You like to “bounce ideas off” a social media marketing expert.
We all like to have an expert in our back pocket for those random questions. I always appreciate outside feedback, as it’s easy to get wrapped up in the minutiae and lose sight of the bigger picture.
DIY Option: Find some good forums about social media marketing, about your industry, and about things you need to learn. I could suggest dozens, so if you need some specific suggestions, leave a comment below.
6. You’d rather be spending time with your family and friends.
I’m a workaholic by nature, so I enjoy being immersed in my work. I literally have to schedule spontaneity to get in “chill time.” But for those of you who don’t want to spend every spare minute poring over Google Analytics dashboards or optimizing your Twitter ads for better engagement, just get someone to do it for you.
DIY Option: If you still insist on doing it yourself, you are going to need to make radical changes to your current schedule. Plan on getting up an extra 15-30 minutes each day to do social media marketing. Sound like fun to you? If not, enjoy spending those extra moments with your loved ones and just hire someone.
7. You just don’t WANT to do social media marketing. Period.
And you don’t have to. To run a successful business, you are not required to do your own social media marketing. Most of the personality brands, best websites, and top entrepreneurs start out doing it themselves, but they eventually outsource the parts they don’t like (or plain suck at!)
DIY Option: My personal opinion is that choosing to do your own social media marketing is YOUR choice. Don’t feel pressured to hire someone if you’re not ready. And don’t feel pressured to do it all yourself if you don’t want to!
