How would you feel if I told you that you don’t have to be on every single social media platform? Sigh. Of. Relief. Right?

You think you know where your ideal clients are hanging out and then, BOOM, you see a competitor’s cool Instagram story or Pinterest pin and you want to get in on the action. 

You’re juggling Facebook posts with LinkedIn networking whilst trying to get some attention on YouTube. Been there, got the t-shirt. It was RUBBISH! I had marketing FOMO and it was killing me.

You know you need an intervention if:

• You’re posting irregularly on more than 2 social media accounts
• You can’t think of anything to post about
• You don’t know which posts get the most engagement or why

Trying to take on too many social platforms is one of the key reasons why we get overwhelmed when it comes to our marketing activities. There is a common misconception that we need to be everywhere but I’m happy to tell you that’s not true.

I want you to stop doing ALL the social media things and focus only on the platform where your ideal clients hang out.

WHY DO WE FAIL TO FIND OUR FOCUS?

Before we dive into what we should really be doing, let’s talk about why we often fail to find focus.

One of the key reasons people overcommit themselves online is comparisonitis. When you see people who seem to be everywhere and look like they are nailing it, it can look impressive but often that masks the fact that they are failing to do any of those things well or strategically. 

In the past, I’ve also been guilty of shiny object syndrome. We’ve all been there when the latest, coolest social platform is launched and we rush to bag our on-brand username. (Remember Vine?)

And finally, social media is the ultimate displacement activity. It’s easy to convince ourselves that creating an Instagram story is better than mindlessly scrolling through the newsfeed as a passive consumer. But unless you have a strategy and you have the hard data to justify spending time on a particular platform, then it’s unlikely to be moving you closer to your bigger goals. 

WHAT IS THE RESULT OF SPLITTING OUR FOCUS?

The most immediate consequence of splitting our focus is that we get overwhelmed trying to keep up with all of our commitments and end up actually doing nothing. 

More importantly, the content we produce is likely to be pretty average and when it comes to social media, doing something average is worse than doing nothing at all.

So next time you’re thinking of giving a new platform a half-hearted go, just don’t do it. Instead, spend that time doing something you can already do well. Because doing something brilliantly kills all noise when it comes to social media. It cuts through the chatter and positions you as the expert, the one who is ‘famous’ on their timeline, whether that’s on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

HOW DO WE KNOW WHERE TO FOCUS OUR TIME WHEN IT COMES TO MARKETING?

Firstly, you need reliable data about where your ideal clients are spending most of their time. Here are a few questions to ask yourself. 

Are your ideal clients really hanging out where you think they are? 

More importantly, it’s crucial to ask yourself how you actually know this. 

Are you basing your knowledge on instinct or do you have some solid data to back it up?

HARD DATA IS EVERYTHING

What questions are you asking past and potential clients? Many of us ask the basic ‘how did you find me’ question but far fewer business owners actually circle back at the end of the client journey and seek more detailed information about the steps a client took to find you and how they made their decision to book you. 

Consider sending a short survey to past clients – if you’ve done a fantastic job, they honestly won’t mind taking the time to help you. Or even easier, use social media to create a poll or ask some key questions. 

If you have clients who you’ve got on really well with, then ask to pick up the phone and spend ten minutes diving into their decision-making process. I bet you’ll come away armed with some new and valuable data.

CHECK YOUR TRAFFIC SOURCES

This might seem obvious, but many people make assumptions when checking their basic traffic sources. For example, it would be for me to assume that most of my potential clients find me through Facebook, because I run a number of free and paid Facebook groups and spend most of my time there. 

But, an overview of my traffic sources in Google Analytics reveals that by far my biggest source of traffic is via blog posts that do really well in Google. I know where I’ll be focusing my time this year. 

Have you checked your Google Analytics stats recently to make sure you know where most of your traffic is coming from?

ARE YOU READY TO TAKE THE VALIDATION CHALLENGE?

Regularly reviewing and recording client feedback and traffic data is a really important step towards having clear marketing priorities. 

Without proper research, you’re essentially relying on ‘luck marketing’ – randomly posting on social media and hoping to get lucky. 

If this is your current way of operating, no amount of focus will move you in the direction you want to go. Instead, these quick wins will keep you on track.

• Set up and send out a short survey to past clients, asking how they found you, what they searched for, where they looked and how they made their decision
• Get on the phone with happy clients and question them in greater detail
• Check your traffic sources both in Google Analytics and in your social apps themselves 

If you’d like to watch my short video on analysing your traffic data, head to The Marketing Fix.

https://themarketingfix.co/fix-3-focus/