Donald Miller
Most of us are a little preoccupied.
We have our goals in life, our plans to vacation in Mexico, our dreams to be a big success. On social media, when you post about your accomplishments, it makes sense because you are posting as yourself and reaching an audience of like-minded people.
When you do that as a small business, it can be a major mistake.
Author and business expert Donald Miller recently wrote a book about how to help a small business grow, and he pointed out to me how some small companies make a big mistake when it comes to self-promotion, mirroring what individuals do on their own feeds.
“The number one mistake I see small businesses making on social media is making their channels all about them,” he told me recently. “The only reason people are interested in your brand is if you’re helping them solve a problem. If you really want to grow your business, talk about the problems your customers experience and then position your products as the solution to those problems.”
This advice fits his entire stance on how to grow a business brand, reach more customers, and increase revenue. I’ve been a fan of his StoryBrand architecture for years. I like how the straightforward advice tends to focus on presenting a problem and solution. His book on growing a small business offers similar advice, and it also makes sense for social media.
Too often, companies merely post nice social media graphics, mention discounts, or even profile customers and internal employees. Yes, it’s amazing that Sue scored that big sale with a vendor across town, and we’re all happy for her. But Miller is right that potential customers want to know what’s in it for them, not what Sue has done.
Miller pointed out two examples of smaller companies doing social media the right way — that is, mentioning a solution to a problem customers might be having.
“I think Staging Studio does a fantastic job,” he says. “They teach people how to start their own home staging business, and their feed is full of relevant content. They also promote a great lead generator in their bio — free design training. Another example is Carly Jean Los Angeles, which is a clothing brand out of LA. They do a great job connecting with potential customers on Instagram with beautiful photos of their product line, but also use Instagram to push people towards other means of engagement, like downloading their app to get additional discounts.”
In both cases, it’s obvious the social media feed for these companies is focused on the customer, not on the business. We all get myopic at times. We think what we’re doing is the most important thing, that our accomplishments, branding, expansion plans, or even what we had for dinner is important to everyone involved.
With a business, Miller says it’s better to offer something practical and useful — e.g., free training or an offer to download an app.
Miller says Instagram in particular, with its two billion users, is a great place for small business owners to start doing this.
Offering a solution is not hard, but many companies don’t seem to practice that basic skill. When they do, it can turn social media into an actual revenue producer.
