Many small business owners are scared of promoting their businesses online. This fear might result from past experience, fear of what people will say, or some other factors. Social media can be intimidating, especially when you are a newbie.
You see many businesses looking glamorous and successful, and you feel ashamed of yours. Still, you should know that social media success requires many sacrifices, and those successful businesses pay the price by either working with a social media agency, doing all the work yourself or hire a social media manager.
Many small business owners waste their time online, watching videos, liking posts on Instagram and Facebook, and promoting other brands while theirs are stagnant. Rather than maximize the opportunity of online marketing, they are shying away from being seen or heard online due to fear. They need to understand that those successful businesses they envy online were once small, and their owners started small too.
A good amount of small business owners have given up out of frustration, thinking it can never be a way to get customers. They need to know how many clients they lose by not making their business public.
Are you in any of the categories mentioned above?
Are you one of those small business owners who have lost confidence in their ideas, with the notion that they are not good enough?
Have you seen many online businesses that make you feel inferior and think badly of yourself?
Are you scared of being judged by people? Are you still procrastinating, waiting until you think you are perfect before moving?
Are you confused, frustrated, and depressed about how to overcome your fear?
You may have tried overcoming your fears, but all your efforts are not yielding good fruit. This article is specially for you. We will explain how you can overcome such fears and leverage social media marketing platforms to grow your business. But before that, we will first look at the different social media fears you could face as a small business owner.
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Some small business owners want to avoid taking advantage of social media marketing power because they are scared of what people will say. They are scared of being intimidated, and their product being looked down on.
Some are even scared to speak up for fear of sounding stupid. Many small business owners fear marketing through social media platforms because they don’t want people to talk badly about their products.
But as long as you are marketing your product online, there will be good and bad reviews. Bad reviews should not discourage you from marketing your product. It should instead make you want to improve. Not marketing online because of fear of what people will say will only make you stagnant. There must be criticism even when your products are top-notch.
Come to think of it, why focus on one person who has a negative opinion about your product when many love it? Criticism will come, but you have to deal with it like the professional you are. This fear of what people will say has stopped a lot of small business owners from making waves in the business world, don’t be a victim.
Some small business owners think social media is hard to use. They think advertising through social media would cost them an arm and a leg. Most even think social media is only for Millennial and Gen Z age groups; hence they can’t fit in.
That is their reason for not wanting to advertise their business on social media. But why would you be scared of something you haven’t tried out? You just have to open an account with the particular online platform you intend to use, and in a few hours, you are already conversant with the app.
You don’t need a whole day to get the hang of any social media platform that catches your interest. But the problem here is that you are scared of trying it out; believe me, you are missing a lot.
The fear of not being able to use the platform is one of the reasons why small businesses are scared of making effective use of social media hence losing opportunities to the detriment of their business’ growth.
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You might be scared of social media advertisements not working even when you haven’t attempted to use them. But why are you scared when you haven’t tried it out? Why make unnecessary assumptions when you are yet to test them? You may also be thinking your customers need to be online, hence, it won’t work out, but that is not true.
Each day, millions of people of different ages use different social media platforms; why, then, do you think your business will not be made known to the right audience? Even if it doesn’t work out, it is better than not trying.
If you try and it doesn’t work out, you are still on the right track because you at least made a move. Many renowned businesses started small like yours, and now, they are making waves.
Know that it was not all rosy for them in the beginning, too, and if they had given up, they wouldn’t have been successful. Being afraid of social media not working for you will only cause more harm than good.
To thrive in the business world using social media, you must be visible, which means you will most likely become a center of attraction. Being visible is where the primary business lies. With visibility, the success of your business is guaranteed.
Why, then, are you scared of it being the center of attraction? You can’t want to have a successful business and not want to be the center attraction. It won’t work. There is no successful business without visibility. The more people you get to know about your business, the more it booms, and the more successful you become.
You must quit being scared of taking the spotlight and try being more visible so your business can grow. Social media has made it possible. You can control the kind of information you bring out to the public. That way, you can still have some privacy while making waves.
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The fear of your product not being accepted can kill your self-confidence and make you reluctant to bring out your product to the public. It is one of the worst fears of social media. Living with this fear can affect your business and make you stagnant. The fear of not being accepted makes you think so poorly of your business.
It makes you think your business needs to be better to come into the limelight. It kills your morale and enthusiasm to make your business visible and later kills the business. The truth is, not everyone will accept your product. Some will love it and root for you; others will hate it and criticize you.
You should be ready to accept both in good fate and not go back and sulk because of some lousy review. It shouldn’t also make you feel rejected. The fear of not being accepted has killed a lot of good businesses, hence should be tackled well.
The first step to take in overcoming your fears of social media is identifying your fears. You can never find a solution to a problem you do not know. When you have identified the problem, you can then proffer a solution. Identify the reason(s) for your fear and know the cause. It could be fear of bad reviews, being judged, or your product not being good enough. Whatever the problem, you need to identify it and then find a way to resolve it.
Once you have identified your fears, the next step is to face them. Since you know your fears, you must face them squarely. Let’s start by writing them down. Get a pen and paper and write down your social media fears and how you feel.
You can even write down all the bad things you have been saying to yourself. When you do this, you realize you have been beating yourself up for flimsy reasons because most of the things you are scared of are not worth it. You can decide to overcome those fears one after the other; It will be easy that way.
Trying to solve all of them at once could pose a big problem. Hence to overcome your fear of social media, write down your fears and work towards tackling them one at a time and gradually too.
For instance, if you are scared of posting videos publicly, you could start by making videos and making them visible to a smaller number of people and asking for feedback.
With time and as your confidence grows, you can make it visible to many people. It might not be easy, but you can do it. Your fears appear challenging initially but get smaller when you face them. You need to take action and conquer your fears.
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The next step is to plan your content. You must do more than just come online and post unplanned content. You will end up embarrassing yourself, thereby aggravating your already built-up fear. Planning your content will help you save resources and time and make you more organized.
That way, you will know when you are making progress and when you are not. Your plan could include what you intend to post, when to post, your reason(s) for posting, and the audience you want it to reach.
You need to plan your content to get the result you desire. Planning your content well enough will save you time and money. It will also help you to manage your business well, and you won’t be overwhelmed by the work. In all, ensure your contents are not abstract from your goals.
Accept the fact that people will always talk. No matter how good you are, they must be people that will criticize you. Some would even want to intimidate you and make you feel bad, but it should never get to you. You must develop a thick skin to bring your business to social media.
Moreover, there is no way you can live your life without people hating you, so it’s very much expected for people not to like you. Do not let what people say get to you.
Brooding on people’s bad words about you will only cause more harm than good. To overcome social media fear, you need to care less about what people say. Whatever they say should only make you want to improve and not give up.
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Do you know how powerful social media is? Do you know how successful your business can be with the help of social media? Do you know that social media can bring you to the limelight? If you do not know all these things, it’s about time you do.
Many big businesses today leverage the power of social media, so you should do so. With the number of people using online platforms daily, bringing your business online would give it good visibility. There are lots of opportunities for you on social media. Your customers are already on social media waiting for you; make sure you get to them on time.
Some business owners employ professionals to manage their social media accounts, but as a small business owner, you might not be able to afford one. In that case, you must discover what you are good at doing. Many people are good at writing; others are good at making videos.
Know the one you are good at and make use of it. Whichever you are good at will significantly determine the content you will need to focus on posting. But if you have the money, you can employ the services of a professional. Either way, your business will still grow if you put in your best.
Many small business owners quickly give up on social media because they are constantly setting unrealistic goals. You cannot start a business today and expect it to garner millions of audience in a week on social media. Social media is not a magic platform; it is effective but requires time.
You do not also expect to become perfect after one post or video; it does not work like that. Set realistic goals and take them little by little. Start small and be consistent about it; with time, you will see yourself improving. All the successful business owners you see on social media platforms started small too. Take it step by step, and in no time, you will achieve your aim.
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When you know your audience, you will know what content to put out. Some people get more engaged with videos and others with articles. If your audience likes videos, you will have to make use of videos in passing your messages across to them. If they prefer reading, you will have to use articles and Ebooks to convey your messages to them.
Take your time to observe your audience and know what they like; create a strategy, and you will see yourself being successful. You also need to know when to post and when not. It would be best if you kept your audience engaged but do not overdo it. Get familiar with your audience, know how to handle them, and you will be fine.
Starting your own business could come with many fears, but social media fear shouldn’t be one of them. Gone are the days when social media was just a means of having fun and connecting with family and friends.
It is now a means of growing your business, so do away with your fears and leverage social media. It might be scary at first, but you must keep trying, and soon you will get used to it. By the time you start getting good reviews from people, you will definitely be so proud of yourself. Follow the tips above meticulously, and you will be able to get over your fears.
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