Many “marketing coaches” or “brand consultants” will tell you to simply post more often…
But the reality is that, as a small business owner – or even worse as a micro-business owner – you are already spread very thin. You have to sell, acquire customers or clients, deliver the products or service, manage staff and inventory, and in many cases do your own admin.
It’s not as if you have an extra day per week just to “post more content”.
But here’s the thing: While there are exceptions to the rule, being visible doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to create new content to all your social media channels every day.
Let’s flip that approach: Instead of creating more and more – and then some more – content, why don’t you create content from which you can derive more content, and thus more value?
The idea is to enable you to make the most of the limited time you do have, and make it work for you in as many ways as possible.
Instead of chasing more frequent postings, try to make every one valuable.
The BIG marketing truth: You don’t need to be “everywhere”.
Many small business owners feel that, in order to be seen, they need to be “all over social media”.
Not true.
If you go and do some digging, you will find that your ideal customers are probably hanging out in one or two places. And it is also likely that one of the two sees them logging in more regularly.
Go where your target audience is – otherwise you will simply spread yourself too thin, forcing you to put out lower quality content to get everything done in time, or you may find yourself skipping the most important platform/s.
Start with ONE useful piece of content.
Start off with one piece of “core content” – it could be a blog post or a (slightly longer) video.
From there, you can break a video into several shorts, which you can use (depending on where your audience hangs out) on Youtube, Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook reels, Linkedin reels, Pinterest and even on X.
If it is a blog post, you can break it up into several pieces (and also use AI to create a summary), which can then be used on Facebook or Linkedin, an email to your mailing list, and update on your Google business profile, or you can even repurpose it into a checklist or a short FAQ section.
Answer the questions your prospects are already asking.
In any business, there are some questions which come up repeatedly. When you use your content to answer these questions, a few things happen:
1. People find you because they need answers.
2. You position yourself as an authority because you can answer these questions. That helps to build trust.
3. The content remains out there, visible to anyone who searches. As your content collection grows, so does your topical authority.
So, try to make notes of common questions, common misconceptions, common problems, questions that come up in sales conversations, and questions that come up during email- or phone conversations.
The bottom line is this: Your potential customers or clients are already providing you with content ideas.
Turn your day to day business activities into content.
Content doesn’t always have to be something that you specifically create.
Depending on the nature of your business, you can create content from things like a completed (and progress during a) project, a new product, how you solve a common customer problem, a lesson learned from experience, before- and after pictures or video clips, and behind-the-scenes activities.
So if you don’t consider yourself a content creator, this could be for you.
Powerful content: Content and testimonials from customers.
As you get to know your customers or clients, they can provide you with reviews, testimonials, stories, photographs, short video clips, and questions and answers about how they used (and benefited from using) your products or services.
Why is it so powerful?
It provides social proof, effectively vouching for you, your business and your product or services.
Make your existing content work harder.
Instead of just using your content once, you can use AI to rewrite or summarize it, and use it again at a later stage to create content for Facebook, Linkedin, your Google business profile, seasonal tips or even content for X.
Simply adapt the content to the platform. You can – if you don’t have your own images – use AI to create suitable images.
Create your content in batches.
Instead of having to wonder every day, what you can post for the day, ask yourself what you are able to prepare in one single, focused session.
For instance, once per month, choose 3-4 topics. Write or record your main content. From there, generate shorter versions for different platforms, and schedule what can be scheduled.
Daily content creation can become exhausting. But when you work with a plan, you literally generate the most possible value with the least possible effort.
Don’t use AI as your brand voice – it’s just an assistant.
Ai is getting better, but we have not yet reached AGI (artificial general intelligence – human-like reasoning). As such, using it to generate your core content is likely to cause Google or Youtube to mostly ignore your content. Unless you are willing to spend plenty of time of refining the AI-generated content, and generate elaborate prompts of a thousand words or more, it is better to create your own content.
Instead, use it to generate social media ideas, or to create shorter versions of your content for social media. Use it to create alternative headlines, create summaries, organize ideas, suggesting questions from potential customers, and generally repurpose your core content.
In short: YOU provide the expertise and insights. AI assists with the workload.
Do not forget the “always-on” parts of your online visibility.
Visibility isn’t only about social media posts and blog posts. it is also about your website, your Google business profile, your business hours and contact information, your services and online reviews, your photos and FAQ section. And of course your Youtube videos.
Even when you do not publish every day, these remain visible. Update them whenever anything changes.
Increase your visibility through relationships.
Leverage your relationships with customers or clients, complimentary businesses, local events and community involvement. Use these to gain referrals, do joint projects or deals, and to network.
The bottom line is that visibility doesn’t always happen on a screen. Even more so if your business is not purely web-based.
Create a simple, minimum-effort marketing routine.
If you can do more, then do more. But do set yourself a standard for the absolute minimum of content and social interaction you want to produce in every session and month. Create a sustainable routine.
For instance,
On a weekly basis, you could answer customer reviews, publish or repurpose one useful piece of content, share a story from one customer, or a tip or update, and follow up on inquiries.
On a monthly basis, you may want to publish one solid, substantial piece of core content, from which your other derivatives are created. Determine what generated inquiries, and update anything that has changed or become outdated.
This is just an example – create a routine that works for your unique situation – and one that you can sustain and maintain.
Things you can stop doing.
You don’t need to post every day, join all social platforms, create endless videos or follow every new marketing (or social media) trend. You don’t need to produce original content each time, or chase likes and followers. You don’t need to be an influencer.
A small but highly targeted following is worth more than a large number of “simply curious” followers who don’t engage with your content.
There are some exceptions, but for most small business owners, it is unnecessary to get on the content-creator “hamster wheel”. You are a business person – and your primary business is probably not content creation (for your own marketing).
With that being said, don’t expect an immediate return on your effort. Social media is crowded, and you will need to systematically carve out a space for yourself.
How do you know if your efforts to be visible are working?
Instead of chasing like and follows, or video views, look at the things that really matter – like website inquiries, phone calls, email inquiries, visits to your premises, appointment bookings, quote requests, and of course, the very valuable metrics: New customers, returning customers and referrals (and referral sources).
1,000 views or 100 likes are irrelevant if they do not bring you new business. But if 50 views brought you one new customer, that’s a win.
Simple checklist for visibility without constant content
☐ I know who I am trying to reach
☐ I know where those customers look for businesses like mine
☐ I have chosen a manageable number of channels
Content
☐ I keep a list of customer questions
☐ I have a few core topics I can return to
☐ I repurpose useful content
☐ I collect customer reviews and testimonials
Visibility
☐ My website information is current
☐ My Google Business Profile is complete
☐ My contact details are accurate
☐ My business hours are up to date
Time
☐ I batch marketing tasks where possible
☐ I have a realistic weekly routine
☐ I measure results rather than simply counting posts
In conclusion.
You don’t have to become a (“hamster-wheel”) content creator or influencer to make your business visible.
Instead, good marketing is about being useful, being discoverable, people remembering you, and people trusting you.
So, create less, but better. Repurpose more, and focus your attention on the place or places where your potential customers actually hang out.
The bottom line is this: The more time you spend on marketing, the less time you have available to service your clients or customers. As such, it makes sense to make every minute (spent on content creation and visibility) count, so you can have the best marketing-to-business-activity ratio.