Prediction: An ever-growing number of businesses, having been told that they must focus on ‘social’ will get unqualified and unenthusiastic people running their social media accounts. Or they will outsource this to ‘digital nomads’ who have a ‘social media agency’ and will be paid relatively vast sums of money to take haphazard shots at getting a business clients through social media mediums, whilst paying no attention to the needs and wants of the business.

Sole traderey–types who are some of the most respectable business owners and the best placed to take advantage of social media, will post what they want to on Facebook and Instagram without thinking about what their prospective clients want to see.

Or, they will copy what others do, blissfully unaware that the account they are copying is posting based on a highly specific fine-tuned strategy, or also has no idea what they are doing.

What to do about it

Firstly, if your business hasn’t done this yet, the ideal client needs to be identified, or the top three to five ideal clients if you don’t have a narrow niche.

What is the gender of your ideal clients? What are their interests? What is their income? What social media platforms are they most likely to be on? What are their attitudes, values, and beliefs most likely to be? And most importantly… What would they most like to find out about you through your social media postings?

You might want to show the inner workings of your long-reach window washing system. But 20-35-year-olds care more about your online reputation, and 40-50-year-olds will want to know what the experience of being your customer is like. So don’t post most about the inner workings of your long-reach window washing system. Definitely include it, but focus on what your prospective customer wants to be able to find out by looking at your online profiles.

You might think your photos of the conservatories you’ve installed are better than the photos that your competitor is showing – maybe you should post lots of pictures showing this. Well, maybe your customer base doesn’t actually care about how good the photos make your conservatories look, maybe they care about how much more light the home has after the conservatory was built than it had before, and would rather see photos from the inside showing how much more light and space a room has. Always think – what does my ideal client want to be seeing?

Again, include the well-taken photos, and the other bits you’re passionate about and that you impress yourself with. But, know that you’re not actually trying to sell people a nice-looking conservatory; you’re trying to sell them an improved home, so focus on the improvement.

Also, don’t just sell. This is social media, not ‘buy from me media’.

As with emails, add value, show people what they want to see and only then should you try to sell.

Remember these three words: Know, Like, Trust. Businesses who can use social media to make prospective customers feel like they know you, like you, and trust you are going to be more ready to buy from you than from anyone else. Let them see the ‘human’ in your business and give them an idea of what it would be like to be your customer or client; don’t just show the product or service, show it from the customer’s perspective, and show them what a customer’s experience will be.