One thing I see regularly with small business owners is social media paralysis.
They know they should be doing something.
Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. Posts. Reels. Followers. Hashtags. Advertising.
There’s so much advice that they end up doing absolutely nothing.
So once we’ve got some decent content onto their social media profile, I sometimes give clients one extremely simple job.
Go and look at your competitors.
Find the businesses doing something similar to you and look at the people following and engaging with them.
These people have already shown an interest in the type of product or service you provide.
If they’re relevant to your business, follow them.
Then have a look at who your competitors follow. You may discover suppliers, complementary businesses, local organisations, industry accounts and potential customers you didn’t know existed.
Don’t go mad and follow hundreds of random accounts.
The objective isn’t to artificially inflate your follower count.
It’s to start putting your business into the right neighbourhood.
But do this first
Before you start following people, make sure there’s actually something worth seeing when they look back at you.
Your profile should clearly explain:
- who you are
- what you do
- where you operate, if location matters
- how someone can contact you
And ideally, have a handful of useful or interesting posts already published.
Otherwise you’re inviting people into an empty shop.
Then start behaving like a human
Don’t just follow people.
Pay attention to what they’re posting.
Like something genuinely interesting. Leave a useful comment when you’ve got something worthwhile to say. Follow local businesses. Join conversations.
You don’t need a complicated “social media growth strategy” to begin.
You need to start.
Twenty minutes spent finding and genuinely connecting with relevant people is better than another month spent wondering what your social media strategy should be.
Keep it simple
This isn’t a magic formula for social media success.
It’s simply a practical first step I give business owners who don’t know where to begin.
Get your profile in order.
Post something useful.
Find the right people.
Start interacting.
Then build from there.
That’s often how I approach online marketing with my clients at Button Web Design: remove the complexity, work out the next useful thing to do, and do that first.