It happens to all of us
You’re trying to launch a new product or work on something to grow your business. And no matter what you try or type or research or click on, you just feel lost.
Something’s just not connecting with you and you’re stuck.
Let me share a story about how I helped some folks get unstuck when I conducted a social media training session.
The workshop session was about developing blog content for a company’s blog. This was a pretty big client so I showed up with my laptop, my presentation slides and my handouts for exercises. I had case studies and examples. I had lists of questions to ask.
Everything was planned out and ready for a big brainstorm session.
When I came into the room, I immediately noticed their body language. Legs were crossed and their bodies were leaning away from me. The employees were already looking at their watches and checking their phones about 20 minutes into the session.
Sensing a problem, I stopped the workshop, pulled up a chair at the table with them and asked what was going on. They admitted they didn’t want to be there and they didn’t like the idea they’d have one more thing to do for their jobs.
One of the managers confessed she was trying to find a way to cancel the meeting before I showed up.
Fortunately for me, I don’t take things like this personally.
I turned the session around into an informal exchange where I had them answer creative questions like, “What’s your favorite thing that you do in this company?” “What do you love to do?” “What are you passionate about?”
When you ask the right questions
When I took the time to ask the right questions, the session turned away from the idea of adding more work to their already busy days. Body language changed as their arms uncrossed and their bodies leaned towards me.
We even started laughing. The rest of our time flew by and we did ultimately develop the content for their blog posts.
If you find that you’re having days where you’re just stuck and don’t know what to do next, take a look at these three questions { and cool solutions! } about how you can figure out how to be unstuckable in your business:
1. What’s connecting with my fans?
If you find yourself struggling with what to post for your social media content, try doing an A/B testing program.
A/B testing is one of those marketing buzz words that consultants like throw around. If you don’t know what it means, here’s the best definition that I found:
You have two versions of an element – A and B – and a metric that defines success. To determine which version is better, you subject both versions to experimentation simultaneously. In the end, you measure which version was more successful and select that version for real-world use. (Smashing Magazine)
To run an A/B test for your social content, think about all the pieces and parts that go into your marketing message. Think about how you can change out any of the following elements to see if you get a different response from your fans:
- The main image you’re using in the post
- The headline of your post
- Text copy in your post
- Your call-to-action
- The fonts you’re using in the image
The idea is to compare your options and test which elements in your message connect with your fans.
One big thing to keep in mind if you do plan to run an A/B testing for your content – make sure that you set up clear measurable metrics like monitoring your site traffic and a system in place to track your reach and clicks.
2. What should I be posting?
This is one of those topics that I can write about for days. Having a plan for your weekly content postings will be one of those things that your small business needs in place so you know what to work on next.
Seriously, if you only have one free hour to do anything with your social media this week, use that time to work out your content strategy. Spend that time brainstorming and planning your post ideas.
For now, let’s just start with the basics. Think about the following questions to get you started on your content strategy:
- What questions do you get all the time from your customers that you can answer in your social posts?
- Do you know what your target market’s goals and interests are?
- Are there other posts or pages in your site that you can link to in site? I’m a big believer in something called Internal Linking – linking to other posts or pages in your blog help you share more of your content with your readers.
- Do you know where your audience hangs out and where you should be sharing your content?
- Last but not the least – did you include a call-to-action in your posts?
3. What can I do to get unstuck?
If none of these ideas are working, it’s time to take a creative break.
While it would be cool to spend the day doing something creative you love like painting, writing, trying out a new recipe or learning to play an instrument, our busy schedules make it hard to plan a full day off.
But what if you could give yourself 30 minutes to take a creative break?
Try this little exercise and see if it helps you break away from that stuck mode:
Find an image in a magazine or on Pinterest that grabs your attention. If it’s on Pinterest, print it out so you can hold it in your hands. Take your image and have a seat someplace away from your laptop.
Now I want you to look at that image.
Study it and imagine yourself stepping inside it. Let your mind wander for 30 minutes as you explore the scenery. Ask yourself, what are these people doing and thinking. What’s on the other side of that door, ocean, gate or whatever is in your image.
The more you move away from your problems, the more you’ll relax and you’ll find the answers will start to flow.
Asking the right questions
While it’s good to ask ourselves questions to help work through our social media marketing plans, let’s make sure they’re right ones to help you grow your business.
The next time you feel stuck, try one of these ideas and see what happens. Every time I do something creative, I end up with answers to questions that I didn’t even know I had.
I start to smile again and somewhere down deep, I feel a sense of joy.
When we look at ourselves and why we became business owners, we know that we felt joy for what we do. That internal joy is why we took a deep breath, reached down inside to find our strength and start our companies.
Take a deep breath, get a little creative and know you’ll get through this. Remember, it’s not really work when you love what you do.
PS There’s so much going on in your life. You’re trying to make your business happen, trying to make money happen … it doesn’t happen by chance. You have to deliberately show up when and how they expect you to, if you want grow your business online.
Download the Social Media Productivity Planner! Grab the one tool you need to take you from wishing you had time to grow your business to owning a profitable business.
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