You're being set up to fail.

Social media, as an industry, is still in its infancy, and it's a fast-evolving space.

So perhaps it's not that surprising that the current structures and "rules" are counterproductive to our goals.

If you're running social media for a business, you know it's an exhausting place.

It feels loud, and the rules are ever-changing. You can spend hours on a post only to get barely any views, and yet somehow the person in your feed is getting hundreds or even thousands of views, and it's hard to pinpoint what they are doing differently.

Overwhelming isn't half of it.

The truth is, you've been set up to fail.

1. You can't create the content you need at scale. You have to hire help to get visibility and play the numbers game of "if X number of people see my post, I'll get Y clicks and Z leads."
2. Every social media package is focused on creating content. Social media at its core is about connection, and yet the vast majority of packages offered don't include audience engagement.
3. You need content at scale, but packages are all about limitations. The average social media package includes 30-40 posts and allows for the management of 3 profiles.
4. Everyone is taught the "exact process" and "rules" they should follow for success. Marketing by definition needs to be innovative and fresh. No marketing campaign can reach wild levels of success by following the crowd.

So how do we fix this?

Start by flipping the script - stop spending 90% of your time creating content, and 10% on engaging, and streamline your content creation so you can spend most of your energy cultivating relationships.

Next, center on your audience. What do they need, what are they feeling, how can you show up and connect with them? Deliver content that serves your audience versus selling your offer. No one is following you so you can sell to them. They are following you to connect, learn, be entertained, and feel more connected to you or your business.

Stop studying content creators on apps. Start studying users. How do they like to engage with content, how do they use the platforms, when they go to your page, where do they go first? What style of content pulls them in? Too many businesses deliver content in a format or structure that frustrates their audience.

You may not spend 4 hours a day on a platform, but users do. And if you are creating content in a way that doesn't mesh with how they are using the platform, you lose immediate traction.

Innovate by combining these elements. When you are clear on what your audience is looking for, when you are delivering content in a way that is intuitive to the platform, and when you are cultivating relationships - you now have a powerful social media strategy to drive traffic, and ultimately sales.