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Oh social media, it’s a complicated relationship…

“I hate social media” is something we have all thought at one point or another… But then we have this gut check that we do need it for business if we want to reach a wider audience and have customers find us from literally all over the world.

It would be amazing to be able to rely on word of mouth alone. But you have to be able to attract that first mouth before you can rely on word of mouth… More on that later.

My biggest struggle with it is I am not a naturally social person. It takes me all of Monday to recover from people overload after being at church twice on Sundays. Not that I don’t want to be there but for a natural introvert social interaction drains me instead of fills me up.

There have been several times when I have been staring at the DELETE ACCOUNT button in a platform app just wishing I could hit that button so badly. 

But the honest truth is it saved my rabbitry business and helped keep my online business afloat during this last google update as well as whole AI answering people’s questions at the top of search situations. More on that later.

i hate social media but need it for business intro image

There are two ways you can approach this struggle of not wanting to deal with social media marketing and wanting to say the heck with it.

First is, suck it up butter cup and learn how to make the most of the social platforms you are going to be on.

Second, you can choose to use it for a time to grow your business and slowly phase it out so you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to. — Unfortunately, the way AI and Google are going with this last helpful content update letting go of social media completely is not going to be an option for most of us.

I would be totally lying to you if I told you that you could make money quickly without it. Especially if you are trying to grow your homestead business. 

I will talk more about this later but starting a website or YouTube channel is a slow burn and honestly is not an “in the moment” marketing channel. They don’t work for selling the animals or products that have a “shelf life” unless you are simply working to build a waiting list.

Now that we have commiserated a little bit lets get into what we can do to use it to our advantage.

How Social Media Is Used in Business

Ok, so how can social media be used as a marketing tool to help you grow your homestead business?

➡️Social media has become a key component of business and marketing strategies for companies of any size in virtually every industry or niche.

Why? Because that is where people spend most of their time literally every day. Even if it is just to unwind at the end of the day or something to do while they are on the pot they are still there scrolling. 

Not only can social media be used to get in front of your potential customers, but it also provides an opportunity to engage with people and get answers from your ideal audience when you are doing market research.

Market research can include anything from figuring out what topics to talk about to what problems people are willing to pay for.

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The key to marketing success on social media is:

  • Knowing YOUR marketing goals.
  • What the platform wants out of its users.
  • How they behave using the platform. –Meaning why do people go to that platform? Is it to just scroll and unwind while seeing something funny like Facebook and TikTok, to connect with people like they do on Instagram, or is it to find an answer to their question or get ideas like they do on Pinterest?

It depends on the platform but most social platforms are best used for brand awareness and if people click over to your website great, but if not no sweat.

They are more likely to come to you when they are ready for that thing you offer because they have seen you over and over again on social. It takes 7-11 times of seeing you before people will consider buying from you. You may not see people comment and like your content BUT know they are there watching. If your post is getting REACH then that means people are seeing your content. THAT is the metric you need to pay attention to.

It might feel like a waste of time because you can’t truly see the click-through data on brand awareness. But when they are ready for homemade soaps, dairy goats, or learning how to garden they will look you up first if they resonated with you and saw you enough times to remember you.

When you engage with customers you have to have a listening ear to figure out where they found you and what marketing assets are working. Things like “oh we love your page” or “we read all your posts” are what you want to hear.

rustic table with a laptop, cup of coffee and pencils in a holder next to it.

Challenges of Social Media for Businesses

The biggest challenge business owners (especially if they are doing it all on their own) face from social media is keeping up with all the different platforms and staying on top of the conversation.

With so many social media channels it can be hard to know which online marketing platform is right for your business. It can feel draining to do. But sometimes you have to find ways to make the parts you don’t love about running a business work. So let’s go over some of the biggest struggles to figure out what you can do to make your farm business marketing journey easier.

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Time Consumption

Social media can be a huge time-suck for businesses, with a bunch of different platforms to manage and conversations to track. All the gurues pound the table about posting consistently and your business will grow. So you keep pushing and pushing to keep at it.

But that can turn into posting just to post so you can say you met the quota and you didn’t post with intention.

It doesn’t matter if you posted something that didn’t ultimately serve your business or meet the goals you have for your social media marketing. Getting views won’t get you business if they aren’t the right views.

All of these social media content plans that have pretty quotes and premade content sound great but if they don’t tie into your business and what you offer then it’s pointless.

You are going to get more bang for your buck in business marketing if you post 2-3 times a week and create purposeful content rather than posting every day and only getting a quote up that really doesn’t tell people about your business or even hint at the niche.

Stressful Atmosphere

On top of posting often, the atmosphere on social media can also be pretty stressful at times, especially when there are negative comments or DMs. It’s important to remember that even if someone has something negative (or even downright rude) to say, it doesn’t mean you have to respond the same way or at all; take a step back and consider your options. Did this person say something that requires a response or not? 

If you can respond to a comment when someone is disagreeing with you in a way that shows your credibility that can be a good idea.  I think that would be a great way to show your other followers who see that comment that you know what you are talking about.

But if you can’t resond kindly or in a classy way that ads value or perspective then leaving them alone is just fine too. Its still engagement which pushes your content out into the world further.

Here is an example of that on an old pin on Pinterest where I responded with my reasons.

Now people have continued to comment with basically the same thing and it’s really not worth responding to all of them because they are welcome to disagree with me. And some just want to fuss anyway.

It takes practice to learn to stomach even these somewhat decent comments even though they clearly disagree. But that’s just it. We are free to agree to disagree.

Tips To Tame The Stress

  • Create content in a schedler and pust manualy when the scheduler notificies you on yoru phone. This alows you to post and not get sucedk into the scroll of comments.
  • You don’t “have to” read or respond to the comments. But I would highly encourge you to commenton the ones you can or see that are kind.
  • Get a friend to help you do it when you have the income to pay someone.

Difficulty Breaking Through the Clutter

Breaking through the noise on social media can be hard for people for A LOT of different reasons. Here are some things you might be struggling with. 

  • You are not sure where your audience is spending their time so you are picking the most popular platforms and it’s not getting you the results you want.
  • You are not creating content on the platform that speaks to the INTENT of the platform user. — Intent is why they are using the platform and what they are doing there.
  • You are constantly trying to get people to leave a platform which is NOT what platforms like Facebook and Instagram want you to do. So your content is going to not get you clicks. 
  • You may be having better luck than you realize if your reach is good.
  • You’re trying to do what everyone else is doing and not being yourself. — The Hormozi’s (Alex and Leihla) are great at being who they are and not catering to the trends or platform in a way that is not alinged with their pesonality. People can tell when you are pushing to be something you’re not.

I’ve tried catering to the platforms and what seems to be a trend or what people are doing. But thats just not me. So have come to the point where I will be unapologeticly me and I’ll take the results that gives me.

I think the biggest thing you can do to help break through the noise on social is to make sure you are creating content that serves people in the USER INTENT on the platform. If they don’t go to that platform to be sent right back off of it becuase you are constntaly asking them to go to your website. Then don’t be posting that content all the time.

But then also be posting topics around that that are bold and don’t blend in. Content that causes people to stop and pay attention is what will get you results. 

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Before You Hit Delete Ask Yourself This Question

Are you ok with the results of not posting on that platform? Meaning if you are getting results and you still hate it you have to be ok with potentially losing the customers you are getting from that platform.

BUT, if you are not getting the results you want then stop trying to squeeze water out of a rock. Let the platform go…

I went through a struggle with whether or not to keep social media at all the spring of 2023. I was posting on Instagram and Facebook A LOT and while Facebook was serving the purpose I intended for the rabbitry, Instagram was not getting me any real business results.

It was a huge energy drain and I was feeling the effects of it causing me to even consider selling my business… NOT GOOD!

If you don’t feel right about closing down the platform either then you need to find the answer to this question.

What are you able to manage as a social media posting schedule. And is that plan going to allow you to free up your mental space and make use of that power for something else?

Things like building an email list or growing your website traffic.

I am not the type that can be half-in only posting a few times a week and feeling like I am half-assing the content production. But something had to change. So I made my IG account to act as more of a billboard instead of a “hay I’m here for questions, reach out to me type of platform”.

I set up an autoresponder to encourage people to email me if they sent the account a message and also put in my bio that the blog and YouTube are my main platforms.

If you don’t want to delete the account setting it up like a billboard is definitely a good option.

How Social Media Saved My Business

With this helpful content update and the AI answering everything at the top I have almost no search traffic anymore coming to my site. Its all facebook and pinterest keeping my business alive.

While it can feel tiring to headge your bets that is the cost of doing business. There will always be some part of it that is stressful. So choose your hard and desice if its worth doing. If not thats ok. Then you have to be ok with the alternatives.

sage green calculator with a spoon next to it and a cup of coffee to the right of that

Create A Simple And Managible Strategy

Using One Short-term Platform and One Longterm

This is my personal recommendation for starting and growing your homestead business. Social media is a fast and free way to have some form of visibility online while you are growing your home base off of social media. 

I recommend you choose one long-term platform (ideally a website because you own it) and one short-term platform to get the ball rolling. 

BUT if you are just starting out I want you to start one social media account and grow it for a year before you start a website. I see so many people jump in the deep end of starting their homestead business and honestly find out that running a business is not for them. And that’s ok. But I don’t want you to use a ton of your time and money to start a website and then find out it’s not for you.

But I still don’t think you shouldn’t rely on someone else’s platform for your business. 

Tips To Make It Easier To Post

  • Use a scheduler to create the content in so it doesn’t feel like you are “on social media” when creating content.
  • Create content you enjoy creating that can still tie back into your business or what you offer. — Being yourself and tieing it back into your business is the best place to start.
  • Start with an easy to manage posting schedule that is easy for your to manage.
  • Use the Facaebook business suite app so you can post on facebook or IG whenout getting sucked into the scroll.
laptop on a bed with a throw blanket next to it

After hearing all of these ideas it can be tempting to throw it all out the virtual door and say forget it. But I would HIGHLY DISCOURAGE THAT until you have taken the time to build up your reputation for a few years you can’t just rely on word of moth.

If you truly want a business you need people to know who you are and what you do to make money. 

Don’t just hit delete and think your business will be fine. You will struggle if you don’t have another way people regularly look for you.

By diversifying your growth strategies, you’ll be well-positioned to achieve long-term success and homestead business growth beyond the confines of social media.

You got this. Take a deep breath and find the best way that works for you.

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