How to make social media work for, not against, your entrepreneurial activity

Over the last twenty years our lives have become unrecognisable due to the advent of social media. Families sit in restaurants and don’t talk to each other, each of them engrossed in the tiny screen of their telephones, printed newspapers are in decline, QR codes have taken the place of business cards and flyers whilst videos and reels are commonplace. In this new world, how can you make social media work for, not against your entrepreneurial activity?

To begin with, here are some reasons why using social media is important for your business:

Whether we like it or not, social media is now part of our daily lives; the networks are ubiquitous. 4.9 billion people are connected to the Internet out of 7.8 billion human beings. Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX said: "School is no longer useful, we can learn everything on YouTube". Apart from enjoying watching videos, chatting with our loved ones, we also know that the Internet has become an inevitable tool to earn money. Don't just sit there and dream, if you want to automatically increase the turnover of your company, use social media!

5 billion euro lost in ten hours

That's roughly how much money Mark Zuckerberg lost during the global Facebook outage in October 2021, one of the longest outages ever. But how much does he earn via social media? Forbes estimates that the young entrepreneur earns $1.7 million per hour, or $28,300 per minute, or $472 per second in 2014! The concrete proof that social media could be an asset for entrepreneurs. It can help you promote a brand image, raise awareness, share content, or advertise a recruitment (on LinkedIn, a hire is evaluated every second). By using social media, you’ll not only grow your network, but you will gain visibility, notoriety, and ultimately referrals. Promote your services and your products and you will be sure to win and retain your customers.

Create relationships, not a business!

Nevertheless, it’s essential to remember that social media isn’t about shouting about yourself from the rooftops, it’s about knowing, liking and trusting. It’s not about selling to anyone and everyone, it’s about building relationships with people who may or not be your ideal clients, and by fine-tuning your messaging, you’ll find that your messages will be conveyed to the people who will buy from you.

Today, in the business world, it is shown that businesses who are most successful can often attribute their success to their leaders. Elon Musk has the ability to react independently of his corporate device and has been able to create a direct link with now more than 50 million followers on Twitter. When you understand how the algorithm of a social network works, how you can create traffic automatically, the use of social media will seem simpler and easier, but ultimately people buy from people. Don’t hide behind a false name if you want people to buy from you, be yourself, and that’s why people will choose to do business with you. Focus on what makes you unique, what is your unique selling proposition?

Here's why social media can impact your business:

The statistics I'm about to tell you will probably scare you, but that's not my goal. Around 20% of small businesses fail in their first year and entrepreneurs are 50% more likely to have a mental health problem. While there are about 582 million entrepreneurs worldwide, most use social media to generate revenue but there are also risks that an entrepreneur can face. This could be a misunderstood message, or you may be exposed to any criticism or negative feedback that will be visible to other users of the network—which can harm your image—or in some cases you can be a victim to online trolls, bullying, or even defamation (a punishable crime in some countries). So think before you speak, or type in this case!

Social media are good, but they take time...

Even with well-established business strategies, building visibility and positioning and promoting your services or products can take a long time for companies. This is the biggest problem with social media. Always know that it's an investment; which company do you think is the most famous in the world and spends the most on advertising? It's Coca-Cola.
Indeed, those who have the most visibility are those who pay and then follow the logical sequence stated above (traffic-client-revenue). You have to understand that each social network has its respective algorithm, and you will have to wait until the algorithm becomes familiar with your actions and your interactions to be efficient on the Internet, which may take some time depending on the frequency of your use. That is to say that you will have to wait to see your results. Whether you post multiple times a day or once a week, the keyword is consistency, so that you create patterns and your followers know when to expect your content.

You can become the new Zuckerberg!

In this article, I've outlined the benefits and risks of using social media in your business. No matter which field you are going to do business in, zero risk does not exist! On the other hand, you know that you can adopt social media in the activity of an entrepreneur which will result in gaining visibility, and when you have visibility, you will gain customers, and a customer means a potential revenue. I know first-hand that it's not easy to invest your time and capital on social media, then wait months for the results, change your own working methods and your life principles, but change is not done overnight, you have to be patient, so adopt a fighter attitude, persevere and make the maximum effort. Make a decision and take action, use social media in your industry, start building relationships through recommended platforms and you will see for yourself that the goal is worth the effort.

And if you need support with your social media then My Bilingual VA is here to help. We support our clients with social media admin in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, preparing texts, creating images, scheduling posts and curating analytics. Contact us for more information.