* Affiliate Disclaimer: this blog post contains affiliate links where I earn a small commission from any sales. These commissions come at no added cost to you and you’re under no obligation to make a purchase.
Last week a popular fashion and lifestyle influencer that I follow lost her Instagram account.
How would that make you feel? If panic would set in and all of your small business marketing activities would halt, it’s time to expand your strategy and diversify where you show up online.
Jen Reed (aka @thesisterstudio on Instagram) has over 1.6 million followers and built a multi-million dollar business predominantly using Instagram.
Then the thing we all hope never happens to us, became her reality. Her Instagram account vanished.
Luckily she was able to get it back up with the help of some reps at Meta but the vast majority of small business owners aren’t so lucky. Blue checkmark or not.
The other saving grace for this influencer was that she’s also established an online presence that expands beyond Instagram. Thankfully she has an email list that she connects with regularly, an account on ShopLTK and a fairly decent following on Pinterest, so in the event that her IG wasn’t reinstated, she wouldn’t be starting from scratch.
Can you say the same?
For most small business owners that is a resounding NO. Let’s run through some of the ways you can solidify the security and success of your small business marketing strategy.
Making Building An Email List Top Priority
Contrary to platform goals (that want to keep users on the app), my goal with social media is to convert my followers and bring them off of the app. Whether that’s through an outbound click to visit my blog, make a purchase on my website or join my email list, I’m not here to amass followers for vanity metrics – I want them to be meaningful supporters of my biz (and my bottom line).
One of the best ways to do this is by making email list building top priority within your marketing strategy.
Maybe it’s the elder millennial in me speaking here but I truly believe that email marketing is a timeless tactic that will be relevant for years to come.
After all, it’s one of the platforms where the algorithm isn’t calling the shots. Sure, your emails might end up in junk from time to time but for the most part, when you send an email to your list, your content will be delivered to 99.9% of your subscribers.
Plus, the revenue stats for email marketing are very lucrative – meaning that it’s one of the easiest ways to successfully sell to your audience.
Create Your Online Home Base
Also known as having a functioning, up-to-date website. For some reason, building your business without a website seems to be worn like a badge of honour these days and I’m not too sure why.
Having a website is a non-negotiable in my books. Not only does it give your brand authority and credibility, it also amplifies your searchability (and that means a higher likelihood of being found online).
Your website can act as your home base or catchall for everything related to your brand. From your product offerings and free downloads to linking podcast episodes you’ve been a guest on and showcasing your own original thought leadership, your website serves endless purposes.
With all the tools available nowadays, you don’t have to be a tech expert to get yours up and running. Take my website for example. I bought this customizable WordPress template for under $200, (affiliate link) and it made it my own with only a few days of effort. Eventually I’d love to get a complete custom site created but this is more than enough to tie me over until I get to the point where that is a priority.
Post On More Than One Platform
Did your anxiety just ratchet up hearing that? Take a deep breath and hear me out on this one.
Building an audience on more than one platform DOES NOT have to add a million extra hours of work to your already overwhelming to-do list.
Whether it’s repurposing content that you’ve already created or simply reposting the same short video on TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube shorts, you need to build a following somewhere other than just Meta-owned platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Not only does this open up a world of possibility for your business, it also means that you can keep pushing forward if one of your channels gets hacked or becomes obsolete.
PS. Want to learn some of my tricks for repurposing content. Get on the waitlist to be the first notified when my new guide is available.
Have A Strategy For Local Connection & Collaboration
I put off having a hyper local strategy for so long, and it hurt my business more than I care to admit.
With the global accessibility of social media, many online business owners place so much of an emphasis on building their social media they forget that collaboration and networking with local business owners can open up new doors for you that ultimately will help you business get further, faster.
From connecting with your local Chamber of Commerce to seeking out other like-minded business owners and inviting them to go for a coffee, establishing local relationships shouldn’t be overlooked.
BONUS: your offline connections can help you accelerate your online growth.
TL;DR – regardless of how you do it, your small business marketing strategy and success depends on you not having all of your eggs in one basket. It not only relieves the pressure that focusing on only platform brings, having a multi-focused strategy means that you have many drops in the bucket and that bucket will be overflowing in no time!