I’m drawn to social media because it feels like it gives me inspiration to see what other people are doing. However, over the last several months I’ve discovered that it might actually be doing the opposite! This is what led me to a big decision: I choose to delete social media apps from my phone.
Now, this isn’t an easy decision in this day and age; I would tell myself that “I need it” because I’m a business owner and I needed to stay on top of our clients, our community, and all the things. But the thing about being a consumer of social media is that it makes us start questioning the way we do things, doubting ourselves and whether we’re doing “enough.”
I deleted social media from my phone and have been using my computer to check social media to minimize that dopamine hit and the endless scroll. Let me tell you…it’s been liberating!
And listen, I understand this isn’t fully possible for everyone. A lot of us need to manage social media for our jobs, but we have to check in with ourselves on how much we’re consuming it. You have to be careful with how much creativity you let in because it prevents you from focusing on your own creativity.
Tips to minimize your social media consumption:
Use an app that tracks your social media time
Use a scheduling app
Use your desktop instead of your phone
Try it out for a few weeks for yourself and see how much mental space it opens up!
When you bring up the terms “bear market” or “recession,” a lot of people want to just avoid the topic altogether. Business owners don’t want to think about it until they absolutely have to, but this head-in-the-sand approach creates a scenario where you have to be reactive rather than proactive and prepared…and that’s not a great place to be!
In this episode, we’re going to help you create a plan and feel SECURE in your business, no matter what the market does or how your industry changes.
You don’t have to come up with a buttoned-up plan or completely restructure your business in a bear market, but this is the time to take a step back and look at the changes happening in your industry. NOW, before sh*t hits the fan, is the time to plan out how to market and/or pivot your business going into a recession and adjust to the changing climate.
Step 1 is to create a threshold for survival; essentially, get an idea of how much revenue your business needs to survive at the bare minimum.
Next, we’re going to make a variety of worst-case scenario plans: what happens when business goes down 10%, 20%, 50%? Make an A, B, and C plan for these scenarios so you have a solid plan of what to do if these situations arise!
-What expenses can you trim back?
-Who do you have working for you and who do you need at different levels of business?
-What additional tasks do YOU need to take on without driving yourself into the ground?
Why do we do this? To help our brains feel SAFE. If the worst-case scenario does happen, you already have a plan, a safety net of how you’ll survive and you don’t have to go into panic mode.
Another aspect to evaluate during a bear market or recession is your marketing; look, I know we run a marketing agency so this might seem a bit biased…but PLEASE don’t eliminate marketing until you absolutely have to!
Marketing is like your main source of food for your business; why would you cut off the source that’s feeding you? It might seem like you should spend less on marketing during a recession, but large companies actually DOUBLE their marketing budget during recessions; why? Advertising becomes cheaper, there’s way less competition, and there’s a HUGE opportunity to gain ground in the market!
Here are some ideas on how to take advantage of marketing in a bear market:
-Create evergreen ads that you can turn off/on
-Turn up/down your ad spend depending on how much business you’re in need of
-Take advantage of low/no-cost networking and marketing opportunities!
It’s as simple as this: you can’t turn off your marketing and expect your business to grow.
Lastly, think about how your clients and customers are working through these same things; look into what their pain points and struggles are and utilize their language and their mindset to get their attention.
Tune in to the full episode for more tips and information on how to best prepare your business for any upcoming recession.
Social media has grown so much in the last 10 years, and it’s continuing to evolve as new generations usher in unique technological advancements and trends. So with this in mind, how do we keep up? Whether you’re a big brand or a smaller company just starting out, we all have to figure out a way to carve out our own corners of the universe, and a social media agency can take some of this weight off your shoulders.
Let’s walk through some of the pros and cons of hiring an agency to help you with social media in the context of your business ventures and by the end of this discussion, if you’re interested in moving toward the agency side of things, The Mina Company is always ready and eager to serve other businesses!
Why You Should Hire a Social Media Agency
With how rapidly the social media landscape is changing, it can be difficult to keep up with the specific techniques that can help your business in this current moment. Trends come and go, but this doesn’t mean that there aren’t some tried and true ways to support the success of your content. Agencies do this for a living!
Take The Mina Company for example. We do some, if not all, of that social media research and content creation for our clients so they don’t have to! It allows them to focus on the marrow of their business, their mission, and their goals. We help them with the leg work that will actively and passively push their company up the ladder of success.
The Mina Company offers two social media packages; One is more comprehensive than the other, but both cover hashtag research, creating templates for different social media platforms, and defining the trajectory of current trends so that we can adjust accordingly.
We all know how time-consuming sustaining a business can be, especially if you are in the early stages of building a company. However, hiring a social media agency frees up space in your brain and your schedule so you can enjoy the parts of your business that really speak to your passions and skills. Hand off the tasks that require you to take the pulse of each platform every day.
Why You Might Want to Hold Off on Hiring Some Help
Now, hiring an agency to do some of the social media work isn’t a blanket solution; here are a few instances where you might want to hold off on hiring help.
We understand that not every business is in a place where they can outsource work such as this – either for financial reasons, time constraints, or both. If you’re in that position currently, don’t worry! The beautiful thing about social media is that everyone can learn how social media works. It takes some work and time to get the hang of creating content for each platform, how they differ in principle, and how to catch patterns on the internet. But you can do it!
Another thing to consider is that hiring a social media agency requires you to work with people that you don’t often know, or at least don’t know well. There will be a time of transition when you first begin where you, your team, and the members of the agency that you’re working with are getting to know each other – this means getting to know the way you approach timelines, content, style, aesthetics, everything! Managing expectations and giving each other grace in the beginning is essential to your overall success together. If you’re still figuring out your own business’ approach to these elements of your brand or finding your niche, you may want to iron those out before hiring an agency.
Always Reach Out if You Have Any Questions
The Mina Company was once a one-woman show just trying to find its place and mission in the wide world of social media, and now we’ve grown into a team of really incredible, talented, and dedicated individuals who believe in the power of community and supporting others on their entrepreneurial journeys. We are here to help you, whether you want to try out one of our two packages or just want a little more information on how we can assist you, so don’t hesitate to reach out! Your brand and vision matter.
In today’s episode, we’re diving into two real-life client personality assessments and how we interpret that information (combined with the magic of cycle mapping) to create marketing strategies customized to a business owner’s strengths and weaknesses.
Using these personality evaluations, we can also make informed assumptions about working with certain clients, anticipating roadblocks and issues that might come up before they arrive as well as predicting which clients have the potential to be big, high-paying accounts and which don’t – and both are OK!
This is something that we wish we had known YEARS ago, having the ability to really learn about and get to know clients before we take them on. These are the things that you typically don’t realize until you’ve lived it and learned it firsthand, but having the opportunity to get a bird’s-eye view beforehand really gives you a leg up to creating long-lasting, successful relationships with your clients.
Teaching our own internal team about their own personalities and educating them on cycle mapping has also been a game-changer in our own business! It has been a crucial step in creating a well-rounded team that keeps everyone balanced, in check, and as efficient as possible.
Tune in to hear real-life applications and takeaways that you can apply to your own business!
