I was approached recently by a coach who was getting her business started. She had a nice looking website. And from what I could tell offered a really valuable set of services. I could visualize lots of great ways she could use social media to market her business. But there was one thing missing.

No Web Presence

But as far as a web presence she pretty much didn’t have one. She had set up pages on Facebook, Twitter,and LinkedIn. But she only had a handful of followers. Having a few social media pages and a website does not equal a web presence.

And She Wanted Organic Reach

“I don’t want to pay for advertising,” she told me. “I want to get prospects from social media organically.”

In fact, her goal was:

• Gain leads from marketing on my social media versus me having to pay for advertisements.

• Drive traffic to my website

Now there is nothing wrong with wanting as much organic reach as possible. However, smart marketers know that you have to spend money to make money. Especially if you are starting from scratch like she was. You have to build a web presence.

Selling a service means that you have to connect with your audience. It's not like selling a widget. You need to build that "Know, Like and Trust Factor" before people will be willing to invest in your service.

And That Will Take Time

On top of wanting all organic reach, she only wanted to hire someone to post once or twice a week. Who did she think she would reach with these posts?

Let’s Look at Facebook.

Only 1 to 2 % of the people who have liked your page will see your posts.

So you would have to have 1000 people following your page just to reach 10 to 20 people.

That is unless you have a really good strategy in place. And you are willing to pay a few dollars to reach more people in your target market. This particular lady was connected to 29 people. How many people do you think would see her 1 post per week??

How About LinkedIn?

On LinkedIn, users may log in only once a week or two. If you are not posting regularly there is a good chance your prospect will never see that great post.

And Twitter is a fast-moving social channel. Most people are posting multiple times a day. Your one post a week will definitely get lost.

It takes time to cultivate a following. Throwing a few posts on your social media pages is a waste of time and money. You have to learn how to “work” social media or you need to hire someone to do it for you.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

Additionally, savvy marketers know that repetition is the key. People have to see your message, your logo and connect with your brand over and over. Most people do not make a purchasing decision until you have built the “know like and trust factor”. Let’s face it we all buy from people we are comfortable with.

A Little Advice

I responded to her request letting her know I could do the job she requested. However, I told her I did not believe it to be the best strategy. I offered a complimentary consultation to discuss some ideas.

Ego In The Way?

She responded to me that she was not interested. Maybe she was afraid that I would try to convince her to spend money on advertising. I am not sure why she did not want to have a short conversation to explore ideas. Most likely she allowed her ego to get in the way.

Take your ego out of the way. Be willing to learn from others. This doesn’t mean that you have to agree with everything. But if you want to stay in business you have to be willing to learn.

If you are in business to stay in business for a long time you need to get comfortable using social media. Because the truth is social media is here to stay for quite some time. Both your prospects and your competitors are using social media.

If you want to stay in business you need to invest time and money into growing your web presence. And social media is how you do that.

Social media is constantly changing. In order to keep up and to reach more of your ideal prospects, you need to stay on top of the changes.

Smart business people hire coaches, take classes, read and watch videos to learn how to grow their business. How are you growing your web presence?

Kathryn Watson has been in business for herself since 1992. She is a speaker, author and coach. Kathryn loves to help small service related businesses market using the vast resources of social media.

Join her FB Marketing Group to connect with other business owners and marketers who are targeting the over 50 crowd.