PipeflowWhy so many profiles fall asleep
Sound familiar? You resolve to finally post on Instagram regularly. The first posts come quickly, then things get busy in the workshop, the shop or the practice, and the profile goes quiet. That has little to do with a lack of discipline. For most small businesses, social media is a side issue, and side issues are the first to go when things get tight.
The typical reasons are similar: the plan was too ambitious, there was no stock of posts, nobody was clearly responsible, or disappointment over a few likes took away the motivation. For each of these reasons there is a simple countermeasure.
Choose a rhythm you can manage even in busy weeks
Don't plan for your best week, plan for an average one. If you manage five posts in quiet times but none in busy ones, a smaller rhythm is more honest. It may feel like too little at first, but it lasts.
Exactly how often can't be said in general. Over a few weeks, watch how your posts are received in the Instagram app's insights or in LinkedIn analytics, and then adjust. A steady rhythm also helps you yourself: you learn faster what your audience responds to.
Fixed days help too. If Monday and Thursday are always posting days, you don't have to wonder whether today is one.
Build up a stock
The most important protection against radio silence is a small stock of finished posts. When a week gets out of hand, you fall back on it instead of posting nothing at all.
An electrical business, for example, can prepare several tips on home safety at once on a quiet afternoon. They are then ready when the next big job takes up everyone's energy. Helpful here:
- Timeless posts: tips, team introductions, the history of the business. They almost always fit.
- Photo folder: a folder on your phone just for usable business photos, filled continuously.
- Ideas list: questions from customers, noted down in one sentence.
- Templates: a text tile template in your colours that you only need to fill with a new sentence.
Clarify who is responsible
In many businesses, social media is "somehow everyone's job" and therefore nobody's. Decide who looks after it. It doesn't have to be the boss. There is often someone on the team who enjoys taking photos or writing and is glad to take on the task.
Just as important is who supplies the photos. If everyone on the team knows that successful work is photographed and sent to a shared group, the material comes almost by itself. For photos of colleagues or customers: get their consent first.
Dealing with few reactions
Especially at the start, there are often only a few likes. That is normal and not a sign that you are doing something wrong. Many people follow along without reacting. It happens that someone mentions in the shop that they saw a post, even though they never tapped "Like".
So don't measure your success by individual posts but by months. Look at the statistics once a month: is your reach slowly growing? Are there more profile visits or enquiries? Those are the signals that count for a small business.
It also helps to be honest about your expectations. A hair salon or a florist rarely becomes famous overnight through Instagram. But if you regularly show what you do, you stay in people's minds, and when someone needs an appointment or wants to give a bouquet, they are more likely to think of your business.
Small habits that make it easier to keep going
Keeping going has a lot to do with habit. The fewer decisions you have to make each time, the more likely you are to stick with it. So link posting to things that happen in your everyday work anyway, instead of adding it on top as an extra task.
Pick two or three points from the list that suit you. Doing everything at once would be too much again and would achieve exactly the opposite.
- A fixed weekly slot: a time in the week when you prepare the next posts.
- A photo after every job: the finished result is photographed before you leave the site.
- A visible plan: a weekly plan on the wall or in your calendar that shows what is coming next.
- Small goals: better to keep the rhythm for a month than to plan a whole year straight away.
- Team review: once a month, briefly discuss which post went down well and why.
Getting back in after a break
Breaks happen: holidays, illness, peak season. The only important thing is that the break doesn't become the end. You don't have to apologise or announce a big relaunch. Just post again, ideally something simple from your stock.
Sample text for a bakery getting back into posting: "We've made it through the Christmas season, and we finally have time again for a photo from the bakehouse. From now on we'll show you regularly again what comes fresh out of our oven. #bakehouse #craftsmanship"