8 social media tactics you need to stop using in 2023

Social media is constantly changing, and it's hard for small business owners to keep up. You'll spend hours getting your head round a new feature so more people can see your content, only for a new one to come along and for the algorithm to start favouring that!

To an extent, you do need to know what trends work best on social media - but what I don't want you to do is waste time on things that might give you a short term boost, but have no long term benefit.

Take Clubhouse as an example. Remember that?

The new social media network launched in late 2019 and became really popular in the UK in about 2021. The exciting thing with this new app was that, rather than communicating via posts, messages were sent via audio notes.

For a time, everyone was talking about it. Entrepreneurs flocked to the site and spent hours learning how to use it, searching through the chat rooms and growing a new audience from scratch.

But, as with most trends and fads, the fuss soon died down. I personally think it didn't work for those of us who lack the time to be able to listen to voice notes, or the peace and quiet to be able to record them!

And so, all that time people spent on this new app was essentially wasted. Something I don't want to happen to you.

So, here's my advice. I want you to swap stressing about keeping up with trends for creating a social media strategy that works for you, your business and your life.

Once you have a plan, stick to it. Don't become distracted by the shiny new toys that are going to get old and boring very soon.

Without exception, there is one type of social media post that excels in engagement and reach for both myself and my clients: Selfies. I know, scary thought. So many people cringe when I share this advice!

But it is absolutely key and you are doing yourself a real disservice if you don't share your picture, your story and your personality, because it is that which is going to make you stand out from the crowd and be remembered.

So, here's my advice. I want you to swap hiding your face from your timeline for confidently and consistently putting yourself out there for the world to enjoy.

I need you to put on those big girls' pants and start showing your beautiful face much more often on your timeline. because, when your followers are scrolling through your content, they want to see the woman behind the business, the lady they're keen to work with an support.

Here's a quick tip that will help you with that: go through your phone today and find all the pictures of yourself that you actually like. Have a look on your laptop too and even your Facebook profile.

Think outside the box, it doesn't have to just be you working. How about your wedding photos or the family ones you had done by a professional? Pictures of you having a family day out or some old favourites you can dig out from the albums you've got tucked away on a shelf.

Set up a folder on your desktop and save them all there, so that next time you have content to share about yourself you can confidently choose the perfect, pretty picture to go with it.

I want you to get more confident about putting yourself out there for people to get to know, love and support you - so make sure you're signed up to my mailing list for weekly tips that cover the topic of Confidence.

Unless you've been under a rock for the past 12 months, you can't fail to have seen how popular Reels have become. Following the explosion of TikTok in 2020, Instagram adapted quickly, favouring this short video format on their platform and introducing it to Facebook now too.

Creating a short video, adding a trending sound and adding a short, snappy caption has been the recipe for success on this platform, with relatively small accounts gaining incredible reach and engagement on their posts as it is shown to a wider audience than just their followers.

In 2022, 16 of my top 15 posts on Instagram were Reels. One video I posted in December featuring a simple shot of the sea at Scarborough with a trending audio that consisted of an inspiring quote as recorded a reach of of 7k in just 4 weeks.

So, you see, this is a form of content that you really can't afford to ignore. But I know lots of you find them daunting, as did I when I first started using them, so here are my quick tips for you to remember:

• Spend time scrolling through Reels for inspiration and save your favourite ones to re-create when you have time

• You don't have to dance around like a prat to make these videos work, do whatever is comfortable for you

• You can even create videos that don't show your face at all using graphics, Canva is great for this

• KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid! Don't worry about making intricate edits and spending hours getting it just right

• Make sure you have consistent content on your grid for people to look through if they find you via Reels, you want them to come back for more

• Try to initiate conversations with people who like or comment, pick out your ideal clients and invite them to join your mailing list or group

• Don't overthink it, the best ones I've done were just me having fun and feeling inspired to create a wicked video to share my thoughts!

I want you to swap being scared of creating Reels for giving them a try and realising how fun they can be!

How many hours do you spend creating content for social media every week? It’s a lot, right? As you hopefully know, my goal is to get that right down, so you can focus more precious hours on the things you actually like doing.

One of the best ways you can streamline your content creation is by creating posts that you can use time and again, so you’re not always coming up with fresh ideas. This type of content is known as ‘Evergreen’ and it’s an absolute gamechanger, especially for your Facebook group.

So, to begin with, have a look back at your most popular posts from last year and think about how you can reuse them in the coming months. Even if you simply post them again with an update, you will be saving yourself so much time.

Then, think about daily themes that you can use regularly, e.g.:

• Monday Motivation

• Tuesday Tips

• Wednesday Wisdom

• Thursday Throwback

• Friday Follow

There also might be monthly posts you’d like to share: for example, I post at the end of each month reminding everyone to check and record their stats for the last 30 days.

You can easily schedule these posts to be published on a rotational basis without you having to come up with something new to share every day. Save your time and energy for the content that really matters - your business and events posts.

Pop some time in your diary to create and schedule these core posts soon, because I promise it’s going to make a massive difference to your time management and engagement too.

I want you to swap spending hours creating brand new content for reusing posts that you know are going to work well.

When I first started my business, I attended a free course containing advice that really worried me: Not to share any political opinions on social media, in case it put people off buying from you.

Well, I was in a bit of trouble here, because I’ve always been pretty vocal about my opinions, be they about football, feminism, politics or anything else.

I knew (from bad experience) that being argumentative or forceful with your views was not the way to make friends online, but surely shying away from the topics you’re passionate about wasn’t the right way to go either?

So, with apologies to the person that was running that workshop… I think you’re wrong. #SorryNotSorry

Because when I’m getting to know someone on social media, I don’t want them to be holding back on the things they care about just because they’re worried about the response, I want them to be totally open and honest with me.

Forget politics, it could be your opinion on something going on in the news, or a topic that's being talked about a lot on social media, or – even better – something that’s happening in your industry.

I want you to share it, loud and proud. Stand up for what you believe in and watch others flock to agree and support your messaging.

I want you to swap holding back the opinions you're really passionate about for digging down into your beliefs and figuring out how your content can make a difference.

Here's another thing I tried when starting my business, because I'd seen so many business gurus running them with great success: Free 5-Day challenges on Facebook. A really simply concept that brings new people to your audience and boosts engagement too.

I actually launched my business with an event like this, sharing daily tips on how to create a social media strategy that suits your business. The feedback I got was phenomenal and many of the ladies who attended that have gone on to become clients - so it definitely did work.

But last year, I noticed more and more issues becoming apparent with that format for myself, my clients and even some of those gurus I used to so admire:

• They take a lot of time and energy for the host. Creating all that content and going live every day is draining and it takes the focus away from your paid services

• People don't complete the activities. My event in September saw 80 people sign up, around half took part in the first day, a little less on the second and by the third, fourth and fifth day very few people engaged at all

• You don't make any money from it. Even if the plan is to upsell a service, often you are appealing to the wrong people, those who aren't ready to invest in you but are happy to take value from free content

• You don't get results. Because people aren't committed, they don't actually do the work you are suggesting, at least not long enough for them to see any real, lasting change

So, here's my advice, I want you to swap running lengthy, free events for focusing time and energy on services that offer more value for your clients.

I'm not saying don't do stuff for free, I just want you to find a balance so you can grow your audience without burning yourself into the ground. How about a masterclass, or 2-part course? A Q and A or workshop?

Live videos in your group or on your pages are a really helpful tool because they are the single best way to help people get to know, love and support you. Your audience will enjoy getting to engage with you directly and in real time.

This time last year, they were a great way to boost engagement too, especially as Facebook and Instagram pushed out notifications to your followers to let them know you are live.

But, as the year has gone on, I've noticed that less and less people are showing up at the time I go live (though lots are watching via replay still) and lots of my clients are reporting the same thing.

Part of that is down to how busy social media is, especially with the @everyone tag being overused by so many businesses (more on that later), so it's getting much harder to pull people on to the video.

But, there are ways to combat this which will make going live much more worthwhile for your valuable time:

• Be consistent: I have a weekly Q and A in my group, so members know when they can come and watch me live and the topic I'll be covering (i.e. their questions about social media!)

• Look at popular times: See when people are active in your group and make use of that stat, or ask your members when they would watch a live (mine recently told me lunchtime would work well)

• Give good value: Don't just pop on and start talking randomly, have a point to your content, give your audience a reason to show up and make sure they leave feeling like you've made a difference to their day

• Make it an event: Turn your live into something unmissable and make sure you promote it in plenty of time using the 'Events' function in groups, you can also invite specific people who you know will benefit from watching

• Post-promote it: When you've done a live, share it again a couple of days later, telling people what you talked about to encourage them to watch it

Live videos are an important part of your structure, so I want you to swap turning up and not having anyone watching for creating an unmissable event that will bring value and turn followers into clients.

If you want to know how to get past the algorithm and make sure your posts are seen by your followers, the best thing to do is think about the purpose of social media, the reason it was created and the reason use it today: That is to make connections and be part of a community.

Facebook knows, from feedback it's users have provided, that we don't want our timelines full of posts trying to get us to spend money, but that we want to use it to chat to others with similar interests.

That's why groups have become so popular in recent years and why many of us find our best reach and engagement usually comes from the posts we publish in our own communities. I know from experience, my group is also where the majority of my clients come from.

The trouble is, too many people are using those groups to promote products and try to sell to their members. They're using direct sales posts, content that is notoriously hard to get engagement from and so no-one is seeing their posts.

So, if you have a group, I want you to swap trying to use it to sell for creating a community of people with similar interests who are excited to hang out together.

Really think hard about the 'why' behind your business and how you are making a difference in the world. Think about how you can do that through your group and what content you can share to benefit your members.

Think about weekly content you can publish regularly (see bullet point above), make use of the polls function and ask lots of questions so you can get to know your members.

Make that the purpose of your group and now that, if you do so, turning members into clients WILL be the happy side effect of that!

Ending my tips on a rant, I cannot tell you how much I hate this new function from Facebook.

You will know doubt have seen that during 2022 they introduced the option to be able to tag all the members of your group in one post. The idea being that this would help increase the reach and make sure people see important content.

The trouble is, it's being overused far too much and it's diluting the impact your notifications will have on your members. I've actually stopped checking anything that tells me 'so-and-so tagged you and others in a post'.

So, I want you to swap using the highly irritating @everyone tag for selecting the people you know will actually benefit from the post. Because, if you're tagging everyone I know it's not something that is important for me specifically.

It might be new members to the group, or someone who asked a question relating to the topic you've talked about. It might be your top contributors or a potential client you've talked to recently.

You could even run a poll asking people what help they need, then tag the people who answer in a promotional post sharing the service that will solve their problems. Show your members that you really know them and what they need, you're not just tagging everyone in a vague hope that someone might buy from you.