The topic for this week’s blog is taken from some of the “ask me anything” questions I’ve answered that were asked by members of my awesome Facebook Group – Like Minded Business Owners.

Because if my community online has these questions, you probably do too!

Are you a member of Liked Minded Business Owners? If not, go join, I’d love to see you there.

QUESTION 1: Michael asked about blogs and their use for SEO – does Google like loads of them?

Firstly, I love that Michael is thinking about blogs and how they can help with searchability and where you rank in your ideal clients google search.

My understanding is that Google is looking for quality over quantity.  So if you have 30 blogs on your computer that you haven’t uploaded for some reason, uploading them all at once isn’t necessarily going to help you be seen quicker.  Again, Google is looking for quality over quantity.  You are better off scheduling them to go live over a series of months and repurposing them as part of your social media and email strategy to push readers back to your website for more google love that way.

Interestingly, and not really related to this question, but I was on a webinar a few weeks ago and the question asked was “Does Google punish AI written content” and the answer was no.  Which isn’t surprising because Google punishes BAD content and although some content written by AI is not that crash hot, there’s a lot of human content that’s not much better.  So AI or human written, just make sure it’s good content to get the google love.

QUESTION 2: Emily asked: “I schedule my social media every month for about 3 posts per week however I’m not really seeing an increase in engagement. Should I continue, cut back or stop all together?”.

I LOVE THIS QUESTION! Here’s my reply:

I think you are doing great scheduling 3 posts a week. My suggestions are firstly to check your insights and see what’s working and what’s not. And take into account that people do a lot of scrolling these days and not much liking or commenting – so take your reach into consideration. But strategically look at your content and question whether it’s about you and your offers constantly and not about showing up with value. Secondly, I’d say you might need to put some social into your social media. I’d recommend 10 minutes x 3 times a week (at least) where you go to your Facebook Page’s feed and scroll down liking, comment and sharing other people posts that you follow as your business. If there’s not many, take some time to like some pages – especially those of your ideal client or people who might spend money with you one day. I’d recommend you do this for all your social media platforms. It’s called my Hansel and Gretel strategy – sprinkling those breadcrumbs around as your business name because if you want to be engaging, be engaging.

Do this for a month and see if your enquiries increase and your reach/engagement increases too. I guarantee it will. Hope that helps. Jenn x

QUESTION 3: Amanda asked about social media vs email marketing and what time to be allocating to what strategy.

Now this question I love because if you are spending all your time doing social media and spending no time building your email list, you are not only leaving money on the table, but one hundred per cent not future proofing your business.

I think you should be sharing equal time between social media and email marketing. The number one reason for being on social media should be to get people off it and onto your email list. True fact!

Here’s some stats: the average open rate for email around 21%, whereas the average engagement rate on Facebook is around 0.17% (yep, that’s what I said – less than 1% for most because they don’t have a strategy in place to grow a community)

Email marketing has a higher conversion rate – 4.29% as opposed to social media 0.59%

The ROI for email marketing is $42 for every dollar spent, on social media it’s $17 for every dollar spent – and that’s if you are good at content marketing and/or ads.

And according to MarketingSherpa over 72% of consumers would rather see your promotional content via email than on social media where they are just trying to be social – not sold too.

So, if you are spending ALL your time on social media and NO time list building and email nurturing your community, then business must be pretty tough at the moment.

Amanda, thanks for the question, thanks for letting me get on my high horse about email marketing again! The answer is equal time – spend equal time doing email marketing and doing social media marketing.  And then see which one is bringing in more quality leads and sales and then spend more time there. And it’s going to be email (for most generations of consumers).

Now if I’ve piqued your interest and you’re like – Jenn, I really need to do something about this email stuff now you’ve put those stats in my ears – then I have an “Ask me Anything” post each week over in my Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group, and you are welcome to ask any of your marketing or business burning questions and I will answer them – it’s not just exclusively for the podcast!

So there you have it.  3 Ask Me Anything Questions from my Facebook group Like Minded Business Owners! Again if you aren’t a member, come join in the fun over there.

Or if you want to chat, get in touch.  Email me jenn@jenndonovan.com.au or DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn – I would love to hear from you.

CONTACT JENN:

I would love for you to book a free discovery call with me to talk about how I can help your nail your business goals, planning, strategy, marketing and social media! Simply click the link and grab a spot!

My Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group is also a great community to join – full of awesome people in small business!

Or you can DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn, or send me an email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au

I wish to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Yorta Yorta People, on which I conduct my business today and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reading this blog post today.

About the Author:

Jenn Donovan of Social Media & Marketing Australia.  Jenn’s an expert marketing coach and mentor from rural NSW. She is all about empowering business owners to earn what they’re worth so they can make a bigger difference in the world.  Not only is she a sought after expert on all things marketing for Small Business, she is a keynote speaker, author of Small Town Big Impact, was the Founder of Buy From a Bush Business and a Co-Founder of Spend With Us e-commerce marketplace, and is the host of the very popular podcast Small Business Made Simple and Stories from the Bush. Jenn is all about community and humans interacting with humans!  H2H Marketing – human to human marketing. Jenn talks the talk but importantly walks the walk!

Get in touch – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au

On Instagram – @jenndonovan_

On Facebook – Jenn Donovan

Or on LinkedIn as Jenn Donovan