Are you impatient?
When it comes to Facebook marketing it’s easy to fall into the trap of impatience.
We see others getting all kinds of engagement.
Then we jump in and start sharing content on Facebook (and other channels). We might get a little engagement, but perhaps not as much as we first expect.
It’s a common occurrence and it can lead to impatience. That leads to short-term thinking when it comes to strategy.
Switching to a long-term focus for the content you share could be the mindset changed needed to improve your results.
The Reason For Impatience
A common reason for impatience is related to expectations.
From Psychology Today:
Conditions:
- We have a goal.
- We have estimated how long it will take to reach the goal.
- We have other things we could be doing if we weren’t pursuing the goal.
Trigger:
- We learn that it’s going to take longer than expected to reach our goal.
Motivated Actions:
- We look for shortcuts (and are motivated to take them if we find them)
- We consider switching goals (and sometimes do).
I see this happen with marketing, especially online marketing.
With blogging, people will say they want to create a blog like Neil Patel’s. That’s a great goal. Then things get murky. They formulate an estimation of how long it will take to achieve that goal. A year? Maybe two? Certainly after a couple months things should be showing promising signs.
Then the trigger happens…
They realize that Neil Patel has been blogging for over a decade.
That’s when people look for shortcuts with blogging. Impatience happens. Then they flail from strategy to strategy.
It happens with Facebook too.
Expectations get in the way. Time expectations. Also the amount of worked involved can be underestimated. Costs can become an issue both monetarily and time wise.
That article gets into when impatience is good and bad.
It’s bad when the original goal (building an audience on Facebook) is a good goal, but impatience leads to a change in the goal. Or it leads to distraction, second guessing and bad decision making.
Other Downfalls Of Impatience
It also turns out that impatience has some other pitfalls.
Those relating to business include:
Procrastination: We realize something will take longer to do than we originally thought so we just put it off…and off…and off…
Poor Judgment: When you’re impatient you’re more likely to make quick, shallow decisions.
Financial Woes: Impatience leads to more debt. The need to have something (results) now leads to riskier credit use.
Obviously we don’t want any of those things when it comes to Facebook marketing or any form of marketing.
So here is the solution.
A Long-Term Focus
The key is building a long-term focus.
I’m not a huge fan of the term “quick win” when it comes to business. I do acknowledge that there are seemingly quick wins in the business world.
Sometimes, for example, a client will call me up out of the blue saying they have a referral. That’s a pretty quick win.
Or I’ll ask a brand new client if they’re interested in an upsell offer. And they’ll agree. Another quick win.
Or at least those seem like quick wins on the surface…
But in reality, it took awhile to build the initial relationship with that client to the point where they felt comfortable referring people to our business.
And asking for an upsell is pretty quick and easy, but it took years to develop the knowledge of knowing what to ask for in an upsell.
So even quick wins are often the result of long-term efforts.
Now let’s get into some tips specifically for sharing content on Facebook and building an audience on the social site.
Tip #1. Marketing Priority List
I think the key to success on Facebook is stepping back and looking at all your options.
One of the things that leads to impatience is feeling like you have better options.
Obviously in life there are always other options, but if you create a priority list ahead of time you can at least feel better about your decision later down the road.
So a good practice is to create a marketing priority list.
The list is simply everything you could be doing with your marketing budget and effort.
Facebook, blogging, PPC, etc.
All of it.
Look at studies that show the ROI of each channel. Talk to fellow business owners and see what they’ve had success with. See if you can get information on competitors to see what is best for your specific type of business.
You could also do a trial test phase for the top options if you’re still stuck. Try 3 or so for 6 months and see what shows the most promise.
Then you’ll have your priority list. And if Facebook is near the top it helps to eliminate those potential other options from your mind. You’ve done the work to know that Facebook is probably one of the best options even if it’s taking longer than you expect.
Tip #2. Analyze For Proper Expectations (Time & Effort)
While you’re doing that research also look at how long it’s taken companies to find success. When you’re talking with colleagues ask them how long they’ve been using Facebook. Ask them if they had any struggles along the way. Or any frustrations.
Go on your competitor’s page and take some time to really scroll back through their entire profile. Go back as far as possible. You’ll probably find that they’ve been at it for awhile. And that their first posts didn’t get as much engagement as now.
And you might see that they’ve posted fairly often from the beginning. They committed to posting often and have stuck with it even when it wan’t easy.
Going through this exercise will give you the proper expectations and that leads into the final tip.
Tip #3. Track Long-Term Stats
I don’t like looking at month to month stats.
I like looking at year to year stats.
How you’re doing from one year to the next. Year 2 compared to Year 1.
And also how this month this year compares to this month last year.
Things are cyclical online. I generally find that months with holidays are slower than others. And summer months are usually reserved for vacations so there are less people online. Or so it seems.
That makes it difficult to track short-term stats.
There are also a number of other things. You could be trying some new content on Facebook this month. If you’re just starting out that could tank your stats. Or it could inflate your stats to the point where next month will surely be a let down.
Conclusion
Facebook is a great marketing channel.
Having a long-term mindset will set you up for success.
Even if you’ve already jumped in take a step back and make sure it’s a top priority and top opportunity.
Then commit to the long-term. Forget short-term stats.
And commit to quantity. Posting all the time and giving yourself time to figure it out.
There’s still no guarantee that it will work out wonderfully, but you’re giving yourself a great shot.
And you’re probably at an advantage because when others get impatient you’ll still be there slowly building your following.