social media marketing Archives

Why Isn’t My Business Doing Better Online?!

Posted on March 13, 2025March 13, 2025 by HINSEL

Why isn’t my business doing better online? I pay good money to someone to do my marketing!
…or maybe you don’t and you’re going it alone. Either way, this hard to swallow pill might help.

First, marketing is not SALES. If you want SALES hire a SALESPERSON.

Marketing doesn’t sell anything. Bet I stopped some social media gurus hearts with that statement…so let me say it again: Marketing doesn’t SELL anything.

Marketing makes, and keeps, you visible enough – by making that face look goooooood – so that when customers are ready to buy they think of you FIRST. Now, this plays out a little differently if you sell actual physical product in a brick and mortar, but doubly so if you provide a service, higher dollar, or specialty item set, but nonetheless…

Marketing Matters!

Marketing puts lines in the water – and if you don’t have any hooks getting wet you won’t ever catch anything. Beyond those lines in the water, it should be used as a way to educate your audience of potential customers as well as current clients – establishing YOU as the source for reputable, and quality information.

The Information is the Hook, the Entertainment is the Lure

Social media provides a chance to build the face of your company through showing your self. and if you’re not doing that, if you’re just posting ‘buy my shit’ all the time, you’re missing out on the biggest potential sales magnet that social media offers – Y O U!!!

Make those silly posts. most importantly show yourself DOING the thing – whatever it is you do as a business that makes you unique, or you as a person interesting to your audience. might be silly dances in your carpenter belt, might be showing how you weave the scarves you sell – show you, doing the thing!

What Else Can You Do For Your Business?

One thing is for sure: marketing LESS isn’t going to bring in MORE customers. Budgets are tight, income likely is too and even if you’re working with a social media professional you may feel like you’re out of options, but there is always hope.

There are any number of reasons your business isn’t seeing more success online, and one of those reasons may be that you’re only looking at progress as number of sales without understanding the symptoms – a mindset which, in a down economy, can really make you question why you’re even IN business anymore. It might be time to schedule a consultation with me to take a look at the bigger picture outside the box.

But Isn’t Selling the Whole Point?!

Yes, but no.
You see like the old quote says “A sailor isn’t always sailing, repair your ship.”. You can’t always be SELLING. If you want to see those wider oceans of success you’ve got to set your eyes on the horizon YES but you also have to make sure your ship will get you there. You can’t unfurl those big SALES without a mast to hang them on.

That’s where the work begins. That’s where if you’re not already active in your social media for business – you should be. And if you don’t have someone helping you make that a success – I can help.

The first step is to see where you even are on your journey towards your goals. It’s important to look at where your business is now in order to get it to where you want it to be. Many business owners, especially if they have a social media person, just set it and forget it until it’s too late to realize their visibility has been slipping for months – despite their ongoing efforts.

That’s why I start with digital health analysis that takes a comprehensive look at your online activities and provides suggestions for progress. From there we can develop a plan that works for YOU.

So, if you’re wanting more sales N-O-W ( which does NOT happen overnight no matter how much marketing you do or how much $ you throw at your marketing ) – go hire a salesperson! If you’re looking to build your brand into a digital presence that works for you in more ways than one; that speaks to your audience instead of just sticks another ad in front of their face – TALK TO PICKWICK!

3 Social Media Tips for Small Business Owners

Posted on March 9, 2025March 10, 2025 by HINSEL

Today’s small business owner is really feeling the pinch!
Between rising supply costs, tariffs, and inflation people are holding tighter to their hard earned dollars – and everyone is feeling it. A lot of business owners know they need to be doing more to bring in customers but don’t know what to do, and can’t necessarily afford hiring a full time social media manager. Left feeling like they have little choice, they brave it on their own…

I’ve seen everyone from real estate agents to window cleaners and so many more take on the task of marketing their services online only to find out one thing: Marketing Your Business Is a FULL TIME JOB!

And why shouldn’t it be?! Your digital presence is your best employee – it’s online and working 24/7 to represent your brand as a reputable and quality provider! BUT! That doesn’t mean you have 40 hours a week to dedicate to making it happen.

To help, I’ve put together these 3 quick tips that almost any small business owner can use to boost their business on social media. Let’s go!

It Works – If You Work It
First and foremost, if you’re not USING social media don’t expect to get anything out of it. That means more than just having a page on some of the major platforms, you need to be creating something there. If for no other reason than to let potential customers know you’re still open!

So, post regularly. At least 3 times per week; preferably with an eye-catching image or better yet a video that let’s people know not only what you do but a little about who you ARE.

It’s Social Media, So BE Social
That means post something more than just your sales pitch! People are advertised to every moment of their day – they don’t login to see more of it, they just scroll. Chances are you are not the only provider of your kind and customers have their choice of companies to choose from; so by letting them see your personality you increase your chances of standing out above the noise.

But Don’t Stop There…
Be even more social online! That’s right. Make sure you’re spending some time every day logged in as your business and interacting with other local businesses and profiles. Be active in online groups, and comment on posts as your business. Always be sure to reply to every follower comment, even if it’s just to say thank you. Every time you do these small things they help add up to larger results towards building your visibility.

Number Three
Is it going to be something lame like “hire a professional social media manager with two decades of proven experience”?

…Well, duuuuuuh!
Fact is, there are more ins and outs and tips (like what time of day to post! Hashtags! And more!) than I can put in one post. But if you’re not ready to sign on yet, the best step from here is to schedule a consultation, download my free social media success guide, or even get your own site health scan to see where you can make improvements on your own. If you’re the more direct type, contact PICKWICK directly to get the ball rolling right away!

But in all seriousness…
Before you even click any of those buttons. As your trusted digital advisor I’ll give you the REAL third tip: spend money on your digital presence. Far too many small businesses STAY SMALL because they think it’s too expensive to invest in paid advertising on social media in addition to paying a social media content creator…and well, that’s fine.

We’re as big as we think we are; that’s why I encourage even the smallest business that’s actually looking to grow their business online to not be afraid to pay to play. There are more businesses online and competing than ever before!

When your audience is targeted properly, having even a moderate monthly advertising budget can help make sure that the posts you’re making are getting more eyes on them. It’s not a part of the online marketing business that I like, it’s just how it works; regardless social media marketing remains one of the most cost effective ways to get your message seen.

As a small business owner you CAN still start out online and even do well for yourself if you make it your focus using many of the tips I provide, but it IS a full time job to see real results. If you’re ready for help or have any questions please get in touch!

Why You Still Need a Website

Posted on November 22, 2023November 22, 2023 by HINSEL

Let’s say it out loud: social media is dead.
No, not the way you might think, and it’s not going away anytime (too) soon but you don’t have to be an industry expert to realize that it’s changed from what it was and reached peak saturation across most of the major platforms. And I’m not just talking about this impacting individual users’ experiences, but for business users as well.

Your average user will complain that the platform – take your pick – is nothing but ads now when they remember seeing more content from their friends and other connections previously.

While simultaneously business users – especially on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube – are puzzled at why their marketing dollars aren’t getting the results they once did, regardless of the content they’re creating.

It’s all pay to play and the users are paying the tax.

Because of the drop in the quality of user experience, as well as censorship and owner politics, there’s been a rise in new up and coming platforms like Bluesky that promise something new.

While these new platforms have found a varied measure of success, despite some innovative features, they’ve proven to be little more than echo chambers for users who are accustomed to higher volumes of content to consume.

Don’t Call It a Comeback, Baby…
In consideration of these things, and with the ease at which even people without tech savvy can create a basic website it’s no wonder that personal blogs, mini business sites, and digital storefronts have begun to pop up more and more.

Don’t Delete Your Facebook (yet)
The instability of social media, along with censorship controls, and unpredictable changes to “pay to be seen” algorithms should be a strong signal for the return to digital presence ownership. Your website is the most powerful online resource you possess.

A website that you own, that you can control and change, has always been key to online success, and as the landscape of how business is done online continues to change it is vital to establishing yourself as a resource to the audiences you serve.

In the meantime, a website (no matter how good) isn’t enough by itself, and it never has been! There is no one silver bullet fix-all push button thing to make online success just happen – but the next closest thing is working with PICKWICK.

I’m here to help!
You don’t have to struggle with figuring out social media or web design anymore! I am experienced in many industries and systems. Whether you are just starting out and don’t know where to begin, or a long time business owner who doesn’t have the time to handle marketing while running the show, I hope you will get in touch with your ideas so that we can make them happen!

NO! Your Facebook Page Hasn’t Been Disabled!

Posted on October 23, 2023October 23, 2023 by HINSEL

If you admin a page on Facebook these days chances are you’ve recently received a message seemingly from the system telling you that your page has violated a copyright, or other terms of service and is due to be deleted, or have its ability to post removed.

In most cases, these are patently false.

Not only should you disregard them but by all means report the accounts that send them and the message itself. It’s hard to believe that a platform with the amount of resources that Facebook has available to it that they are unable to regulate these kinds of clearly fraudulent messages and accounts.

The accounts that send these messages are if nothing else damaging the reputability of Facebook itself in the fact that they can’t even protect the validity of their own identity – so how then should we trust them with the details of ours?

Now imagine being a social media manager. One who manages dozens of pages for a variety of businesses… Not only do you get theses messages every day, you get multiples of them every day, and have to meditate them in the client inbox – and often when they understandable receive a disturbing message about their Facebook business page!

These messages can seem very real! They can be frightening, after all you’ve likely invested a lot of time, if not a lot of money in developing your social media presence on Facebook.

I bring items like this to the forefront of the attention of the online community in order to help business owners be aware of potential threats as well as how to avoid them. The scammers and spammers are getting smarter every day! It’s hard enough work to run your business online without knowing how to handle these sort of things.

Don’t Panic! PICKWICK is here to help!
I provide online consulting when you have questions, and have well developed skills ,like web design and social media management, that will prove invaluable if troubles arise that you aren’t able to handle on your own. I strive to take the fear out of technology for business owners and hope that you won’t hesitate to get in touch – even if you just have questions! I’m always happy to talk shop!

What Your Social Media Manager ISN’T Doing And Why It Matters!

Posted on January 11, 2023August 28, 2023 by HINSEL

You can throw a rock these days and hit six people who claim to be “social media experts” in one shot. My recommendation is that next time, throw the rock harder and help eliminate some of the flotsam that is choking the industry. (rimshot)

Seriously though, beyond just taking their word for it there are a few key things that I offer as standard services that you can use to validate a social media manager in a few quick steps without having to listen to them uhm and haw about “ROI”.

Qualify Your Social Media “Expert”

1 – Examine their experience in the industry. Hopefully you are not their first client.

2 – Ask to see examples of the kinds of content they’ve created to make sure it fits your voice.

3 – Ask how their services will impact your business; if they promise sales and the stars above overnight, RUN.

4 – Make sure you will be the owner of the content they are creating, this means they’re writing unique content for you, using royalty free or validly purchased stock images not stolen clip-art from the web, and are willing to provide copies of all generated content.

5 – Make sure they provide services beyond just Facebook and understand how elements of social media, search engines, and your website need to all work in harmony.

Even considering those factors, and even if you find a fairly qualified, experienced social media manager who provides good content and is responsive to your requests while creating a strong voice for your brand…there’s still a few things I can almost guarantee you that they are not doing.

Engaging Your Audience
You can post the cutest kitten pictures and most delicious bacon photos in the world, get a thousand likes, and a hundred comments, and it won’t matter one bit if there’s no engagement.

Your social media manager should be interacting with fans any time they can; this means liking and replying to all comments from your audience – especially the less than nice ones. Hopefully they are monitoring your page heavily as well to keep spam and the flood of expletives from trolls out of your marketing.

Nurturing Your Community
Posting is great. Social media has created a platform where anyone with something to say can blast it out to the world to reach thousands of people in seconds. That doesn’t really do much for your local community or your local businesses visibility either.

What does? Interacting with other local businesses and news sources, being active in conversations and a source of assistance to the social media community at large.

Supporting Your Partners
One way my services excel, whether it be in web development or social media services, is that I get to know you and your business. It would be easy to push buttons, throw up a template and call it good – you just wanted a website after all, right? – but I do more than that. By spending the extra time to gain more insight into who you are and how your company works I am able to strategically work with other partners and like-minded companies to create a natural synergy of support.

You may be surprised to get ‘thank yous’ from the business partners you’ve mentioned to me; while I would love to help them with their own social media needs too, I’m more than glad to like, comment, and share their posts as a way to serve you better as well – even if they are not my clients directly!

Anybody Can Do It!
If you’re just looking for someone to manage your Facebook page by posting inspirational photos and quotes that’s fine – there are plenty of entry level social media mavens more than willing to help you out – that may be the extent of the services you need. But if you’re looking for more, wanting to build the face of your brand in a powerful way that not only increases the awareness of your business but also builds equity in your branding PICKWICK is here to help!

I’m not your dad’s consultancy and I don’t provide the same stale services that are so commonly found throughout the net. I am driven to help the people I serve because I know how strongly they feel about what they do; putting a spotlight on that passion is one of the things I love most about what I do as well.