Donald Miller Says This Is The Most Common Small Business Mistake On Social Media

Many of us feel a little overwhelmed.

There are our life goals, plans for vacationing in Mexico and dreams of being a huge success. You can post your accomplishments on social media because it is you and you reach a group of people who are like-minded.

This can lead to a serious mistake if you are a small company.

Donald Miller, a business author and expert, recently published a book on how to grow a small company. He pointed out how small businesses make big mistakes when it comes self-promotion. This mirrors what people do on their personal feeds.

“The number one mistake I see small businesses making on social media is making their channels all about them,” he told me recently. “The only reason people are interested in your brand is if you’re helping them solve a problem. If you really want to grow your business, talk about the problems your customers experience and then position your products as the solution to those problems.”

His entire philosophy on growing a brand and reaching more customers is reflected in this advice. I’ve been a fan of his StoryBrand architecture for years. The straightforward approach to solving problems and finding solutions is what I love. The same advice he gave in Growing a Small Business is applicable to social media.

Companies often post only nice graphics on social media, do not mention discounts or profile employees and customers. Yes, it’s amazing that Sue scored that big sale with a vendor across town, and we’re all happy for her. But Miller is right that potential customers want to know what’s in it for them, not what Sue has done.

Miller pointed out two examples of smaller companies doing social media the right way — that is, mentioning a solution to a problem customers might be having.

“I think Staging Studio does a fantastic job,” he says. “They teach people how to start their own home staging business, and their feed is full of relevant content. They also promote a great lead generator in their bio — free design training. Carly Jean Los Angeles is another example, which is an LA-based clothing brand. They do a great job connecting with potential customers on Instagram with beautiful photos of their product line, but also use Instagram to push people towards other means of engagement, like downloading their app to get additional discounts.”

In both cases, it’s obvious the social media feed for these companies is focused on the customer, not on the business. It’s easy to get too narrow sometimes. We think what we’re doing is the most important thing, that our accomplishments, branding, expansion plans, or even what we had for dinner is important to everyone involved.

With a business, Miller says it’s better to offer something practical and useful — e.g., free training or an offer to download an app.

Miller believes that Instagram is the best place to get started for small businesses, especially with two billion active users.

Offering a solution is not hard, but many companies don’t seem to practice that basic skill. It can make social media a real revenue-producing tool.