Social media and shouting into the void

One of the biggest complaints I hear about regarding social media is people say they feel like they’re shouting into the void. I know what they mean. It can feel no matter what you do, you’re not being seen or heard. Every piece of content is just not having the impact you wanted. 

It hurts. It’s really frustrating. You are putting effort into creating something that you are proud of and you are getting nothing in return . You’re trying to build a business but feel like it is invisible.

However, there is a bigger problem…because the more this happens, the more the mind monkeys start shouting “why bother” …and then you go quieter. You create less. You don’t even shout into the void. You don’t ‘shout’ at all.

In this blog, I want acknowledge what it is like when you feel you are shouting into the void and acknowledge those feelings. I also want to reframe this feeling and look at the fact. I believe I can bust this myth and show you that the void is in fact filled with ears and genuine people that you are reaching, even when it doesn’t feel like it. 

Why it hurts so much

When you create content and you get very low views or little interaction or comments it hurts. Let’s just acknowledge that for a moment. 

I have no shame in sharing that I have created plenty of posts, as well as other content like emails and blogs, that feel like they have gone unseen and unread. 

I think it’s important to reflect on why it hurts. It’s because we we care. We are creating content to market our businesses. And for many of us, our businesses are very personal to us. We want the world to know what we offer and how we can help people with the services and products that we have to sell. We want to make money too, right?

In general, it’s also painful to put real effort into something (especially heart and soul type stuff), and to get no return. 

Finally, I think those pesky imposter feelings don’t help. What you see in your newsfeed ARE posts that are getting a certain amount of traction. This means that it feels like “everyone” except you is successful at social media. Look at all those posts in your feed! Look at all the likes! Look at all the comments! They are seen and heard…why can’t you go viral too???! 

Let’s obliterate this thought process before we spiral. The truth is that for every post that you see in a newsfeed that has got likes and comments, there are likely hundreds if not thousands more, that have gone unseen by you, and to a certain extent, that are swallowed up into the void. Don’t forget that.

Also remember that with content it’s all about the ‘sum of its parts’. Just because one post doesn’t get a lot of attention, another one might, a previous one did. Again, for every viral post an influencer puts out, their team (which is probably massive and gets paid loads) have produced loads of other posts that didn’t ‘work’ either.

What to do about ‘shouting into the void’ on social media

Whilst we can feel we are the mercy of the social media algorithm, I do think there are practical things we can do to help our content get seen by more people. I have five recommendations to help you recognise that you’re not shouting into the void and that you are probably doing better than you think.

I genuinely believe although the odd post may get a little ghosted, most of our content is seen…we just don’t notice as we focus on the next post and the next and the next… 

1. Believe your content seen by the right people at the right time 

This might be a little bit woo, but I genuinely believe in the law of attraction and I think when you are creating great content in the right mindset and with a real passion for what you do, then your content will be seen by the right people. That’s how the algorithm works. It’s trying to match up people’s interest with content that is created for them to see…so have a bit of faith in that. 

You can also ‘up your chances’ of your content being seen by making sure that you are engaging and connecting with your ideal client (not just friends and fellow professionals in your area). Curate your newsfeed to that you are more likely to see good connections’ content – which you can react to and comment on as well. Show the algorithm who you are interested and why it should show your content to them. You need to be active – don’t just post and pray.

Remember social media is tracking everything you do so be strategic in what you are doing.

2. Zero views are very rare 

Whenever I encourage people to actually look at their statistics, zero views of a post is very very rare. If it is happening regularly, it is usually due to a shadow ban. This means that the social media platform has actually banned your content for some reason (or no reason!) and you need to look in to this and, potentially, report this. 

The other thing is that many people judge their content after a few days or even a few hours. However, most of the algorithms don’t work based just on time / most recently posted, like they used to. Go back and look at content from a week and month ago, especially on a platform like LinkedIn. You will see that the views have probably increased dramatically from when you first looked. You may even have missed some comments or reactions.

If zero views is rare, this means that at least someone, even if it’s only a few dozen will have seen your content. Remember it only takes a few of these to be ideal clients to nail that visibility stage. Also as ‘food for thought’, is 30k people saw your content would that mean more sales…and if so, could you cope?

3. Low number are still good numbers

It’s really important that we keep numbers in perspective. I have had people complain to me about a post that “only” got 100 views, for example. 

Imagine if you had 100 people in a room listening to you pitch your business…even 50…I think most of us would be delighted.

I think our perspective on numbers on social media have been completely skewed by those influencers that have millions of followers, most of which are bots anyway. The only numbers that really matter are your numbers and whether they are helping you to achieve your business goals. 

For some businesses, yes they will need a large audience because conversion percentage is likely to be low. For others, a very small audience can still mean a very successful business. 

Put it this way, shouting into the void most of the time but still reaching just a handful of ideal clients might be enough. So a) who are you actually comparing yourself to? and b) why are you beating yourself up about it?

4. Posts are about visibility…not sales

Let’s put social media back in its box and certainly clarify what its role is for your business. It is about visibility. It is about being able to be found. It is not necessarily going to be the place where you make loads of conversions and sales immediately and have people beating your door down to buy from you.

Many customers, especially if you sell high ticket options, will use social media to check you out, but then there are many more stages and steps along the customer journey until they buy from you. This is really normal. Do you buy from everyone you see selling something on social media???

The customer journey steps may involve seeing a post, then following a link to download lead magnet or perhaps joining a webinar. They may signing up to a mailing list after visiting your website. They also may want to book a one-to-one or discovery call…and this all before even purchasing a low ticket option, let alone anything significant.

This is a really normal sales journey. And many clients who take the journey may have never ‘liked’ or commented on a post (and still be amazing customers!).

5. Look at the people not the numbers 

When people say to me that they are shouting into the void, my first piece of advice is to stop them looking at the numbers. Analytics are useful but they only tell us so much. They are about vanity. They’re about popularity and, ultimately, they are about the algorithm. 

However, if you get a single like, a profile view or a single comment we can we can see who is behind that. This a real person who is potentially very interested in your business. They may not want to buy (right now), but they may refer, recommend or collaborate.

When we focus on who is looking at our content and not just how many, we can use that information really wisely. We can use it for research and to enhance our social media by finding out more about your market, who’s following you and who is engaging. We can reach out directly via a message or email to individuals who comment or react regularly, but perhaps have never bought from you. We can follow back those people that are interacting so that we can build a better connection with them and, perhaps, there audience too. 

Social media is made to look easy but actually we do have to do some hard work and put in the effort to draw out leads, etc., for our own business success. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Social media was not created for small businesses. It is not there to help you sell. It is there for the platform owners to make money themselves. So, we need to be smart in the way that we use it so that it does work hard for our businesses, but it’s got to be on our terms and thanks to our efforts. 

No one wants to go unnoticed – but you need to be proactive

I completely get it that social media is probably part of your marketing strategy and you want it to work hard for you. However, I hope this post has just made you think a little bit about where social media fits within your customer journey. 

For many small businesses, it really isn’t the key marketing platform that many have made you believe it should be. Many people get a lot of their business much quicker through things like referrals, networking, email marketing and direct conversations. 

Therefore, my last point is to say think about how much effort you’re putting into “shouting into the void”. And simply continuing to do what you have always done won’t get the different results. Perhaps, it’s time to look at your marketing efforts differently and to focus your energy on content that works harder for your business. 

If you’d like to be more strategic and to create content that is more effective at helping you reach your business goals, do you get in touch. Book a free discovery chat today: