Hello!
Thank you for coming to do my survey. Its very short! If you run a small business or freelance business, and do your social media yourself I’d love to hear from you.
If time is short … please scroll straight to the questions below. But, if you’re interested to know more about me and why I’m asking you to complete my survey, I’ve added some introductory info here. Look forward to hearing from you and thanks, in advance, for your help.
Background on why I am looking for people to complete the survey
About me
I’m Sophy and along with my husband, Karl, I run two small businesses in Sheffield. Both are ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses - one is a workspace for a community of 20+ small businesses, and one is an independent opticans.
We love our businesses .. but we don’t love social media!
To be successful we’ve had to work at finding ways to make our businesses ‘visible’ online… This does not come naturally. Neither of us would choose to use facebook or instagram outside of work. Karl does use twitter for fun … but I didn’t use any social media voluntarily and am definitely stuck back in the era when people used email to communicate online.
Anyway, despite not liking it, we know its vital for our business so we have dug in and looked for ways to make it work. And we do it ourselves. I have tried to escape it by outsourcing it to social media ‘experts’, but apart from being expensive, it always feels really uncomfortable reading something that I just wouldn’t want to say, so that hasn’t really worked for me. Karl has always absolutely refused to let anyone else do his social media.
The trouble with being visible online - lots of business owner find it tricky
I know through talking to my tenants at Harland Works, and others, that we are not alone in finding it challenging - but essential. There are lots of barriers. Some people struggle to find a voice that sounds authentically them; some think nothing they say will be interesting enough to share. Some struggle to find the time, or be consistent enough, or get a ‘good enough’ picture. Some struggle with technical issues - how to post on instagram from a PC? How to create a facebook business page? How to use messenger? How to get your googlemaps picture right. How to use google analytics… it goes on.
But if you don’t figure out how to make it work, it can mean your business just won’t do well.
In an effort to make me focus on social media, I asked some others if they’d like to get together every now and again and help each other think about what content to share. This session is nicknamed ‘Friday Social’ and has been really helping me - and others. It’s nothing complicated - it takes about an hour and a bit and we all sit round a table and share how well we managed since we last met, and what we’re planning to post next. It’s helpful because we give each other encouragement, ideas and the more experienced people can help with tips about how to use instagram etc better.
Because this has been so helpful for me - and for others - I am thinking about what else I could offer at Harland Works to help small business owners who want to increase their online visibility.
About this survey
The purpose of this survey is to ask a range of business owners about their online visibility, and what they might find helpful, if you run a small business or freelance business, and do your social media yourself, I’d love it if you could answer my questions.
Thank you in advance for your help!
Sophy
ps I take your privacy seriously and your data will not be shared. For more information please have a look at Harland Works’ privacy policy here.
pps if you have friend/s who run a small business - please would you share this survey with them - if you feel ok about doing that. Thanks :)