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Vent: That client who said 'just make it go viral' and meant it
Had a meeting with a small business owner in Austin last month. She told me straight up, 'I don't care about the budget, just get us 50,000 views on TikTok by Friday.' I explained that viral content isn't something you can order like a pizza, but she kept pushing. Spent 4 hours showing her data from our last 3 campaigns to prove it doesn't work that way. Anyone else dealt with clients who think social media is a magic switch?
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amy_anderson1mo ago
Oh boy, that sounds rough. I gotta say though, there's one thing that's a little off about your approach. You mentioned spending 4 hours showing her data from past campaigns, but honestly, most small business owners don't have the time or patience for that kind of deep dive. They just want a simple answer to a simple question. It's like trying to explain how a car engine works to someone who just wants to drive to the store. What works way better is giving them a one sentence example of why it's not a switch. Like, "Viral happens when other people decide to share it, not when we decide to post it." Then you can move on to what you can actually do. That usually makes the point without all the back and forth.
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bennett.evan1mo ago
That's the thing about small business owners, they're usually making decisions on the fly between doing their actual job and putting out fires. Four hours of data is basically a whole work day for them. I've found that if you can boil it down to a single sentence they can repeat to someone else, that's when it clicks. Otherwise you're just giving them more homework they'll never get to.
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vera_johnson91mo ago
Oh man, I totally get what you're saying @amy_anderson. I actually read this article the other day about how people glaze over when you throw too much data at them, especially small biz owners who are already stretched thin. That line you gave about viral being about other people deciding to share it, not when we post it, that's gold right there. It cuts through all the noise and makes the point without making them feel dumb. Honestly, I've been guilty of over-explaining stuff too, but simple really does work better in these talks.
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