Running a small business in the Tahoe Truckee area is a full-time job in itself.  In Tahoe Truckee, where local businesses thrive on personal connections, balancing face-to-face interactions and social media presence is crucial for growth. Keeping up with the demands of an online presence can feel like full time second job. I get it I’ve been a small business owner for 4 decades in Tahoe. I am a jack, Jill and, Jerry of all trades.

You have to be.

This summer I had to dedicated 3 months of nightly video tutorials in order to launch a new website. The expense of hiring it out as compared to my learning tech skills pushed the scales to buck it up and DIY. I had to weigh my needs, ROI, and time involved. Luckily my Website is simple and its purpose is to inform and show. No shopping carts, dynamic booking, or CRM integrations were needed. Cost? My time and I’m a bit behind on my own BWCI’s fall marketing.

So how can I help you balance the demands of your marketing? Develop workflows to ease the workload. I’ll give you a few of my favorite online marketing tips to help.

1. Prioritize Platforms

You don’t have to be on every social media platform to succeed. Identify where your audience spends their time (e.g., Instagram for tourism and visuals, Facebook for local communities).

Start by asking the Power of Two.

1. What do you want to say
2. Who do you want to say it to.

By now you know the time and expense creating content, stretch that investment. Focus on the 1-2 platforms your audience is on and build a consistent and manageable presence. Create for the top platforms and repost to the others. I like to keep a hand in emerging platforms because by the time they take hold it takes so much more effort to gain purchase from zero. Don’t spend too much time on the secondaries just let them float till, if, or when you’re ready to step it up.  

Tip: Use analytics to double down on what works best rather than spreading yourself too thin.

2. Build an Authentic Brand Voice

Your online presence should reflect the same authenticity that customers experience when they visit your business. Don’t worry about the other guy. You be you. Start with why you do what you do. Develop a brand voice that is consistent with your real-life interactions with customers. Create posts that tell the story of your business—whether it’s showcasing behind-the-scenes moments, sharing staff stories, or highlighting your involvement in the community.

Tip: Keep it genuine and personal. Your customers want to see the real people behind the brand.

3. Maximize Content with Less Effort

You don’t have to constantly create new content—repurpose what’s already working. Believe me this is one workflow I use every day. I maintain an organized and complete libraries for each one of my clients. When they are new it is a huge investment of my time to build it quickly, one that pays off time after time. Content capture is the most expensive aspect of content creation. Keeping it organized is easy with developing good labeling habits.

Tip: I use a 4 digit labeling system of the year and 2 digit month before every file. “2409 23 Balancing Act” is the name of this article I add a space and the date for monthly multiples. Why this works? My content creation is seasonal so beginning with the year and then the month gets me quickly where I need to be. Everything lines up over the year/s. I’ve used this for 24 years and I have never needed to update the system. Just one client has a photo library of 5K photos and 300 videos. Tags and descriptors are worth the minutes to add when you capture and not later when you think you will have hours to clean up. Storage space is cheap compared to my time.

Balancing the demands of running a small business in Tahoe Truckee with maintaining an authentic online presence can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. By prioritizing the right platforms, staying authentic, leveraging your community, and managing your time effectively, you can make it work.

If there is a topic you’d like to hear more about by all means comment below or direct message and I’ll do my best.

Nothing better than a good question to jump into.

Reach out for a talk over coffee or a hike I give information freely. I only ask to be paid when I do the work. tgold@bigwaterci.com

Comment below or share.

Trina Gold

Master Creator

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