What caught my eye in August: social media and marketing updates
☕ A monthly round up of the platform updates, marketing trends and things I've noticed that I think are worth knowing about as a small business owner.
There are always plenty of marketing updates doing the rounds. Some are genuinely useful, others probably don't need another 20 minutes of your day to research.
So, as always, I've picked out the things that caught my attention this month and what I think they actually mean for small businesses.
📊 Meta AI can now analyse your Facebook and Instagram data
You can now choose to connect Meta AI to your professional Facebook and Instagram accounts, Meta Ads and Google Workspace. It can then use that information to answer questions about your business and help you understand what's working.
For social media specifically, Meta says it can analyse things like reach, saves, shares, comments and profile visits.
So rather than asking AI something vague like “What should I post on Instagram today?”, you could ask what performed best on your account last month and what patterns it can see and create more of that kind of content.
My takeaway
However, still use your own judgement alongside it. Your highest reaching post isn't automatically the one that brought you the best potential customer, but if it makes reviewing your analytics easier, that's useful.
♻️ Not every piece of content needs to be brand new
I've talked about repurposing before and there is so much pressure to constantly come up with something new for Instagram, LinkedIn, email, blogs and everywhere else and you really don't need to.
A blog can become a LinkedIn post, a question somebody asks you in a meeting can become a Reel, an older post that performed well can be revisited six months later with a slightly different angle.
Remember that your audience hasn't seen, read or remembered everything you've ever published.
My takeaway
Before you add another Canva design to your to do list, look at what you've already got, ask yourself:
What have I already created that could be reused?
Small businesses get more value from a useful idea than constantly creating something new just to fill another space on the grid.
🔎 AI referrals are growing quickly, but Google still leads
There's understandably a lot of conversation about how AI tools are changing the way people find businesses and information online.
New Shopify data reported in August found that AI referred sessions to merchant websites increased 197% year on year.
Organic search still sent more traffic to Shopify merchants than all the AI platforms they tracked combined. Organic search traffic had actually grown by 12% too.
My takeaway
Pay attention to AI search, but don't panic and abandon SEO because somebody on LinkedIn has announced that Google is dead for the 47th time.
The fundamentals of having a useful, well structured website that clearly explains what you do still matter.
💭 Two things I've been noticing
1. Your marketing works better when it works together
One thing I think small businesses can underestimate is the value of people simply knowing who you are. Particularly for smaller businesses, somebody isn't necessarily going to see one Instagram post and immediately buy from you.
They might meet you at a networking event.
Then see you on LinkedIn.
Later they Google your business and read your reviews.
They visit your website.
Then a few weeks or months later, when they actually need what you offer, they already know who you are.
I think of it more like this:
Visibility → familiarity → trust → enquiry → sale
How quickly somebody moves through that journey will vary depending on your industry, offer, price point, product or service.
Marketing helps create the visibility, familiarity and opportunities that can lead to enquiries over time. What happens between enquiry and sale will also depend on your offer, pricing, sales process and customer experience.
2. I'm paying closer attention to founder led content
I've followed founders online for years but recently I've found myself paying much closer attention to what some of them are doing.
There are a handful of female founders in particular whose businesses are much bigger than Silver Lining Social but I find the way they're using their personal platforms really interesting.
They're sharing their opinions, experiences, ideas and what's happening behind the business.
I've noticed it with Substack too. Since I've started using it, some of the people I've chosen to follow are founders whose longer form thoughts I genuinely want to read.
As it becomes easier for any business to produce content with AI, I think having an identifiable person, opinion and perspective behind your content becomes even more valuable.
Your experience, opinions and personality are things another business can not replicate.
🙈 One thing I'd ignore: “SEO is dead because everyone is using AI”
Nope!
Search behaviour is changing and I absolutely think businesses should be aware of how people are using AI tools to research products, services and businesses, but there's a big difference between search is changing and ‘SEO is dead’.
The Shopify data above is a good example, showing AI referrals grew substantially but organic search remained its largest referral source.
So I wouldn't rip up your SEO strategy; I'd make sure your website clearly explains who you are, what you do, who you help, and why somebody should choose you.
Those fundamentals are useful whether somebody discovers you through Google, social media, an AI tool or somebody recommending your name over coffee.
My biggest takeaway from August
If there's one thing I'd take from this month's updates, it's that marketing is changing quickly but that doesn't mean starting again.
Get more value from the good content you've already created. Keep working on your website and search visibility and don't underestimate the value of people gradually getting to know you and your business.
For me, the journey looks more like this:
Visibility → familiarity → trust → enquiry → sale
Not every part of your marketing needs to or will it generate a sale directly. It needs to play its part in helping the right people move through that journey and eventually feel ready to take the next step.
What I'll be focusing on in September
✔️ Getting more from existing content rather than constantly creating from scratch.
✔️ Building a joined up online presence across social media, website and Google rather than treating each one separately.
✔️ Putting more personality and perspective into content, particularly through founder led platforms and longer form content.
If your marketing feels a bit messy right now, a Social Brew can help you tidy the plan without overthinking it.
