What caught my eye in September: 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. ☕

September has been a slightly different month for me because I've been away for a couple of weeks on holidat, but I've still been keeping an eye on what's been happening in the marketing world.

There are two marketing updates that I think are particularly relevant to small businesses, plus a couple of wider things I've been thinking about when it comes to how people find businesses online and how we measure whether our content is actually working.

📍 Google Business Profile posts now have view counts

Google has started rolling out view counts for Google Business Profile posts, which means you can now see how many times customers have viewed individual updates, offers and events.

The figures cover posts from the previous 18 months and combine views from both Google Search and Google Maps.

If you've ever wondered whether anybody actually sees the updates you're adding to your Google Business Profile, this gives you a little more information to work with.

It's worth remembering that these are views, not clicks or enquiries. Over time, you should be able to spot which subjects and update types that attract more attention.

My takeaway

If you use Google Business Profile posts, have a look at your recent updates and start taking note of the view counts.

I'd look for patterns, are offers getting more views? Updates about particular services? Photos of your work?

It's another small piece of information that can help you understand what potential customers are interested in.

🤖 Meta's new AI agent is coming for your to do list

Meta launched its new AI agent, Muse, at the beginning of September and right at the end of the month announced Muse for Small Business.

This is a bit different from asking Meta AI to write you a caption or give you an idea for a Reel.

Muse is designed to actually carry out tasks on your behalf.

For small businesses, Meta says it can connect with your Facebook and Instagram business accounts alongside tools including Canva, Asana, Shopify, QuickBooks, Stripe, Slack and Zoom. You give it a goal and it can work across those different platforms to help complete it, although Meta says nothing will publish, send or spend without your approval.

What I find more interesting is where this is all heading.

We're moving quite quickly from AI that gives us answers to AI that can potentially take actions for us.

My takeaway

I'd keep an eye on this one rather than immediately changing the way you run your business.

If these tools work as promised, they could eventually make some of the boring admin around running and marketing a small business much easier.

But connecting one AI tool to your social media, accounts, emails and other business systems is also a very different proposition from asking ChatGPT to tidy up a paragraph.

💭 Two things I've been noticing

1. How people find your business is becoming much less linear

I've talked before about your marketing working together rather than treating your website, social media and Google Business Profile as completely separate things.

I think that's becoming even more important.

Someone might first see your name on Instagram.

Then meet you at an event.

A month later they Google you, look at your reviews and visit your website.

They might find one of your blogs through search, ask an AI tool for recommendations or come across you again on LinkedIn.

There isn't necessarily one channel that gets to take all the credit.

That's why I don't think small businesses should be asking, “Should I focus on Instagram or my website?”

It's more about understanding the different jobs each part of your marketing is doing and making sure they support each other.

2. Your content has more jobs than getting engagement

This leads quite nicely into something else I've been thinking about.

We still put a lot of emphasis on likes, comments and visible engagement when deciding whether content has worked.

But content can be doing useful things without somebody tapping ‘like’.

A blog can bring someone to your website through Google months after you publish it.

A Google Business Profile post can be seen when someone is already researching your business.

A LinkedIn post might make somebody remember your name when they need your service three months later.

An Instagram post might answer a question a potential customer had without them ever liking it.

Not every useful piece of content will have impressive engagement attached to it.

I'd look at what your marketing is helping someone do next.

One thing I'd ignore: the pressure to pay for every new feature

Premium versions of platforms, AI subscriptions and shiny new tools seem to be appearing constantly.

Some of them are useful and I pay for them, but being offered another paid feature doesn't automatically mean your business needs it.

Before adding another monthly subscription, have a think:

What problem is this actually solving for my business?

If it saves you meaningful time, improves something you're already doing or solves a genuine problem, brilliant.

If you're considering it mainly because a platform has put a very persuasive upgrade button in front of you, you can probably leave it alone.

My biggest takeaway from September

If there's one thing I'd take from this month's updates, it's that there are more ways than ever for people to find your business and more tools than ever promising to help you market it.

That doesn't mean you need to use all of them!

I'd like to see a small business with a useful website, an up to date Google Business Profile and one or two social channels they use well than somebody trying to keep up with every platform, tool and new AI feature.

Your marketing should make it easier for the right people to find you, understand what you do and gradually build enough trust to take the next step.

What I'll be focusing on in October

✔️ Looking beyond likes and comments when judging whether content is working.

✔️ Making sure different parts of your online presence support each other rather than working in isolation.

✔️ Keeping an eye on new AI tools without feeling the need to adopt every one immediately.

If you want to know what's worth doing and what can wait, book a Social Brew and we'll prioritise it.