Social Media Marketing For Small Business

Patrick McFadden • November 26, 2017

Today I’m going to tell you like it is on a topic that may not be popular in some social media circles, but it’s a message for leadership and companies that use social media marketing have no choice but to confront.

Get out your pencil and paper.

Go ahead; I’ll wait.

Ready?

You’ll want to jot this down. The information’s that indispensable. You’ll use it over and over… even if we never see each other again.

But, we will. I can almost guarantee it.  (So Follow Me)

And you’ll want to share this information with your social media connections and business colleagues who are using social media for business marketing.

Like me, some of you are probably sick of hearing about easy, guaranteed to work tips for marketing your business through social media, that don’t generate new business or integrate into the reality of the stuff you do each day.

Here’s my take, none of these tips, techniques or tactics matter for a small business owner until you are crystal clear on 7 things, and these things are non-negotiable, here’s why.

Too often, we quickly jump ahead to the new thing, the tactical idea of the week, failing to  get good enough at the important thing, first.  Most small businesses have far greater foundational needs when it comes to the limited time and resources they can allocate to marketing.

Effective Social Media Marketing For Small Business:

1. Point of Differentiation —  You must have a clear and concise point of differentiation that a niche market (segment of mainstream) truly values and understands.

What one thing can you say that positions you as the only company in the world (your customers world) that can do it? Go for the edges — the greenest, fastest, best, largest, most convenient, privileged, open sourced, proven, cutting edge, risky, safe, new, classic, and etc.  You can find more on differentiation here.

2. Point of View Content (POVC)  — You must have a remarkable report, eBook or guide that clearly demonstrates your methodology or process. I also refer to this as prospect content. Example:10 steps to x, y or z.

The purpose of this specific piece of content is to educate interested prospects on the method or process you use to get them a result and ignite your selling efforts. This tool is the strategic asset your business needs to communicate upon your point of difference.  You can find more on my approach to content marketing here.

3. PR Relationships  — Getting positive features and mentions of your business, service, products, people and events in the media channels that your niche market consume is essential for social media success.

The credibility that comes with media coverage is something you can’t buy and acquiring this coverage is essential.  You can find more on my approach to building relationships with reporters and journalist here.

4. Presentations  — You must be presenting seminars, webinars, and workshops based on the point of view content above.

Presenting is a great tactic that is underutilized. Getting a stage (online or offline) presents unique long-term marketing opportunities for you. It places you face to face with a roomful of prospective clients who have signaled their interest in you and your topic by showing up.

You have the rare chance to meet and address people who want to learn about you and what you have to say. And you don’t have to find them — they come to you. As a marketing opportunity, what could be better?  You can find a deeper discussion of crafting presentations here.

5. Online Content Platform  — Your web site, blog or central content hub must be full of educational content, articles and how-to information. The truth is the act of blogging itself does not matter anymore, but the act of consistently creating content that educates, that is easy for search engines to find and index, easy to share, attracts links, creates a searchable and archivable body of work on a subject and will never be seen as inorganic or a violation by Google has never, been more important.

Create content to answer common problems or questions customers have with your service or product.

6. Marketing Automation  — You must employ marketing automation in the form of landing pages that you can measure.

Landing pages describe a sales tactic focused on getting people to take one, specific action. Today, landing pages have simply become a required element in the social media marketing toolbox for every imaginable business, including local brick and mortar types.

Most businesses that do social media still send traffic to their homepage or product page. Where the prospect then must make a conscious choice as to why they’re there or they get distracted by all the other great information they find. Don’t Do That! Use landing pages to drive leads to take one profitable customer action.

7. Business Objectives —  You must have a marketing plan that focuses on business objectives.

There’s no way around this last non-negotiable. It doesn’t matter what your business goals are, it’s just more important to clearly identify them. Also have a clear understanding of your customers’ desire and problems, so you can figure out how your social media marketing efforts will provide value to your customers. Connect those desires and problems with your social-media strategy.

The cold hard truth for small to midsize business owners is that spending your valuable time and resources on social media is a huge waste of time for your business if you have not built the  strategic foundation  that can use social media channels as outposts for your marketing.

I am not saying that social media channels alone are a waste of time as an essential marketing activity, far from it. My real point is that social media channels are growing in importance for SMBs, but hold little value to the business that has not built a  strong strategic marketing foundation.

 

The Missing Layer in AI: Why Judgment, Not Just Data, Will Define the Next Era of Intelligence

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Everyone is scaling outputs. Almost no one is scaling judgment.

Everyone Talks About AI Judgment. We Built It.

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Ask anyone in tech where AI is headed, and they’ll tell you: “The next leap is reasoning.” “AI needs judgment.” “We need assistants that think, not just answer.” They’re right. But while everyone’s talking about it, almost no one is actually shipping it. So we did. We built Thinking OS™ —a system that doesn’t just help AI answer questions… It helps AI think like a strategist. It helps AI decide like an operator. It helps teams and platforms scale judgment, n ot just generate output. The Theory Isn’t New. The Implementation Is. The idea of layering strategic thinking and judgment into AI isn’t new in theory. The problem is, no one’s been able to implement it effectively at scale. Let’s look at the current landscape. 1. Big Tech Has the Muscle—But Not the Mind OpenAI / ChatGPT ✅ Strength: Best-in-class language generation ❌ Limitation: No built-in judgment or reasoning. You must provide the structure. Otherwise, it follows instructions, not strategy. Google DeepMind / Gemini ✅ Known for advanced decision-making (e.g., AlphaGo) ❌ But only in structured environments like games—not messy, real-world business scenarios. Anthropic (Claude), Meta (LLaMA), Microsoft Copilot ✅ Great at answering questions and following commands ❌ But they’re assistants, not advisors. They won’t reprioritize. They won’t challenge your assumptions. They don’t ask: “Is this the right move?” These tools are powerful—but they don’t think for outcomes the way a strategist or operator would. 2. Who’s Actually Building the Thinking Layer™? This is where it gets interesting—and thin. Startups and Indie Builders Some small teams are quietly: Creating custom GPTs that mimic how experts reason Layering in business context, priorities, and tradeoffs Embedding decision logic so AI can guide, not just execute But these efforts are: Highly manual Difficult to scale Fragmented and experimental Enterprise Experiments A few companies (Salesforce, HubSpot, and others) are exploring more “judgment-aware” AI copilots. These systems can: Flag inconsistencies Recommend next actions Occasionally surface priorities based on internal logic But most of it is still: In early R&D Custom-coded Unproven beyond narrow use cases That’s Why Thinking OS™ Is Different Instead of waiting for a lab to crack it, we built a modular thinking system that installs like infrastructure. Thinking OS™: Captures how real experts reason Embeds judgment into layers AI can use Deploys into tools like ChatGPT or enterprise systems Helps teams think together, consistently, at scale It’s not another assistant. It’s the missing layer that turns outputs into outcomes. So… Is This a New Innovation? Yes—in practice. Everyone says AI needs judgment. But judgment isn’t an idea. It’s a system. It requires: Persistent memory Contextual awareness Tradeoff evaluation Value-based decisions Strategy that evolves with goals Thinking OS™ delivers that. And unlike the R&D experiments in Big Tech, it’s built for: Operators Consultants Platform founders Growth-stage teams that need to scale decision quality, not just content creation If Someone Told You They’ve Built a Thinking + Judgment Layer™… They’ve built something only a handful of people in the world are even attempting. Because this isn’t just AI that speaks fluently. It’s AI that reasons, reflects , and chooses. And in a world that’s drowning in tools, judgment becomes the differentiator. That’s the OS We Built Thinking OS™ is not a prompt pack. It’s not a dashboard. It’s not a glorified chatbot. It’s a decision architecture you can license, embed, or deploy— To help your team, your platform, or your clients think better at scale. We’ve moved past content. We’re building cognition. Let’s talk.

We Found the Missing Layer AI Has Been Waiting For

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
In every era of innovation, there’s a silent bottleneck—something obvious in hindsight, but elusive until the moment it clicks. In today’s AI-driven world, that bottleneck is clear: AI has speed. It has scale. But it doesn’t have judgment . It doesn’t really think . What’s Actually Missing From AI? When experts talk about the “thinking and judgment layer” as the next leap for AI, they’re calling out a hard truth: Modern AI systems are powerful pattern machines. But they’re missing the human layer—the one that reasons, weighs tradeoffs, and makes strategic decisions in context. Let’s break that down: 1. The Thinking Layer = Reasoning with Purpose This layer doesn’t just process inputs— it structures logic. It’s the ability to: Ask the right questions before acting Break down complexity into solvable parts Adjust direction mid-course when reality changes Think beyond “what was asked” to uncover “what really matters” Today’s AI responds. But it rarely reflects. Unless told exactly what to do, it won’t work through problems the way a strategist or operator would. 2. The Judgment Layer = Decision-Making in the Gray Judgment is the ability to: Prioritize what matters most Choose between imperfect options Make decisions when there’s no clear answer Apply values, experience, and vision—not just data It’s why a founder might not pursue a lucrative deal. Why a marketer might ignore the click-through rate. Why a strategist knows when the timing isn’t right. AI doesn’t do this well. Not yet. Because judgment requires more than data—it requires discernment . Why This Is the Bottleneck Holding Back AI AI can write. It can summarize. It can automate. But it still can’t: Diagnose the real problem behind the question Evaluate tradeoffs like a founder or operator would Recommend a path based on context, constraints, and conviction AI today is still reactive. It follows instructions. But it doesn’t lead. It doesn’t guide. It doesn’t own the outcome. And for those building serious systems—whether you’re running a company, launching a platform, or leading a team—this is the wall you eventually hit. That’s Why We Built Thinking OS™ We stopped waiting for AI to learn judgment on its own. Instead, we created a system that embeds it—by design. Thinking OS™ is an installable decision layer that captures how top founders, strategists, and operators think… …and makes that thinking repeatable , scalable , and usable inside teams, tools, and platforms. It’s not a framework. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not another playbook. It’s the layer that knows how to: Think through complex decisions Apply judgment when rules don’t help Guide others —human or AI—toward strategic outcomes This Is the Missing Infrastructure Thinking OS™ isn’t just about better answers. It’s about better thinking—made operational. And that’s what’s been missing in AI, consulting, leadership development, and platform design. If you’re trying to scale expertise, install judgment, or move from tactical to strategic… You don’t need a faster AI. You need a thinking layer that knows what to do—and why. We built it. Let’s talk.
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