When I first started my chiropractic practice, I created a Facebook account to help promote it.

We had recently moved to a completely new area, so I didn’t know very many people personally. I started friending people in the local area, many of whom I had never met, and hoped that my new Facebook presence would help people discover my practice.

Then I started posting.

And I waited.

And waited.

Nothing seemed to happen.

I wasn’t really doing much besides posting on a regular basis. I would put something out there and then watch the quiet screen, wondering why nobody was commenting or engaging.

Have you ever done that?

You publish something and expect the world to notice. Maybe you refresh the page a few times. Maybe you check your notifications. Maybe you start wondering whether social media is broken.

Or worse, you start wondering whether you are the problem.

My Facebook experiment

After a few weeks, I became frustrated.

So I decided to conduct a little "experiment."

I made a post explaining that I wanted to see how many days it would take before someone commented on one of my posts. Then each day I posted an update:

“Day 1 of the experiment.”

“Day 2 of the experiment.”

“Day 3 of the experiment.”

I thought it was funny. Maybe I thought it would make people curious. Maybe I was just trying to get someone, anyone, to respond.

It probably took about a week, but eventually someone did comment.

The response was basically, “Stop it. That isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

I wish I could find the actual post because I’m sure the wording was even better than I remember.

At the time, I was frustrated by the comment. I didn’t understand why social media wasn’t “working” for me.

But now I see that experience through a different lens.

The problem wasn’t Facebook.

The problem was that I had not offered anything of value.

I was expecting something to come out when I had not really put anything in.

You cannot build trust with an empty hand

This is the principle I was reminded of:

You have to give before you get.

I have heard the same idea expressed in several different ways:

• You only get what you give.
• There is no such thing as a free lunch.
• What goes around comes around.
• You can get whatever you want if you are willing to help enough people get what they want.

The wording changes, but the idea stays the same.

You cannot expect people to trust you, engage with you, recommend you, or buy from you if every interaction begins with you asking for something.

That doesn’t mean you can never make an offer.

It doesn’t mean you have to give away everything you know forever.

It means you have to give people a reason to pay attention first.

That reason might be a helpful answer. It might be a practical tip. It might be encouragement at the right moment. It might be a simple explanation that helps someone avoid a mistake.

The value does not have to be complicated.

It just has to be real.

The temptation to post and pitch

Small business owners often feel pressure to “do marketing.”

So they start posting.

They post about their product.

They post about their service.

They post a promotion.

They post a link.

Then they wait for customers to appear.

I understand the temptation because I have done it myself. When you need more business, it feels natural to talk about your business more often.

But there is a difference between communicating your value and repeatedly announcing that you want a sale.

Imagine walking into a networking event and immediately asking every person in the room to buy from you.

You would probably get a few uncomfortable smiles and a lot of people suddenly remembering that they need to be somewhere else.

Social media can feel less awkward because there is a screen between you and everyone else. But the basic human experience is still there.

People are asking themselves:

“Do I trust this person?”

“Do they understand my problem?”

“Can they help me?”

“Is this going to be useful, or is it just another sales pitch?”

If the only thing people see from you is an offer, they may never get far enough to answer those questions.

What does giving first look like?

Giving first does not mean creating elaborate campaigns or spending hours every day trying to become an internet celebrity.

It can be much simpler than that.

Ask yourself:

What questions do my customers ask over and over again?

Those questions are content ideas.

If you are a financial planner, explain one confusing financial term in plain English.

If you are a contractor, show people how to prepare for a home project and what questions to ask before hiring someone.

If you are a health professional, share a safe, practical habit that can help people take better care of themselves.

If you are a marketing consultant, explain why a business might be getting website visitors but no inquiries.

You already know things your customers do not know yet.

That knowledge can become useful content.

You can give by:

• Answering a common question
• Teaching one small skill
• Sharing a helpful checklist
• Explaining a mistake and how to avoid it
• Telling a story about something you learned
• Pointing people toward a useful resource
• Encouraging someone who is struggling
• Showing what a process looks like behind the scenes

None of these require you to make a hard pitch.

They simply help.

Give people a small win

One of my favorite ways to think about value is this:

Can I help someone get a small win today?

Not solve every problem.

Not transform their entire business in one afternoon.

Just help them move one step forward.

A small win might be helping someone write a better headline. It might be showing them how to organize their customer questions. It might be explaining the first step in a process that previously felt overwhelming.

When people experience a small win because of something you shared, they begin to see you differently.

You are no longer just another person trying to get attention.

You are someone who helped.

That matters.

A helpful post may not produce a customer immediately. It may not create a flood of comments. You may not see a dramatic result right away.

But trust is often built quietly.

Someone reads your post today and remembers it three weeks from now. Someone forwards your email to a friend. Someone saves your checklist. Someone watches several of your videos before finally reaching out.

The result may be delayed, but that does not mean the value disappeared.

Give first, but do not hide your offer

There is one important balance here.

Giving first does not mean hiding what you sell.

If your product or service genuinely helps people, they need to know it exists.

After you have answered questions, shared useful information, and helped people understand their problem, your offer can become the natural next step.

For example:

• “If you want help applying this, here is how I work with clients.”
• “If you would rather use a guided system, you can learn more here.”
• “If you want the complete checklist, you can download it here.”

That is different from leading every interaction with pressure.

You are not pretending that you do not have a business. You are simply making sure the relationship contains more than a request for money.

If you are building a sales funnel, a tool such as ClickFunnels can help you organize a helpful resource, follow-up emails, and a clear offer in one place. But the technology is not the strategy by itself.

A beautiful funnel cannot rescue an empty message.

The first question is still: What are you giving people that helps them?

A simple value-first plan

If your marketing has started to feel like one long sales pitch, try this for the next week.

1. Write down ten customer questions

Think about the questions people ask before they buy from you.

What confuses them?

What makes them hesitate?

What mistakes do they commonly make?

Write down everything that comes to mind.

2. Choose one question

Pick the question you can answer most clearly.

Do not try to solve every problem in one post. Choose one.

3. Create something useful

Write a short answer. Record a video. Make a checklist. Share an example.

Keep it practical.

4. Ask for a response, not a sale

Invite people to share their experience or ask a follow-up question.

Conversation is often more valuable than a quick click.

5. Make a relevant offer later

Once you have helped someone understand the problem, explain how you can help them go further.

The offer should feel connected to the help you just provided.

The question I should have asked on Facebook

Looking back, I was asking the wrong question.

I was asking:

“How long will it take before someone comments on my post?”

A better question would have been:

“How can I help someone today?”

That question would have changed everything.

Instead of counting the days until someone noticed me, I could have listened for questions. I could have shared useful information. I could have introduced myself through service instead of simply introducing myself through posts.

That is the shift many small business owners need to make.

Stop asking only, “How can I get more attention?”

Start asking, “How can I become more helpful?”

When you help enough people get what they want, you give yourself a much better chance of receiving what you want in return.

If you are feeling stuck in your business or disconnected from why you started, my free 15 Questions to Reignite Your Fire guide may help you slow down and think through what matters most.

You do not have to give away your entire business.

You do not have to become perfect at marketing.

Just start with one person, one problem, and one useful thing you can offer today.

That is where better marketing begins.