There are things you don’t know you don’t know. It’s one of those annoying little truths about running a business.
You can be incredibly good at what you do, know your customers inside and out, and still have blind spots when it comes to social media.
It’s actually pretty normal.
You have a business to run. You’re serving customers, managing employees, answering emails, ordering inventory, paying bills, making decisions, and approximately 900 other things.
Social media is just one piece of the puzzle.
But here’s where it gets interesting:
Social media platforms are constantly changing. Features move, settings change and new tools appear. If you don’t know where to look, things tend to get buried in places you don’t regularly check.
And sometimes, the thing you’re missing isn’t even something you knew you were supposed to be looking for.
Here’s a Quick Test: Check Your Instagram Message Requests
Go ahead. Open Instagram. Go to your messages. Look for your Requests folder.
And then…
Check your Hidden Requests.
How many messages are sitting in there? Maybe there are none. Maybe there are a few.
Or maybe you just discovered a collection of messages from people who have been trying to communicate with your business that you didn’t even know were there.
That’s a social media blind spot. And it’s a perfect example of why managing a business’s social media isn’t simply about making a post three times a week.
Your customers may be trying to reach you.
And you may not be seeing them. That’s a problem. Not because you’re doing something wrong. Because you didn’t know you needed to look there.
Social Media Has More Than One Inbox
Your Instagram account isn’t just your feed.
There’s:
- Comments
- DMs
- Message requests
- Hidden requests
- Story replies
- Mentions
- Tags
- Notifications
- Collaborations
- Shared posts
- Reposts
- And more
And the platforms aren’t exactly known for making every feature immediately obvious. A business owner can be doing a fantastic job posting consistently while missing an entire part of the conversation happening around their account.
That’s a blind spot. And there are plenty more.
Blind Spot #1: You’re Posting, But Nobody Is Talking Back
This one can be hard to notice. You’re posting. You’re getting some likes. Maybe a few comments.
But are people actually engaging with your business? Are they asking questions? Sharing your posts?
Tagging you and replying to your Stories?
Or are they mentioning you somewhere else?
Social media isn’t meant to be a bulletin board where you put up a flyer and walk away.
It’s supposed to be social. 
Sometimes the most valuable part of your social media isn’t the post you published. It’s the conversation that happens afterward.
A social media manager helps you monitor those conversations and make sure opportunities aren’t quietly slipping by.
Blind Spot #2: You’re Not Seeing What Your Customers Are Saying
Your customers are creating content about your business and you may not even realize it.
Someone tags your restaurant in their dinner photo.
A customer posts a Reel from your store.
Someone shares your product to their Story.
A happy customer leaves you a glowing review.
Someone recommends you in a local Facebook group.
That’s all valuable information.
And some of it can become content for your own social media.
But you have to find it first. This is one of the reasons we talk so much about User Generated Content, or UGC.
Your customers may already be creating some of the best content you could ask for.
You just have to be paying attention. We go through all of your notifications and sections where you can find these UGC content. We monitor it, engage with them, and sometimes ask if they can send us their picture or video as well to share in our own way.
Blind Spot #3: You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
This is probably the biggest one. You might think:
“We’re doing social media. We post a few times a week. We’re good.”
And maybe you are doing a lot right.
But when was the last time you checked:
Are our links working?
Is our bio accurate?
Can people easily figure out how to contact us?
Are our location details correct?
Are we responding to messages?
Have customers been tagging us?
Can people finding us through search?
Are we using the features that actually make sense for our business?
Is there any new tools we should be using?
These aren’t necessarily things a business owner should have memorized. They are however things a social media professional should be thinking about.
Social Media Managers Have a Different Job Than “The Person Who Posts”
This distinction matters. If you hire someone simply to create graphics and schedule posts, you’re getting someone to publish content.
A social media manager should be looking at the bigger picture. They should be able to analyze stats and decipher what is working and what’s not.
They should be thinking about things like:
Where are people interacting?
What are customers asking?
Which content gets saved?
And what content gets shared?
What are people searching for?
Which features could help your business?
Where are opportunities being missed?
And sometimes…
Where are even the messages tab hiding? Remember the hidden requests tip at the beginning?
These are the differences between simply having a social media account and actually managing one.
The Good News: Your Blind Spot Might Be Someone Else’s Everyday Knowledge
This is one of the biggest reasons businesses hire specialists. You don’t hire an accountant because you’re incapable of adding numbers. And you don’t hire a mechanic because you don’t know how to check your oil
You hire them because their expertise saves you time, prevents mistakes, and helps you see things you wouldn’t necessarily know to look for.
Social media is no different. You can absolutely run your own business’s social media. We know plenty of business owners who do it really well.
But eventually, you may reach the point where you realize:
“I’m missing things because I’m too close to it or I don’t have time for it.”
And that’s where a social media manager can be incredibly valuable.
Sometimes the Biggest Value Is What We Notice
At Misty Saves the Day, we’re obviously here to help businesses create content, build strategies, schedule posts, engage with their audiences, and keep their social media moving. But we’re also looking for the things you may not have time to notice.
The message request.
The customer tag.
The review that could become a post.
The question that keeps coming up.
The post that unexpectedly takes off.
The opportunity to collaborate with another local business.
The piece of your business story that you don’t realize is interesting.
The feature Instagram added that might actually make your life easier.
Those are the blind spots.
And sometimes, one of the biggest benefits of having someone else manage your social media isn’t that they create more content (although we do that too!).
It’s that they’re paying attention to things you don’t have time to see.
So, go check your Instagram Hidden Requests. 
Seriously.
We’ll still be here when you get back.
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