4.48 billion people use social media every day. This means that as a business you’ve got an unlimited number of opportunities to market your services to consumers and intrigue them enough to want to know more.
Unfortunately, while most businesses stand to gain several advantages from social media marketing it also means there are a considerable number of mistakes that can be made in the process. Before you look into social media marketing it’s important you understand what these mistakes are.
The more insight you have the better off your business will be. Not only are you going to find information about mistakes to avoid you’re also going to find some useful tips for social media marketing.
Continue reading now.
Having No Strategy
Using social media for marketing doesn’t mean simply posting content that will engage your followers. If you don’t have a strategy and goals, you wish to accomplish your efforts are being wasted.
Without a strategy you won’t be able to measure the success of your post, nor will you be able to gain a deeper understanding of the habits of your followers. To avoid this ensure you set specific goals before embarking on your social media marketing journey.
The more specific your goals are the better and you need to ensure each goal can be measured using a series of data metrics. Some of the questions that will be answered when you create a social media strategy include:
- Is this content your followers engage with?
- Are you posting about things that your target audience cares about?
- When is your target audience the most active?
Of course, there are other questions you can measure through the content you post. These are just a few of the insights you receive when you have a strong social media strategy in place.
Keep in mind that as the needs of your business change so will the strategy you have to ensure you continue to meet your business needs.
Being Rigid
No one likes buying from a business that is strict and doesn’t know when to cut loose a little bit. Yes, you need to have a strategy when posting on social media but that doesn’t mean you have to stick to your schedule and follow exactly when posting content.
The beauty of social media marketing is there’s room to allow creativity to take over when you’re posting. It shows your followers that there are people behind the computer screen that care about more than making a buck.
We encourage you to continue following a content calendar. But you should leave room in the calendar to make changes as needed.
For example, you might have a specific blog that is scheduled to go out but breaking news sweeps across social media. Instead of continuing with what you have planned you can deviate from the schedule and report on the breaking news to ensure your followers are receiving the information they need.
Not Being Consistent
What’s worse than posting too much on social media? Not posting enough. Failing to be consistent as you post on social media makes it seem as if your social media accounts have been abandoned.
When your accounts appear abandoned, your followers will begin to lose interest and that can lead to them unfollowing the account altogether. Being consistent also means remaining true to the aesthetic you’re using as you post on your page.
If you’re going to use the colors of your company logo it’s best to ensure every post that follows adheres to these same guidelines. While it might not sound like a big deal when you take a step back to look at your post the account will look cleaner than if you posted things randomly.
Everything you post should align with the personality and voice of your brand. These are both important to make it easy for your consumers to identify you from other brands that occupy the same market that you do.
Ignoring Comments
Followers post comments on your social media because they want you to see what they have to say and respond to them. In terms of comments, several mistakes can be made with the first one being ignoring the comments altogether.
If someone has an issue that needs to be addressed don’t ignore it. Take time to direct the follower in the right direction to address the problem and find the solution they need.
You should also take time to provide feedback on positive comments, thanking people for being loyal customers to your brand. Another common mistake made when it comes to comments is deleting them.
It’s better to be real and allow future customers to see all the comments your business receives than to try to control the comments by deleting them. Consumers become skeptical of businesses that only have glowing reviews of their products and services.
Censoring customer comments isn’t going to do anything to enhance your reputation. It’s going to have a more negative impact than you could’ve imagined and once your company reputation is ruined it’s going to be hard to come back from.
Going the Promotional Route
Yes, we understand social media is a great place to promote your business but that’s not all it should be used for. If your social media account becomes a place where all you do is try to get people to buy your products, you’re going to lose followers.
It’s okay to mix in some promotional content with other forms of content but ensure you find the balance between content used to inform your audience and content that’s promotional. Another reason to cut back on the promotional content featured on your social media is if you’re launching campaign ads.
There’s nothing more overwhelming than seeing an ad for a company and viewing the same promotional item on the company’s actual feed. Now that you’re aware of some of the mistakes you need to avoid making here are some useful tips for social media marketing that you’re not going to want to miss out on.
Partner with influencers
There are between 3 and 38 million social media influencers. As time continues the number will increase and so will the number of opportunities you have to partner with them to increase awareness of your brand.
It’s important you take the time to find the right influencers because they will be promoting your brand to their followers. There are some things you can consider before signing a contract with an influencer.
First, consider the number of followers they have because through this partnership you gain access to their fan base. If their followers aren’t on the higher end, it will change how much you’re offering them and if you want to do business with them, to begin with.
Next, you need to understand the niche they fill. For example, if you specialize in products that aid the food and beverage industry, partnering with someone that is a huge influencer within the automotive industry isn’t the best idea.
People can tell when someone isn’t genuine about what they’re promoting, and this will turn them off from continuing to do business with your brand. The influencer you choose should be passionate and excited to use your products and recommend them to their followers.
You also should consider the level of engagement they get from followers. If they post and no one responds or shares those posts it means that you likely won’t see the change in your own brand engagement and sales numbers.
Always follow Trends
We understand every trend that comes along isn’t worth following but you shouldn’t ignore them altogether. For example, when a new TikTok sound or dance comes out do your best to adopt those elements in some of your social media posts.
The more you follow the emerging trends the more likely you are to appear on the ‘for you’ or ‘explorer’ pages of social media platforms. When you end up on these pages the number of people that will see your posts increases which helps you expand your reach.
The more people that can see your content the better off your brand will be. It’s a wonderful way to spread information to people while increasing the number of followers you have.
Following trends also means staying on top of your hashtags. When something begins to trend ensure you’re using the correct tags on your posts.
For platforms like Twitter, the use of hashtags will help you show up in a list of posts that apply to that specific topic.
Use Different Strategies for Each Platform
It’s easy to think that you don’t have to change your strategy for the platforms you use but that can’t be further from the truth. It’s important you tweak your content to match the platforms you’re posting on.
Treat each platform as if it’s its own unique entity because they are. No one wants to see duplicate content on every platform they are on.
Another reason to create unique content for each post is that you might be targeting different people on each platform. Each social media platform has its own unique features to offer you and it’s important you take advantage of these features and use them to your advantage.
Don’t Shy Away from Paid Marketing
Some businesses only want to use unpaid marketing but there is nothing wrong with utilizing paid media marketing as a part of your advertising strategy. Much like any other marketing plan it has its own advantages and disadvantages which means you have to understand if it is something that will work for you.
The best course of action is to set a modest budget and gain a deeper understanding of the results you receive. After you determine if the results are in your favor, you can move forward by increasing the budget you allot for paid advertising and continue to move on from there.
Focus on Building Relationships
Followers are more concerned with the user journey and not solely about purchasing your brand. Therefore, you need to focus on nurturing and fostering relationships with your followers.
There are tons of ways to do this including creating an online community where people can interact with others that use your products and find the answers they need when they’re having a problem. You might also consider hosting question and answer sessions.
This allows people to speak with a direct representative of your company and ask the questions they want the answers to. Do they want to know about upcoming products?
If so a question-and-answer session is the perfect place for these types of questions to be answered. It also gives people a chance to provide you with feedback that can help you improve your products and services moving forward to ensure it meets the needs of your consumer base.
Be Authentic
As mentioned above your followers know when the content, you’re posting isn’t genuine. No one wants to follow people that aren’t genuine and don’t care about the information they’re sharing with their fan base.
Even if the views your company stands for aren’t understood but a lot of people, you’re going to gain more respect by standing strong on your beliefs and values than if you were to constantly change your stance on topics.
Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
If you want to avoid making social media marketing mistakes, there is a solid solution we have for you. Social media marketing outsourcing not only takes some of the pressure off you but you’re ensuring you’re putting your marketing in the hands of experts.
Whether you’re looking for a company with expertise in blog management or blockchain advertising contact Blissbranding Agency. Book your free consultation and let us know how we can help you.