Though most businesses use social media marketing, few actually excel at using this marketing strategy in the right way and get quickly discouraged when there are few or no positive results. Social media marketing is one of the best ways to expand business reach and gain quality customers. In fact, marketers and business owners use several social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more to connect with their target audience. As per reports, about 80% of Americans are using more than one social media platform every day to reach out to people by sharing relevant and interesting content.
Regarded as a critical strategy for modern businesses, marketing a certain brand using social media can be challenging as there are millions of potential customers to engage with. So you need to stand out among the competition and create a personalized approach. Different social media optimization services can provide the best support and solutions to expand brand reach and build reputation.
Understanding the Significance of Social Marketing
Large companies or businesses often understand the significance of using social media marketing to promote their services and reach out to a greater number of people looking for similar services. However, posting on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn won’t suddenly bring any kind of magical results or a flood of customers to your business door. Like any other digital marketing medium, social media also takes its own time, testing and most importantly requires patience to succeed. In short, the marketing efforts need to be guided by a well thought out strategy.
Just as any other marketing tactic, marketing on social media must be done with care and in the right direction. Mistakes are bound to happen and can prove very costly. Many marketers make mistakes when they first implement a social media marketing strategy due to the wide variety of options. Here discussed are some top social media marketing mistakes that need to be avoided in order to increase your chances of success with your social media campaigns–
- Dismissing Social Marketing as Ineffective – Believing that social media is not right for your specific demographic or industry is wrong. There is a common misconception that social media is only for teenagers and the tech savvy. That is no longer the case. For instance, it is estimated that the fastest growing demographic on Twitter is the 55-64-year age bracket, and that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is 45-54-year-olds. Social media has penetrated into all layers of society. Therefore, managing to put together an effective social media strategy ahead of the competition will be an added advantage.
- Starting without a Strategy – Businesses often make their first steps into the world of social media without devising a solid plan or marketing strategy. As social media is a growing outlet, billions of people can be reached by a single endorsement. Which means there are tons of variations in strategies to take.
Of course not one strategy is the ideal strategy so keep creating and testing. Please make sure to take time out to view the infographic within this blog post showcasing a basic guideline for scheduling your posts on the major social platforms. This post guideline was developed by Blog2Social who evaluated the average best times for posting using data updates from 60,000 plus businesses and bloggers around the globe.The team at Blog2Social recently evaluated the average best times for posting using data updates from 60,000 plus businesses and bloggers around the globe. Check out The insights, listed below in the infographic.
infographic by Blog2social, once on the page click it to enlarge it.
- Failure to Research Target Audience – As a large number of people use social media platforms, pinpointing the target audience group when posting content or sending promotions can be quite challenging. However, having correct knowledge about the target audience group and marketing effectively can help ensure success of the campaign. don’t waste your time or your potential audience’s time.
Try to design a campaign that actively works to reach the people that can benefit most from your products or services. Creating several customer persona sheets from your Google Analytics, email and social media statistics can be effective. Compiling all this data will help get a better idea about the target audience’s habits and interests.
- Buying Followers – Buying followers is one of the common mistakes in social media marketing. However, when fewer people follow a business page over time, this illicit activity becomes more and more convincing. In fact, there are a lot of influencers who pay their followers. While this may seem to be a good strategy for a starting company, it is actually one of the biggest mistakes to make. There are platforms with advanced systems and algorithms that can determine which accounts have paid followers and ban them from the entire site. Being banned from a platform will really hurt the image and credibility of your business.
- Using the Wrong Tone – Choosing a voice and behavior for your brand and using it consistently in all of the endorsements and marketing activities is crucial. As social media is a casual platform, try to use a tone that is friendly yet professional to engage with the audience, but not so casual as to appear offensive or insensitive. So, before posting on social media platforms, take the time to figure out whether the tone rightly reflects the brand and connects with the target audience group.
- Using Irrelevant Hashtags – Hashtags play a prominent role in social media marketing, especially on platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. However, use the right hashtags to get more brand exposure. Look for hashtag ideas among your competitors. In addition, using topical hashtags can be effective as they are relevant and timely irrespective of the content. If you want to gain a good brand exposure, use hashtags by involving the brand in a trending conversation. This may sound simple, but there is a huge downside that businesses need to be aware of.
Involving in a trending conversation will certainly give good brand exposure. However, if any missteps are made, everyone will know about it as deleting the post won’t completely help since the post can be accessed through the web archive. For instance, paying tribute to famous people is a trending thing that needs to be avoided. This type of message just comes off as a cheap strategy as heartbroken fans won’t like a brand trying to capitalize on their idol’s death.
- Ignoring or Staying Silent in the Comments Section – Staying silent or ignoring the comments section is a major social media mistake. Leaving comments doesn’t just appeal to the algorithm, it also establishes connections with followers. Interacting with your target audience group in a friendly and comfortable way will encourage engagement and build trust with them. Make the best out of the audience’s relationship by listening to their suggestions and comments regularly. Listing down all the useful feedback and modifying your strategies accordingly will help improve social media performance of the brand in the long run.
- Deleting Negative Comments – Engaging in a lengthy and ugly conversation and then deleting the whole thread is a common social media mistake. For instance, if someone posts a negative review on Twitter and tags your brand, instead of letting frustration get the better of you, encourage the user to directly message you so that the issue can be resolved. If the person commenting highlights your wrongdoing, without sending you a DM, thank them for the advice, reach out once again via a direction message or DM and improve. A simple apology or correction can turn any negative review into a positive experience. There are more options to go through once you get a chance to take a look at the written content online. Make sure to show the audience that your brand has nothing to hide and be objective when receiving a negative comment.
- Forgetting to Diversify Content – Not diversifying the content is another common mistake that most marketers make. Social media platforms provide numerous ways to upload and share content with your followers. For beginners, sharing blogs can help in lead growth. Beyond standard written content, consider adding videos to the company profile. This can be done either by creating new content or repurposing an existing post. Some marketers take advantage of “Instagram Stories” and “Facebook Live” options to get engaged with their audience in real time. Hosting a live session and taking questions from audiences or fans will be an effective option. Certain companies as part of their social media marketing strategy host giveaways – where they offer a free version of their product to the winners. As a result, more consumers visit their website.
- Having Too Many Accounts to Manage – In most cases, companies or businesses make the mistake of jumping on every social network possible, setting up accounts and trying to manage them all at a single stretch. Using too many social media platforms will not only affect your focus and limit your engagement; but also lead you to produce low quality content. A dedicated marketing professional can effectively manage no more than 2-4 social media accounts. If your company’s social media strategy is in the hands of a single team member, you should focus your resources and energy on the “Big Three” – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. In due course, further prioritization of efforts must be done on the social network that produces the most results for your business.
- Not Having a Social Media Policy – Not having a company-wide social media policy is risky and can often result in unexpected public embarrassments. Regardless of who manages your social media accounts, it is important to adopt a policy outlining what is and is not acceptable. For most companies, content that is sexist, racist, religious, offensive, obscene, sexually suggestive, derogatory or discriminatory in any way is off limits. Make sure that all your employees know the policy and adhere to it.
Nevertheless, social media marketing can help expand or grow your business. But, at the same time, building a social media presence isn’t easy, as mistakes are bound to happen and can even show up at the ending of your marketing campaign. Avoiding the above-mentioned mistakes, companies can engage more effectively with their audience while attracting more social media users to their products, services and solutions. A reputable search engine optimization company can help implement the best social media practices and delve into the more technical side of SEO.
