In this article, we’ll talk about a few blunders many of us have made (and learned from) and how you can learn from our mistakes.
Social Media Marketing without a plan. Many companies have experienced this and it’s likely you have, too. It all starts with someone telling you social media is the way of the future (it is, by the way). You hop on, start an account for your business page and fill it with great information and photos. Your friends and loyal patrons want to support you, so they throw a like on your new page. After the first couple weeks of your launch, you find you page is a wasteland of followers, confused as to why they followed you. Your social media presence is now a failure.
The Fix: Before you even set up a Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, have a brainstorming session. Sit down and think about what message you want your followers and potential customers to grasp. Are you looking for conversions, reach, engagement, or all of the above? Creating a content calendar is also helpful and helps you track what posts you’ve seen success on.
Posting Irrelevant Links/Articles. As of now, robots haven’t taken over social media. This means humans are still controlling the content and materials we see across the different platforms. In turn, some posts are irrelevant to your followers. We get it; you see a cute dog photo and you want everyone to enjoy it as you did.
The Fix: Ask yourself what value it adds to your followers prior to posting. Outside of posting for holidays or special occasions, if it adds no relevant value and does not promote your business, don’t post it.
Ignoring Your Target Audience. This is one of the most important pieces of a successful social media campaign. You can post relevant content that is well thought out and planned, but if you don’t know your target market, it’s useless.
The Fix: Do some research on your current or past customers and try to find trends. In Addition, checking out what your competitors are doing can be just as helpful. Finally, trial and error is your friend. Try establishing a small budget for “test” purposes and use It to target different demographics. Analyze the results to find out which demographics were most responsive to your post.
Not Responding To Reviews. Have you ever posted a review on social media and received a response from the business? Feels pretty great, doesn’t it? Now, think of the opposite: Your customer posts a review (negative or positive) only to be met with no response. Not only does this upset the person who posted, but it looks bad to those who are looking at your page.
The Fix: Respond to the review. ALL the reviews! And, remember: Not only are you responding to the original poster, you’re responding for those who will see the post in the future. Be mindful of your wording.
The Fix: For beginners, it’s best to Focus on just one. First find out which platform a majority of your consumers use. This goes back to finding your target audience. Once you’ve nailed down a strategy for one social media platform, look at developing a plan for your next social media platform.
That’s all for now, folks! For more intriguing tid-bits on how you can boost your social media presence, follow our blog. If you’re looking for someone else to do the hard work, call or email us for help. Drop us a line here: www.onwired.com/contact or call us at 919-301-0425.