By this point, you know that social media is an integral part of your digital marketing efforts. You probably have profiles on several sites, and you might even post pretty regularly. But are you seeing the results you had hoped for? If not, it might be because a social media campaign takes time to produce an ROI, but, more likely, it is due to one of these common mistakes. Stop wasting your time and money on social media marketing until you fix these seven mistakes. Once you do, you will finally be able to see just how powerful social media can be for your Digital Marketing efforts.
At its core, social media is a way to communicate with your audience. When choosing what to post, make sure it’s something your followers will actually want to see and interact with. If you are posting and sharing things that are not relevant to your target market, it is no surprise you aren’t seeing results.
While posting regularly is important, you don’t want to focus so much on how often you are posting that you forget to pay attention to the quality. Slow down and make sure that every single thing you post contributes to your brand image and building a connection with your followers. Never post just to post—that’s a quick way to lose your fans.
When you are choosing a manager for your social media campaign, you can’t just choose someone who claims to know what they are doing. You need to be diligent and do your own research to make sure they can walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Ask for examples of their current and past clients’ social media profiles and make sure they are following social media marketing best practices. You should also check out their own social media accounts to further cement the fact that they know their stuff.
One scroll through your own newsfeed and you will see a lot of brands that are getting the whole concept of social media marketing wrong. Social media is not, and never has been, strictly a sales channel. It is a place to connect with your fans, encourage engagement, grow brand awareness, and build loyalty. If you are the company posting about your products and services most of the time, then there is a high probability that the majority of your followers are blocking your posts. Instead, post interesting, funny, or informative content that is applicable to your audience, and only post about your offerings every tenth post.
There is a reason there are so many different social media platforms available: they are not all the same. As such, your social media marketing is not the same either. For example, when posting to Twitter, you want keep it short and sweet, and you really can’t over post. However, if you try to post on Facebook as often, you will get un-followed in a snap. If you want to have a strong presence on Instagram, your photos need to be high quality and visually appealing, and on LinkedIn, everything should be professional. Once you learn the nuances of each platform, you can cater your posts to that specific user.
Your followers continue to follow you because they are getting value from what you are offering. If you can provide your fans a take away with every post, you are more likely to get shares and engagement. And value can be in many different formats. You can aim for informative content that teaches your audience something new—Top 10 and How To posts are especially popular. You can post something funny and entertaining that is valuable because it makes your fans laugh. Or you can choose something inspiring to share that will pull on the user’s heartstrings. The best course of action is to imagine yourself as one of your followers and ask if you would click on the post to read more. If you wouldn’t, you shouldn’t post it.
Again, one of the key roles of social media marketing is to connect with your users and build trust. If the person making your posts doesn’t really know your business and industry inside and out, it will be obvious to your followers, and all of the work and money will be for nothing. Your brand is unique, you have your own voice, and you probably have phrases that are only known in your industry. It is crucial that your social media manager knows your company inside and out so they can represent you appropriately.
Social media is one of the most powerful assets to a digital marketing strategy, but it has to be done the right way, or it is wasting your valuable time and money. At Zero Gravity Marketing, we are experts at social media marketing. We take the time to get to know you, your business, and your goal with social media so that we can approach your social media campaign appropriately. To learn more about our social media marketing services, contact us today. We would love to help you grow your online presence through the power of social media.