Social media is a powerful tool to build relationships with your customers and attract new ones. But if you’re not careful, your business can waste time, energy and money on strategies that don’t work because you have, to be frank here, a horrible social media team.
I’m not sure why this happens, even with all the training, knowledge and tools that are available. Part of it is that many Chief Marketing Officers don’t have the time to monitor every single daily aspect of their marketing, and often see social media as nothing more than a customer service platform and haven’t really thought of it as a core marketing platform.
Don’t let your Social Media Team get away with being lazy, learn what they are doing, or more importantly, what they are not doing right.
They Post without a Strategy
You can’t believe how many companies just “trust” their social media team to do whatever they say they are doing. You should be asking simple questions of them, if you aren’t already and getting lots of feedback. Do they write and schedule your social media posts in advance? Do they review analytics statistics to see what kind of audience is responding well—and which parts are falling flat? Every business needs a social media strategy.
The goal of content marketing is to spread a company’s message and grow its audience. A variety of goals can be achieved through effective content marketing, including increased sales or long-term customer relationships
Develop a strategy for your business and understand how it will benefit you. You must consider things such as the amount of time you want to dedicate to the project, and what products or services are best suited for this particular market—and remember that all businesses have their most successful customers (the ones who account for 80% of sales).
A common mistake is that some companies just don’t have a social media strategy. They post content and hope that it will work out well. However, if you’re posting without any plan or goal in mind, then chances are your posts won’t convert into sales or leads because they won’t align with the goals of your target audience.
Posting all about you
Are all your posts about the business or products you sell? Do you try to get people to buy from you in every post? You may be turning off customers who dislike hard selling.
One way to attract attention and build your audience is by posting about yourself. However, remember the 80:20 rule of content marketing: only 20% of your posts should be self-promotional; the other 80% should offer value to readers—for instance, tips or news shared from others within your industry. Because of this, you’ll need to alter your ratio from month to month depending on market conditions.
It’s important not to get too wrapped up in yourself. No one is going to buy from you if they don’t know what you have to offer, and if all your posts are about your company or product, it will be hard for potential customers to find out. Posting all about yourself can also come across as self-serving and turn off potential buyers.
Instead of posting one long advertisement per day or week (which would make people ignore them), post a variety of content that has value for different types of people—from customers interested in making purchases to those who just want tips or interesting articles they can share with their friends.
You see no growth over time.
If you’re not seeing an increase in your follower count, it’s not always a sign of a problem. However, if your followers aren’t growing and your engagement rates are low, then you may have a problem on your hands. If you don’t want to post more often than once or twice a week—and this is fine!—then find ways to engage with those who already follow you more frequently and make sure they feel appreciated for their loyalty.
It’s easy to get caught up in what we’re posting about and forget that it’s the people behind social media accounts who are part of the equation (not just us). If no one is responding positively to what we do online—not even our closest friends or family members—then something needs changing ASAP!
Your team isn’t Investing in Needed Skills
Social media marketing is a complex area of marketing and if you have no marketing background, ask yourself the following questions:
Do you know how to craft customer personas? Can you design the right sociable brand—one that engages your customers and builds earned relationships with influencers?
If your team can’t explain how to use social media in a way that generates desired results, will they be able to tell whether their efforts are successful?
I’ve noticed a lot of people who were “experts” when Facebook was young and new, but haven’t updated their resume at all in that time. Many teams have become lazy and haven’t taken the time to grow their knowledge base.
Your team is Distracted by Flashy Tactics
If you focus on one-off tactics rather than creating a social media strategy, your business will never grow beyond where it is right now. To figure out how to proceed with your marketing efforts, you need to think about what business goals you want to achieve and then come up with a strategy for doing so in the most cost-effective manner possible.
Understand that everything takes time, and you must assess whether the time used to complete a project will be worth what it’ll give you. Consider your return on investment (ROI). Beware any flashy tactic: They usually become obsolete quickly.
You Act Like a Big Brand – You’re Not
If you try to model your social media marketing strategy after Coca-Cola or Nike, chances are you will fall short of their success. Top companies like these have built brand equity over decades—and unless you’re prepared to go to market with immense budgets, trying copy them probably won’t work.
Small to mid-sized businesses working on a limited marketing budget need to work extra hard (and smart) in order for their social media efforts not simply be ignored. Never assume that people will understand what you’re trying if they don’t already know about your business—everyone has an audience of one, so make sure it’s the right one
Be realistic, humble and hardworking as you build your brand.
Even the most well-known brands have to stay true to who they are and what their customers like.
To be visible, focus on your product or service—not yourself. Communicate what makes you unique: products/services, culture and mission.
If you want to successfully promote your employer or client, don’t just talk about how great they are; focus on what sets them apart from everyone else in their industry and why people should care.
Social media is about building relationships with your followers, and if you aren’t doing that, it’s not working!
If you’re not posting content that showcases your personality or the personality of your brand, people will stop following you.
Don’t get me wrong – I love social media. But it’s a tool, not the whole strategy. You can’t just set up accounts, post once in a while and expect to see results. Social media takes time and effort, but when done right it can be one of the most powerful tools for your business. Especially now, with economic downturn, owned media channels like social media are important more than ever and if you’re not optimizing that channel, you’re missing out a great opportunity to grow even now.
