Have you gotten your business all set up on social media and are you busy Tweeting and updating, yet not sure of the benefits? Do you find it difficult to determine how it’s all going to pay off? Odds are your social media strategy needs a little once-over and perhaps one of the common mistakes below is the culprit.
1) You aren’t engaging. Perhaps you have made headway in setting your schedule to be active on social media. And maybe you are doing a great job of publishing a variety of content. But are you getting likes, retweets, or follow-ups of any kind for your efforts? And likewise, are you giving feedback to others? A couple of years ago it was considered a success to gather new likes and followers, but social media has grown up a bit since then and now just adding up the number of people who like you isn’t enough. Now it’s time to measure your engagement with people. As I have said before, it’s called “Social” media for good reason. At a networking event you can’t just go up and trade business cards with a person then walk away. If you want to be memorable, you need to chat and interact a bit. The same rule applies to your social media efforts.
2) You don’t know what is working. You can watch your Twitter numbers go up and down as much as you like but that really doesn’t say much about how your own followers view your brand. If you haven’t already done so, it is time to start watching your analytics. There are several free and paid tools on the market that can give you a quick glimpse of how much engagement and growth your social media is experiencing. Take note of what kind of messages are getting favorited, commented on or retweeted. Are they photos, questions, links to interesting articles, statistics about your industry? Are they on a certain subject matter? Then take the next step and look at your website’s Google Analytics. These days analytics make it very easy to see how much traffic is coming to your website from the various social media platforms.
3) You have no activity. A neglected social platform does more harm than good. All your followers need to do is open one of the social media tools that recommends who to follow or unfollow, and there you will show up, right up top on the “recommended to unfollow” list because your account hasn’t shown any activity for 3 months. That being said, you can resurrect a dead account by implementing a schedule and plan of how you will get your social media account interesting again. Set aside 15 minutes a day to devote to either actively posting to your social media, engaging with your followers, or learning new tools to save yourself time.
4) You aren’t being interesting. I am not saying YOU aren’t interesting. I am sure you are. But the information you are putting out to your social media audience may not reflect that. Again, social media is social….you want to be an interesting and likable personality, not just a boring ‘ol branded logo. For example, I know that when I am speaking to my predominately marketing focused audience, they like industry statistics, breaking news, and clever marketing tips. When my jewelry client communicates with her audience she offers a lot of photos about current trends and new designs. A person who is followed by an audience of stay at home parents might love fun projects to do with kids or quick parenting tips.
5) You have no goals. Why are you on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn? Different reasons or the same reason? Did someone tell you that you should be, so you are? Your social media marketing should be part of your marketing mix, it should coincide with and complement your goals for email marketing, off line advertising, content creation/blogging and website design. At the very least, your goals should include raising brand awareness and extending your marketing reach. Take a step back and look at your business goals and objectives and evaluate how each of your current marketing tactics is contributing to those goals. Social media should also be part of that strategic planning.
The social media world is ever-changing and new trends, tools and platforms with come and go in the years and months ahead. But if you avoid these 5 pitfalls you will join the ranks of those who know how to rock social media.
