Social media plays a big role in marketing strategies, which is why about 96% of small businesses employ social strategies to promote their brand.
But, just because it's popular doesn't mean it's easy. There are common mistakes companies make when using social media.
Here are a few ways many businesses can ineffectively use social media:
Have an Intern Handle Your Profiles
An intern may not always be the right fit for your marketing needs. A college or a high school student may be inexpensive, but the work they perform may be of the same caliber. Social media is very different for a brand than it is a personal page, and one off-brand or offensive post is enough to turn potential or current customers away from your brand forever. Consider designating or hiring an in-house person with social media knowledge and experience, and develop a social media policy for anyone representing your company on social profiles to further protect your brand and your business.
If it isn’t possible to get the job done in-house, many marketing firms offer social media management.
Use Every Platform Available
Pinterest? Instagram? Facebook? Twitter? Snapchat? Tumblr? LinkedIn?
Social media comes in many forms and it is important to recognize which platforms suite your brands needs best. The assumption often made with social media is that the more profiles a company has, the more opportunities there are to reach customers. But, posting on platforms that don’t suit your brand or business can be a waste of time. It takes away from strengthening the profiles and content of the platforms that do work for your business.
Leave Your Page Empty
If your page exists and you don't post on it, you may actually be hurting your brand instead of helping it.
Social media is an interactive way to connect with real people interested in your services. Users want to like, follow and engage with your brand. An empty page implies the opposite. Comment and interact with your current and potential followers and reshare or create valuable content. By doing so you are building an audience for yourself who will enjoy coming back to your page for more.
Ignore Your Followers
In order to be truly effective on social media, you need to engage with current and potential followers.
When customers or prospective customers comment on your pages, respond. Thank your audience for their feedback, respond to compliments and questions, and make time to use social media as it was intended: being social. When customers comment, you need to respond quickly and appropriately. If they do not get a response, they may go elsewhere in the future.
Define a timeframe to respond to comments and draft a few sample responses and use those as a guide to respond. But, make sure to not sound too automated. People want to interact with people, not a corporation.
Delete Criticism
As a business owner working hard to make a difference, negative feedback can be hard to handle. This is especially true when you didn't see it coming.
Many companies react negatively to criticism as a reflex, taking good-spirited opinions as a direct and malicious insult. While some complaints are unnecessary or out of your control, others are intended to be helpful and not hurtful. Instead of deleting critical posts or reacting poorly to thoughts and opinions take the time to read and respond politely to what your followers have to say. If possible attempt to rectify the situation and then encourage follow up feedback to be posted.
Taking negative feedback in stride can be the best way to improve upon what you have to offer. Developing a social media response plan can help define policies of when and how you will respond.
Follow Everyone
Rather than following everyone who decides to like your page or retweet your messages, focus your attention on the people who matter most. Who you follow and what you like can send a message.
This is especially true if you're liking pages and people with the potential to cause problems, or following some but not all of the people who are fans of your page. In order to stay neutral and professional, don't follow or friend just anyone. Keep those spots reserved for business connections, affiliated individuals and industry leaders.
Self-promote
Social media is referred to as social for a reason – it's a way to make connections, not a way to spam your followers feeds with ads. A few promotional posts from time to time are okay, but these posts should be the exception, not the rule.
When you want to build a community on your social media pages, make sure your posts are thoughtful, informative and engaging.
But, just because it's popular doesn't mean it's easy. There are common mistakes companies make when using social media.
Here are a few ways many businesses can ineffectively use social media:
Have an Intern Handle Your Profiles
An intern may not always be the right fit for your marketing needs. A college or a high school student may be inexpensive, but the work they perform may be of the same caliber. Social media is very different for a brand than it is a personal page, and one off-brand or offensive post is enough to turn potential or current customers away from your brand forever. Consider designating or hiring an in-house person with social media knowledge and experience, and develop a social media policy for anyone representing your company on social profiles to further protect your brand and your business.
If it isn’t possible to get the job done in-house, many marketing firms offer social media management.
Use Every Platform Available
Pinterest? Instagram? Facebook? Twitter? Snapchat? Tumblr? LinkedIn?
Social media comes in many forms and it is important to recognize which platforms suite your brands needs best. The assumption often made with social media is that the more profiles a company has, the more opportunities there are to reach customers. But, posting on platforms that don’t suit your brand or business can be a waste of time. It takes away from strengthening the profiles and content of the platforms that do work for your business.
Leave Your Page Empty
If your page exists and you don't post on it, you may actually be hurting your brand instead of helping it.
Social media is an interactive way to connect with real people interested in your services. Users want to like, follow and engage with your brand. An empty page implies the opposite. Comment and interact with your current and potential followers and reshare or create valuable content. By doing so you are building an audience for yourself who will enjoy coming back to your page for more.
Ignore Your Followers
In order to be truly effective on social media, you need to engage with current and potential followers.
When customers or prospective customers comment on your pages, respond. Thank your audience for their feedback, respond to compliments and questions, and make time to use social media as it was intended: being social. When customers comment, you need to respond quickly and appropriately. If they do not get a response, they may go elsewhere in the future.
Define a timeframe to respond to comments and draft a few sample responses and use those as a guide to respond. But, make sure to not sound too automated. People want to interact with people, not a corporation.
Delete Criticism
As a business owner working hard to make a difference, negative feedback can be hard to handle. This is especially true when you didn't see it coming.
Many companies react negatively to criticism as a reflex, taking good-spirited opinions as a direct and malicious insult. While some complaints are unnecessary or out of your control, others are intended to be helpful and not hurtful. Instead of deleting critical posts or reacting poorly to thoughts and opinions take the time to read and respond politely to what your followers have to say. If possible attempt to rectify the situation and then encourage follow up feedback to be posted.
Taking negative feedback in stride can be the best way to improve upon what you have to offer. Developing a social media response plan can help define policies of when and how you will respond.
Follow Everyone
Rather than following everyone who decides to like your page or retweet your messages, focus your attention on the people who matter most. Who you follow and what you like can send a message.
This is especially true if you're liking pages and people with the potential to cause problems, or following some but not all of the people who are fans of your page. In order to stay neutral and professional, don't follow or friend just anyone. Keep those spots reserved for business connections, affiliated individuals and industry leaders.
Self-promote
Social media is referred to as social for a reason – it's a way to make connections, not a way to spam your followers feeds with ads. A few promotional posts from time to time are okay, but these posts should be the exception, not the rule.
When you want to build a community on your social media pages, make sure your posts are thoughtful, informative and engaging.
