Interconnectivity makes the world go round in this digital age. As such, social media marketing is an indispensable strategy for businesses to reach their market. Unsurprisingly, social media is one of the most powerful tools for every type of business. Social media platforms enhance brand visibility, build credibility, enable sales, and help companies interact with target clients. On top of it all, social media is a cheaper and more efficient option compared to print signage. Nonetheless, the use of social media has its unwritten rules which can make or break your marketing scheme.
In social media marketing, the ultimate goal is to boost chances of awareness, loyalty, and sales through a regular and targeted presence. While keeping this in mind, it is necessary to mind the most common social media marketing mistakes often overlooked by businesses and advertising agencies. Without these five mistakes, your social media marketing effort is sure to be an impeccable success.
1. Unfamiliarity with the Target Audience
This is one of the most common mistakes of businesses which think a social media presence is equivalent to just owning a social media account. To address this concern, all you need is to review the purpose of your social media marketing endeavor, that is, to interact with the audience, make them aware of your business, and eventually convince them to be your customers. You can’t do all these if you aren’t familiar with who “them” are. Who do you want to see your ads in social media? What are their age, social status, hobbies, and educational background? When do they usually go online? What social media platforms do they frequently use? How do they use social media? What type of posts do they share and like? What type of pages do they follow? Once you know your target audience well enough, you can then strategize on how best to manage your social media presence. Without familiarity with the audience, you’ll look as if you’re just a page floating in social media with no direction.
2. Absence of a Solid Brand Management Strategy
Some businesses post on social media platforms without first having a solid brand management strategy. It is crucial that a business has an established brand identity and has a plan on how to communicate it with the target market, before doing any social media activity (or any marketing scheme for that matter). This is easy to address though. All you need to do is set your goals and align each marketing strategy for each goal. If you already have a concrete plan on how to execute the strategies via social media, then, by all means, you can start establishing your online presence.
3. Use of All Social Networking Sites
Another common mistake of marketers is using every social media platform available thinking that they’ll be able to get more audience interaction and traffic. This is an unwise decision because it’ll require more resources and effort to manage all sites. Instead, it is recommended to choose two to four social media platforms (which will take you back to the importance of #1) that your target audience typically use. Know that the “one size fits all” principle won’t work in all platforms because LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram are four different sites which have a variety of audiences. Thus, the more networking sites you use, the more accounts you need to maintain.
4. Everyone Represents Your Social Media Presence
Another common mistake of businesses in using social media marketing is giving everyone access to their networking sites. While team members can help in promoting the business, it is not a good idea that everyone gets to represent your brand. What you can do instead is select a team of people who will be tasked to maintain your company’s social media presence. They will be the ones who will be given access to the sites, post promotional materials, and respond to inquiries. This way, you can maintain a consistent social presence.
5. Irregular Posting Schedule
Most businesses think that posting on social media has no limits as long as they can promote the brand. This is a misconception as every post must be thoroughly planned. Irregular posting schedules are a huge “No” because your audience wants consistency. Posting every hour and posting every other week are not recommended. You wouldn’t want your audience to get fed up with all your posts and end up blocking you. Hence, you need to make an organized schedule on the frequency of your posts. For example, you can post one to two times per day on Facebook, three to five times a day on Twitter, once a day on Instagram, three times a day on Pinterest, and once a day on LinkedIn Business.
Refrain from making the above-mentioned mistakes, and you’re on your way to establishing a more effective social media marketing strategy for your brand.