Social media is playing an important role in businesses like it is doing in our personal lives. Almost everyone is using social media – from mom-and-pop shops to top companies – to engage with their customers and raise brand awareness.
While there are a lot of benefits to using social media, it may backfire on your business if you are committing these social media blunders:
Going Into Social Media without A Clear Social Strategy
We tend to go with the conventional thinking of following trends. For this reason, some of us might decide to come up with a social media campaign without really nailing down a clear social strategy. This often leads you to a haphazard implementation of your vision.
This, in turn, leads to lower return on investment as you fail to connect your social strategy to your business strategy. The two must be aligned to make sure that your social goals tie up nicely to your business goals. This can also help you avoid making this next mistake:
Following Vanity Metrics
Many social media newbies put a premium on vanity metrics such as the number of likes. This is a common mistake, especially for tracking your ROI, because vanity metrics can be misleading. Even the number of comments and shares might be useless if you do not get to tie it up to concrete results for your social and business objectives.
You have to think about what value each like, comment, or share contributes to your business. If it brings more user engagement or raises brand awareness for your business, then it is worth something. However, comments that appear on your social media that are irrelevant to your business does not really add much value.
Limiting Your Social Media Presence
Another mistake that you may be making without realizing is to focus on just one social media platform as part of your strategy.
This limits your digital footprint, thus limiting your opportunity to meet your customers where they are on. Furthermore, not all social media platforms are built the same. For example, Facebook works differently from LinkedIn. Make sure not to fall into the trap of adopting a single-channel strategy even if you are on a tight budget.
It always pays off to have an omnichannel approach to social. Establishing your business presence on various social media platforms can help you broaden your digital footprint and better engage with your customers. Of course, you have to make sure you do not treat all platforms the same as each has its own strengths you need to play to.
Not Utilizing The Right Tools For Your Social Campaign
Automation and data analytics are important in social media marketing. These go hand-in-hand since data analytics rely on automation to sift through massive amounts of data.
Without automation, you might fail to serve regular content to your target audience. Ignoring the importance of data analytics will also hurt your social campaign. You might end up creating content that your audience does not really care about. Worst, you only share content about your company and not include useful content that can help drive engagement with your target audience.
Combining data analytics and automation can help bolster your strategy to achieve your intended ROI.
While these social media mistakes seem basic enough, it is always important to watch out for them. Avoiding these mistakes will help your next social media marketing campaign hit its goals.
SOURCES:
Quesenberry, K. A. (January 2, 2018). The Basic Social Media Mistakes Companies Still Make. Retrieved from
https://hbr.org/2018/01/the-basic-social-media-mistakes-companies-still-make
Macapagal, L. (May 2018). Battle of the Ads: Facebook vs Google vs LinkedIn. Retrieved from
https://adspark.ph/battle-ads-facebook-vs-google-vs-linkedin/
Deziel, M. (January 23, 2018). 12 Common Social Media Mistakes You Need to Avoid. Retrieved from
https://www.inc.com/melanie-deziel/12-common-social-media-mistakes-you-need-to-avoid.html
Socialnomics Trends (March 5, 2018). Social Media Mistakes Hurting Your Business in 2018. Retrieved from
https://socialnomics.net/2018/03/05/social-media-mistakes-hurting-your-business-in-2018/
Keskeys, P. (2018). The 5 Biggest Social Media Mistakes to Avoid in 2018. Retrieved from
https://architizer.com/blog/for-manufacturers/social-media-mistakes/
Forbes Communications Council (May 1, 2018). 12 Social Media Mistakes That Will Drive Followers Away From Your Brand. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2018/05/01/12-social-media-mistakes-that-will-drive-followers-away-from-your-brand/#20f79616855a
Lozano, D. (May 11, 2018). 7 Common Social Media Mistakes Brands Are Still Making in 2018. Retrieved from
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/7-common-social-media-mistakes-brands-are-still-making-in-2018/523322/
