Social media is the perfect way to promote any small business and help it gain momentum that you can build on.
However, there is a bit more to social media marketing than most people think. It’s not just about creating an account on Twitter or Facebook. You need to invest time and resources to get your audience engaged and interested in what you have to say.
In other words, you have to know what to do and what to avoid.
UNDERESTIMATING THE AMOUNT OF WORK INVOLVED
Most people think that social media marketing is easy. Yes, creating an account on every social platform might not take too long… until you need to manage them.
Before you get on a social network, ask yourself this question: Do you have the time and resources to manage all of your communities, to share content on a regular basis and to keep your community engaged and happy?
You really don’t need to be on every social media platform. Be realistic when evaluating your assets and your abilities to ensure that you can be successful on every social platform you choose to use.
What is important to understand is that managing social media is not a nine to five kind of job. You need to be present and on your game 24/7. If you don’t have a dedicated social media manager and you’re choosing to manage social media yourself, you will need to take charge of content creation and monitoring of your social media feeds. This is no easy task so make sure you put in the work if you want to get real results.
IGNORING YOUR COMMUNITY
THE FAILURE TO LISTEN TO OR ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE IN A TIMELY MANNER CAN BE DETRIMENTAL TO YOUR SMALL BUSINESS. IF YOUR FANS OR FOLLOWERS ASK QUESTIONS, POST COMMENTS OR SHARE POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE FEEDBACK, YOU NEED TO RESPOND. WHILE NOT ALL BRANDS CAN PROVIDE 24/7 CUSTOMER SERVICE SUPPORT, IT’S VITAL TO RESPOND TO ALL QUESTIONS AND FEEDBACK IN A TIMELY MANNER. IF YOU IGNORE THEM, DON’T BE SURPRISED IF THEY DO THE SAME WITH YOU.
TALKING AT YOUR AUDIENCE,
Don’t barge into their timelines with boring content. Make an impression with great content, an intelligent response, a genuine question, etc. Add some of your brand’s personality into every piece of content that you share on social media.
Get this right and you’re on your way to selling without selling.
Your key objective should be to get their attention and to stimulate engagement, and you will never be able to achieve this with boring content. David Ogilvy who was a marketing wizard famously said: “You know, you can’t bore people into buying your product. You can only interest them in buying it.”
The same thing is true today.
TOO MANY BRAND MENTIONS, NOT ENOUGH VALUE
If you’re constantly promoting your brand without actually engaging with your audience, you might as well give up. While self-promotion is fine when you’re launching a new product or trying to get the word out about a special offer, there needs to be a balance between interesting content and marketing. People hate to be ‘sold to’.
If you are struggling, simply follow the 80/20 rule: 80% interesting content and engagement and 20% promotion.
It’s the first one that will get your audience interested in what you have to say. If you only go with old-fashioned one-way advertising, it will only hurt your business.
