Because of the Internet, businesses these days have more marketing options that have become almost mandatory if they’re to survive the cutthroat world of competition. There was a time when all you needed was a website to get a leg up on competitors. Then you needed SEO. Now you also need social media marketing if you want to maintain a relationship with your current customers.
The problem is that many people insist on DIY marketing on social media. If you’re going to use social media for marketing (and you should), you should at least avoid the following pitfalls:
1. You’re only using social media to advertise
Yes, social media can be great platforms to spread about a new discount or sale you’re having, or a brand new product or service you’re offering. But this can’t be the only type of messages you should spread on social media. The point of this type of platform is that you engage with your audience.
So you can instead also add helpful advice and entertaining posts. You can post anything relevant to your industry and to your audience.
2. You don’t track your social media posts for ROI
How do you know your social media strategy is working? You can’t just assume that it is. So you need to track social media metrics to make sure that your posts are being read and spread by the people you want to influence and engage with.
When you track your social media posts, you can identify the kind of posts that resonate with your audience. You can then do more of the popular posts and refrain from posting social messages that don’t really work.
3. You delete negative comments
It’s a truism that a single negative review can have more of an impact than a dozen positive reviews. That’s why some businesses simply try to delete these negative reviews to limit the damage they cause online to your reputation. But this is a mistake.
Yes, you ought to remove hateful comments as well as those that contain abusive or threatening language. But some negative comments should be addressed instead of just ignored and deleted.
Negative reviews can shed light on a problem with your business that you don’t know about. By acknowledging the problem, you assure your readers that at least you’re making an effort to improve. In addition, you assuage the feelings of the original complainant by recognizing their concerns. By engaging with negative comments, you can even raise your business’s reputation.
4. You post too little or too much
When you don’t post regularly, you give the impression that you’re lazy or you don’t really want to engage with your audience. But if you post too much, it feels like spam. You need to find the right balance, and for that you again need to check the metrics.
5. Your posts include requests to “like” or spread the posts
This practice is so prevalent that it’s now called “like baiting”. Most of the time, posts, which include these requests, are basically generic messages and they tend to resemble spam. So don’t engage in this practice, and just make an effort to post more engaging messages instead. If they’re really viral-worthy, people will like and spread them on their own.
If you’re really serious about using social media marketing, you should really consult with pros. The investment cost would be little compared to the ROI. Spending a bit more money is much better than spending so much time and effort for no benefit at all.