Most of us social media in our personal lives. It’s pretty straightforward and the majority of us are comfortable with how the popular platforms work. Having said that, the biggest mistake you can make is to assume that marketing your business on social media is just as simple. In fact, it’s a whole different ball-game. You simply cannot approach it with the same mindset.
You’re Forgetting to be Social
‘Social media marketing’. It’s all too easy to focus solely on the ‘marketing’ part of that term. In doing so, you completely forget that social media is about having fun, entertaining and being part of an online community. The number one reason why strategies fail in this area is because you’re trying too hard to sell. Nobody and we mean nobody likes to be sold to! Shamelessly forcing your daily promotions upon your followers, is the best way to earn unfollows and unlikes. As a rough guide, try to make sure no more than 20-30% of your content is about your products.
You’re Not Posting Enough
If you want your social media channels to grow, you need to be active on a daily basis. Posting once a week just isn’t going to cut it. Twitter, for example, is so real time, so conversational and fast moving, that you really need to be tweeting a few times each day. Posting once a day on Facebook and Instagram is acceptable unless you have a substantial fanbase. However, if you have a substantial fan base, you must be doing something right!
You Don’t Know What You Represent
Why should someone follow you on Twitter or Instagram? Why should someone like your brand’s page on Facebook? Can you pause and answer these questions now? Yes right now… we’ve put you on the spot.
If you struggled to answer that, how can you expect other people to join your social community and engage with your content? You’ve got to know what you’re offering in terms of the social experience and you’ve got to convince other people of that too. Do you share funny content, or are you educational and informative? For example, someone who follows Nike on social media knows they’re going to see motivational fitness videos, exercise tips and ideas, and the latest in sports news.
Just by fixing those three elements, you could potentially turn your whole social media strategy around.
