Image by: woerterhexe
By Giovanni Fields
Social media can be among the most effective tools when aiding in the progression of your business. It both helps you connect with your target audience directly and exposes your product to the masses, both of which will lead to more success for your business, and therefore more money in your pocket.
But something that some entrepreneurs may not have in mind is the fact that a lot of grueling comes a long with producing and managing a lucrative social media site, and if he isn’t up to the task, the result can be devastating for your business, as opportunities to promote and engage with your customers will likely lead to a loss of interest.
And a lack of interest is likely the last thing you want for your business, so to avoid any confusion or speculation as to what you’re not doing right, here are 5 mistakes you may be exhibiting in your social media campaign.
#1) Obsessing Over how Many Followers You Have
Nowadays with common celebrities surpassing millions of followers and just as many friends, we may be led to believe that the success of your business is dictated by how many friends and followers you do or don’t have. This can take a toll on the quality of your content, because if you’re spending too much time focusing on accumulating more followers than Kim Kardashian, your content will inevitably suffer.
Focusing on what’s most important–the demonstration of a quality product and content–will keep your social media site less generic and more approachable–and as a result will likely bring in friends and followers with little effort.
#2) Not Having a Clear Plan
Not having a clear plan is one of the biggest reasons most businesses don’t produce the desired results from their social media marketing endeavors. Since social media sites are free to create, jumping in with cold feet and launching your account may seem like a viable option, but don’t let the accessibility of these sites blind you, as operating a successful site can prove to be as time consuming as a part time or even full time job, depending on what type of business you have.
Creating a detailed system as to how you’re going to manage ways to find and connect with your target audience is essential to reaching your marketing goals and aspirations. This will not only provide you with a template as to how to proceed with fulfilling the necessary tasks in order to spark an interest from a particular audience, but will provide you with a blueprint, or a sense of structure that will keep you focused and on track.
#3) Being Unprepared for Problems & Questions
Customers–or followers of your site–are going to expect every one of their needs to be met in a timely manner when dealing with your business. Yea, that means any questions or complaints that come from irate customers will be directed at you. You can ignore the mishaps and risk losing a customer (not recommended) or you can set aside the time to ensure each and every question, from basic to complicated, is responded to in a timely fashion.
Many businesses launch their media sites completely unprepared to handle the rush of customers complaining about the litany of issues that can and may go wrong with your product.
#4) Inconsistency
Consistency is necessary to uphold the integrity of any social media site. Most internet users have an attention span the equivalent to a house fly, and often times of you go even one or two days without making a post, tweet or update of some sort, you will be trolled and berated by angry followers.
Posting an update once or twice a week won’t do your business justice, and the end result will likely be wasted time and energy for your would-be social media project. If you don’t have the time or commitment to invest in posting at least five to seven times a week, either hire somebody to fulfill the role for you or stick to more traditional means of marketing that require less attention.
#5) Being Impersonal
Social media is in fact called ‘social media’ because it is built to interact with other people. And if your customers are presented with a site that seems as though it is being run by a drone of some sort, the entire purpose of them being on the site would be contradicted. They are there to connect with you, and to engage with you, as likewise you are to them. The biggest turn off for a potential customer is a business devoid of any kind of personality, or flavor if you will.
Even if your username is that of your company’s you can still add a personal touch by including your personal information in the About section, or even making the avatar or main pic your engaging with the product of your business, rather than just having the product itself. A big part of a customers interest comes not only from the actual product itself, but the mastermind behind it.
Why do you think the names Bill Gates and Steven Jobs are among the most popular of the country? Because the customers care just as much about the product as they do the person who is making it. And if your character just happens to be witty and approachable, then that may just be enough of a reason for them to see what you’re about.
Are you a social media expert? Tell us about how you mastered the art of online communication and witnessed first hand how it led to the improvement of your marketing campaign.