Talking all things social media with digital marketing clients has been a thought-provoking experience. For some, social media platforms such as Facebook are free to use so why would the need to employ an external marketer? For others, the concept can be mind boggling, where to start? what platforms? Does my business even need social media?
So many mixed feelings and approaches, it’s no longer the case of having a company social page and adding the odd status, this can lead to customers turning off or selecting alternative socially active businesses during their buying journey.
Being a small business owner myself I’m passionate about seeing small businesses succeed especially by the means of digital marketing and a social media presence.
By highlighting the 6 of the most common mistakes in social media marketing this blog aims to raise awareness to the small business owner, who in turn has the option to review their own social media offering. The implications of a poor social media strategy in 2020 will most likely lead to loss of market share to those businesses who embrace it by building on the customer journey and consumer satisfaction. On that point, let’s begin.
The first point on our list.
1 – Lack of strategy
The lack of a social media strategy can lead to a lack of coordinated posting and confusion. Not every social media post needs to be about the sell, sell, sell. The customer experience and buying journey has become paramount in 2020, so it may seem obvious statement but what if you post content at a time your customers will fails to see it?
Social media campaigns that are cast by business that don’t consider the customer journey lead to consumers turning away seeking alternative options, let’s be fair, as consumers we like to know we are doing the right thing and buying the right product without fear of the price changing week by week for example.
Building a strategy (and sticking to it) will give your social media posting structure and purpose. Understanding what posts work for your business, what time to post them and on which platform requires an understanding of the following points.
- What platforms do your target audience use?
- What message do you want to deliver to them? (Linked to your company objectives).
- Tactics and key words.
- Team members with social media abilities.
By achieving this, your business will see an increase in customers who have a desire for your product or service therefore better opportunities for sales and happy customers.
Holdcroft Digital Marketing helps a business build a strategy and implement it at each stage and with the use of website plugins, link your social media to your website generating further traffic.
2 – The dreaded negative feedback
Something for a small business owner that is hard not to take personally or feel the need to argue back. It can be enough for some to want to stop trying but don’t give it all up just yet.
Each point of any negative feedback requires a business to evaluate it on its own merits. There is the chance to learn from any form of feedback if it is that its justified.
Keys to resolving negative feedback.
- Do not argue, if you make a mistake, acknowledge it – try not to continue any argument over a public post or campaign. If there is reason to apologies, then take the opportunity to do so. We can all make mistakes.
- One of the biggest mistakes made by brands and companies of any size is to make vague excuses across social media platforms. If something went wrong, acknowledge it and seek a solution with the customer to resolve it.
- Move the conversation – try and communicate with a person who leaves negative feedback away from public posts. Use of email, phone calls and messenger are advised to try and resolve the issue. This helps to defuse the situation between the business and your customer in a more professional way.
- Remain genuine don’t be defensive – Don’t take it as a personal reflection on you as a person. It will be ok.
- Review your feedback – could be deliberate effort to damage your business
3 The act of self-promotion
Consumers hate most kinds of sales promotions, often the lack of self-promotion can damage any product or service campaign. Finding a happy balance between promoting your brand and including yourself as after all, a consumer feels happier communicating with a person compared to a product. Build on an element of personal branding and followers will become more engaging. A good balance of inbound marketing is your solution, and this is something that can be measured by a digital marketer. Something you can build on yourself that leads to higher levels of interest to your business.
4 Targeting an audience
Not everyone is going to appreciate your products or services, Businesses who fail to target their promotions to the right people at the right time the key is to find the right audience, so your message reaches buyers. It’s a scary thing but Facebook combines people’s behaviors with forms of data mining making market segmentation easier than ever before. Knowing how to interoperate this will raise the amount of interest in your product or service giving you lots more potential customers.
5 – Fake followers
Often during conversations, the topic pops up of companies who have thousands of likes and followers however basing success from this number can be a false economy. Understanding Social media marketing insights and post engagement is a much stronger measure of just how your campaign is going.
Engagement rate is a useful metric utilised by digital marketers to analyse social media likes, shares and comments. Understanding this can help a business build on its competitive analysis.
The fewer fake followers the stronger your online presents and campaigns will be linking in nicely with the location of your target audience.
6 – Analytics? What analytics?
One of the most common mistakes in social media marketing in 2019 includes the lack of analytics in social media campaigning. The accessibility of Google analytics is available to everyone, however understanding what your seeing and how to improve your business performance can sometimes be more difficult. Please see our blog relating to what to measure when it comes to analytics.
Small businesses utilise social media marketing to help grow and promote products and services. Make sure through the eyes of a consumer you can be found displaying the correct content at the right time of day, with no strategy your efforts online may go unnoticed and sales and consumer interest may drop. Building on your personal branding and inbound marketing strategies can lead to much stronger results. We can help you achieve this.
Holdcroft Digital Marketing offer levels of social media marketing support, from full campaigns and page management to monthly guidance into how improvements could be made. Our objective is to help smaller businesses thrive and become more successful. Not sure where to start? Join our free Facebook business group for free advice and insights from likeminded local businesses.
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