Facing Your Social Media Marketing Problems
Your customers are spending more time than ever on social media platforms. All that scrolling, swiping, and liking is driving renewed importance of social media marketing and social ecommerce, forcing brands to rethink how they present themselves to the world.
The average American spent more than 1,300 hours on social media in 2020; now is the time to evaluate exactly what you’re putting in front of all those eyes.
What Are Common Social Media Marketing Mistakes?
Every party has written and unwritten rules. In the real world, those might be when to show up, what to wear, or where to sit. Each social media platform has dos and don’ts too.
Common social media marketing problems include:
- Not engaging with followers
- Focusing too much on sales
- Being tone-deaf to your audience and platform-specific trends
- Building strategy based on instinct instead of performance
Marketers need to understand these rules to avoid being left standing awkwardly by the punch bowl.
Ready to get started? Learn more about our social media marketing services.
How to Resolve & Avoid Blunders on Social
These five guidelines will take care of many social media woes:
- Keep the social in social media.
- Stop the sales pitch.
- Show up to the right party.
- Know the lingo.
- Use the tools.
Keep the Social in Social Media
When you’re looking to make a new friend, you ask questions. That’s true on social media too. Especially on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, it’s important to spark conversation and keep it going. Users want to interact, inquire about products and services, and share opinions about topics that are directly and indirectly related to your business. Take time to reply to comments and reviews and drive further discussion about topics that are of genuine interest to your followers.
Not seeing much engagement on your accounts yet? Try incorporating multimedia (like video and infographics) in your posts to catch attention and start conversations. You may find a content calendar useful for coordinating your team members and planning far in advance.
Stop The Sales Pitch
One of the best parts of social media is the communities it creates. Engaging on channels is like walking into a party. What reaction would you get if you walked in the door and shouted “I Am Having a Shoe Sale!” to a crowded room of people talking about myriad topics? Dozens of unapproving eyes would be turned on you.
While it’s okay to mention goods and services on occasion, present these by telling a story and including them as a part of a broader conversation. As a general guideline, stick to an 80:20 ratio, with 80% of your content focused on engaging and educating your followers and 20% leaning toward the sales end. Your ads and Shopping links are the best places to use fully sales-focused messaging.
Engaging a professional agency can help you manage social media marketing and successfully integrate organic and paid media to create a more holistic digital strategy.
Show Up to The Right Party
If you’re more of a “leather jacket and ripped jeans” kind of person, you may not exactly fit in at the country club ice cream social. The same goes for your brand’s identity. Bring your message to spaces where it fits in, and use language that makes your audience feel welcome to engage with you. We have a useful guide for determining which social networks may be best for your business.
Know The Lingo
Make sure you’re picking up what your target audience is putting down. Observe what they talk about on social. What are they interested in? Do they like any of your competitors’ recent posts? A little “social listening” will give you ideas for content marketing.
Additionally, all social media platforms have unique terminology that can help your brand fit in and earn authority. So watch for trending topics, turns of phrase, viral memes, or widespread campaigns that are driving conversation. Then get involved. We have to do the same thing IRL – or “in real life,” if you’re a Reddit fan.
Use The Tools
Just as different platforms have different dialects, they also have different tools. For example, Instagram “borrowed” Stories from Snapchat and more recently introduced Reels, a video format that is almost identical to TikTok. Stories are a great way to drive impressions, and they’ve had a big impact on users – the average Instagram user spends 28% more time on the app since Stories debuted. That has caused platforms to create new products to compete. Recently, YouTube launched Shorts, another short form video platform to rival TikTok and Instagram. It’s worth learning the nuances of each social media platform so you can take advantage of features like these.
Measuring Social Media Results
Social media platforms offer analytics – some more robust than others – to measure how well you’re reaching your followers. Interpreting these metrics may seem confusing. In general, we recommend focusing on quality signals (e.g., engagement, actions) over vanity metrics (e.g., follower count). We have a useful guide to picking the right key performance indicators, or KPIs, for your business’s social media strategy.
Look at your social media goals every month, and ask questions about your progress. As you build benchmarks and learn how specific content influences performance changes, you’ll have the information you need to refine your approach.
If you’re looking for support to improve your social media marketing and broader digital strategy, get in touch with Oneupweb. Our experienced creatives and strategists would love to lend a hand.
