Social media is not a new marketing tool. But many business owners are still in the learning phase; coming to grips with how it can enhance their business reputation and ultimately, their bottom line.
As with any marketing effort, wasted time on social media means wasted opportunities for business growth. Here are some of the common mistakes being made on social media and what you can do to avoid your business wasting time.
You join every social media platform
To be successful on social media you don’t need to be on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest and Instagram (to name just a few). This will potentially dilute your results and you could end up with a less than impressive online presence if you don’t have the ability to maintain and nurture your social media platforms.
To combat this look at your target audience. Which platform do they spend their time on the most, what type of content are they engaging with? Armed with this information you can focus on the one or two particular platforms that your audience is using and importantly that you enjoy using.
Facebook is usually beneficial to most businesses, particularly those selling products, LinkedIn is perfect for business to business and for vacancy postings or company research. Pinterest and Instagram are great for companies such as fashion, food and lifestyle as these are ideal for sharing visually compelling material.
You forget the social in social media
To give your social media marketing the best chance of success you need to engage with your audience. Just signing up for an account and hoping for the best won’t work. Time and money needs to be invested to grow your audience.
Share content, blogs, info, stories and deals, start conversations by asking questions, and then get involved by responding to comments, shares, likes and tags. Social competitions are a great way to engage your audience, grow your brand and interact.
You don’t have goals and a plan
Many business owners start off with tonnes of enthusiasm for the new world of social media, with no idea of what they want to achieve, then hit a stumbling block and quite often the platforms die.. When you have no direction, you can spend hours searching for inspiration, writing content, or simply browsing. Without a plan and clear goals in place you won’t see the effort and results for the time you’re spending.
Make use of a content calendar, look at upcoming promotions your business may be running, think of the seasons, key dates, employee or company wins, and plan these into your content calendar. If you plan and even schedule your posts in advance, it will free up time at the other end to engage with your audience socially.
You are measuring the wrong statistics
All social media platforms come with statistics, plus you have Google Analytics and other platforms for measuring such as StatCounter, Tailwind and more (this blog post shares 19 stat tracking options). https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-analytics-tools Measuring how well your social media is working is really important as you can see where to put your efforts, who your audience is, when they are online, the type of content they like, and more. Measuring your results is using your time wisely.
Social media is a powerful tool to have in your marketing strategy, it is important to seek advice when you think you need it so you don’t end up wasting your time.
Written by Kathleen Boyd
As with any marketing effort, wasted time on social media means wasted opportunities for business growth. Here are some of the common mistakes being made on social media and what you can do to avoid your business wasting time.
You join every social media platform
To be successful on social media you don’t need to be on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest and Instagram (to name just a few). This will potentially dilute your results and you could end up with a less than impressive online presence if you don’t have the ability to maintain and nurture your social media platforms.
To combat this look at your target audience. Which platform do they spend their time on the most, what type of content are they engaging with? Armed with this information you can focus on the one or two particular platforms that your audience is using and importantly that you enjoy using.
Facebook is usually beneficial to most businesses, particularly those selling products, LinkedIn is perfect for business to business and for vacancy postings or company research. Pinterest and Instagram are great for companies such as fashion, food and lifestyle as these are ideal for sharing visually compelling material.
You forget the social in social media
To give your social media marketing the best chance of success you need to engage with your audience. Just signing up for an account and hoping for the best won’t work. Time and money needs to be invested to grow your audience.
Share content, blogs, info, stories and deals, start conversations by asking questions, and then get involved by responding to comments, shares, likes and tags. Social competitions are a great way to engage your audience, grow your brand and interact.
You don’t have goals and a plan
Many business owners start off with tonnes of enthusiasm for the new world of social media, with no idea of what they want to achieve, then hit a stumbling block and quite often the platforms die.. When you have no direction, you can spend hours searching for inspiration, writing content, or simply browsing. Without a plan and clear goals in place you won’t see the effort and results for the time you’re spending.
Make use of a content calendar, look at upcoming promotions your business may be running, think of the seasons, key dates, employee or company wins, and plan these into your content calendar. If you plan and even schedule your posts in advance, it will free up time at the other end to engage with your audience socially.
You are measuring the wrong statistics
All social media platforms come with statistics, plus you have Google Analytics and other platforms for measuring such as StatCounter, Tailwind and more (this blog post shares 19 stat tracking options). https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-analytics-tools Measuring how well your social media is working is really important as you can see where to put your efforts, who your audience is, when they are online, the type of content they like, and more. Measuring your results is using your time wisely.
Social media is a powerful tool to have in your marketing strategy, it is important to seek advice when you think you need it so you don’t end up wasting your time.
Written by Kathleen Boyd
