It is 2019 and as a business owner you have decided to grab control of your marketing and start using social media to market your business. However, you are not sure where to start and have not done any reading on how to make it work for your business. This is all too common in the world of small business. What usually happens is the business start posting all about their product or service. The page will have only a handful of likes and what the heck is a boost a post? To avoid some common pitfalls, one encounters when starting to market on social media, we have come up with some common social media marketing mistakes you will want to avoid making.
Common social media marketing mistakes
1 No Marketing Strategy – this is the number 1 common mistake small business owners make. Some even have verbalized that they do their marketing on the fly. You need to have a plan and to set goals. You need to have a strategy for your content. What do you want to achieve? What are you going to post, for whom is it meant for, what media are your using in your post as just some of he questions you need to ask yourself.
2 To Target or not to Target – This is another common mistake. Not knowing who your target market is and failing to target them. Not everybody is going to use your product or service. You need to ask yourself who is your product or service intended for. Who will or is using it the most. Who is your ideal customer? You will get more for your marketing dollars if you target your marketing to that customer.
3 Small Audience – when trying to grow one’s audience people will do all sorts of things like buy followers. This is not paid ads but a 3rd party that will say they will get you 200 followers for x amount of dollars. The problem is either they are not real or if they are real, they are not interested in your product or service. What is important is quality of quantity and then build it with steadily with people who are interested.
4 Spam Spam and more Spam – This is an all to common mistake. Spam rears its ugly head in many forms. Group Facebook private messages, emails, posting and tagging, posting same content in 10 different groups are just some of the things we see people do. You have seen it too, so why do it? It is important to remember that social media marketing is about building relationships and trust. Spam will break that trust is a heartbeat.
5 Negative Nancy Syndrome – customer service is one of the benefits of using social media for marketing. However, when it comes to dealing with negative posts, comments and reviews about our business, we are so tempted to lash back at the them. This can quickly spiral out of control and leave your business in a bad light. So, what should one do when dealing with a negative Nancy? Do not delete the comment or post but instead use it as an opportunity to learn how to improve. Take the discussion offline by asking them if they can email or call you so you can hear them out and try to improve the situation. Always respond to the comment, post or review in positive way.
While these are the most common social media marketing mistakes there are a few others you will want to avoid. Do not auto post links. People are just not interested, and they do not foster a relationship or engagement. Lack of engagement is another common social media marketing mistake. Posting and not responding to question or comments makes your audience feel like you are not listening.
Avoiding these social media marketing mistakes will help you achieve your goals and reap the many benefit of using social media to market your business.