Social media has become the quickest and most efficient way to reach a target audience for free in today’s marketing world. If someone likes or follows your page you almost automatically have data about their interests and you can use this to your advantage when marketing to them new products and services. With such a huge opportunity out there for business owners it would only follow that these channels would be driving the majority of your sales, but often time they don’t! Why is that? Here are 3 mistakes business owners make when using social media.
- An Undefined Message or Direction
While posting touching photos of your family vacation or adorable vignettes of your pet might matter to your loved ones or friends, unless you’re a pet shop owner or veterinarian, it probably doesn’t matter that much to your target customers. Sorry! Most business owners forget that for 99% of the world, even on a personal social channel they know you by what you for and how you do business. Many times, business owners forget that not having a defined message on their social channels confuses users or worse, they tune out your channel as irrelevant. This is a huge missed opportunity. This doesn’t mean you have to sell, sell, sell, all the time on your channels, but your messaging should be consistent and timely. Personal posts should be outnumbered by business posts on your channels. Better yet, create a different personal account where you can interact with friends and family and use your front facing channels as professional avenues to have conversations with your audience.
- Not Responding to Comments/Not Building Dialogue
This is perhaps one of the biggest faux pas you can make on social media. Comments and interaction are referral business gold mines. When someone comments on your posting or channel, the algorithm behind who sees what are told to show that post to that person’s sphere of influence. You in essence have unlocked the gate to multiplying by X factor your audience by that person’s sphere. The phrase, all press is good press applies here. Even if someone didn’t appreciate something or had a sub-par experience with you or a member of your staff their audience is watching how you handle it. A gracious reply can engender respect with the total social audience and win you business in the future from the “silent” viewers of the conversation. In addition, on a social channel like Google My Business, Google actually requires you to comment and respond to every review or comment or you get dinged int he search algorithm. So get engaging and commenting!
- Selling too Much/Selling Not Enough
This is a fine fine line. Organic social channels have a stigma that people feel they shouldn’t be sold to when just perusing through their friends or business acquaintances social feeds. If you sell too much on your social platform you can come across like the friend who’s into multi-level marketing or has a “great new idea” they’d like to share. Don’t be that friend! To help your business, show value and talk about things of value to your audience on your channels. This could be re-posting relevant articles from reputable sources in fields pertaining to your business or sharing insights from your day to day that other business professionals can relate to. These are the key ways to build your platform, attain thought leadership and prime the pump for when you do have something to sell or promote on your channels. It’s much easier to slip in a post about a webinar or offer you have if your audience has become accustomed to the types of value you bring after seeing you post consistently over time.
If you have questions about social media, paid ads, email marketing, or digital marketing, reach out to me at john@bluecomet.media. I look forward to helping you reach your target customers more effectively in the digital space!
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