Social media is a great tool for every business to use and allows huge potential to build your brand awareness. Of course, it’s not enough to just ‘be on it’, you have to actually spend time there. This isn’t as simple as just posting an update from time to time or sharing the occasional product or service.
We often hear businesses saying “social media doesn’t work and there’s no point investing either time or money in it”. In actual fact, many brands don’t get the results from social media that they could be getting because they’re not using the platforms in the right way for their business. And it doesn’t only happen with new brands; even some brands with established, loyal audiences fall down at creating strong social profiles that their audience love to engage with.
We’ve put together five social media mistakes that we have seen happen and how you can avoid them so you can finally gain from the benefits of using social platforms.
Having No Social Media Plan
That is the first and one of the biggest mistakes that businesses make. It is vital to have a social media plan, keeping in mind the strategy for what you want to achieve. Are you looking to create brand awareness? Is your ultimate goal to drive traffic to your website? Is increasing sales the most important thing for you?
When you don’t have a plan, it means that the content you are posting is potentially not relevant for achieving your goals and is probably not going to be the best use of your time and effort. Establish your goals, create relevant content and stick to the plan.
Not Using Original Images and Videos
Social media statistics in 2020 show that there are about 3.6 billion people using social media worldwide, and this number will only be growing! It can be daunting trying to stand out in a crowd that size, but one way you won’t do it is by using the same images as everybody else. When you use free images or those available on stock imagery websites, you risk becoming lost in the crowd, as the same content won’t grab the attention of your potential customers. Strong visuals are the first thing that people notice on social media.
If you do need to use stock photos or videos, customising and personalising them to fit in with your branding and mixing them with your own images is the best way to still make your posts stand out in the crowd. Ideally, though, you will create your own images of your work, team members and products. It’s not always easy to get high-quality images yourself, though, which is why, at Big Reach Marketing, we have recently started doing this where we can for our clients. We are now trying to create unique content for our customers by taking photos of the products ourselves, where possible.
No Regular Content
Can you remember the last time you posted something on your business’ social media accounts? If the answer is more than a week ago or you’re struggling to remember, this could be another mistake that you’re making. Regular content gives your followers a reason to check in on your profile and, if your posts keep popping up on their feed, they can’t forget about you. Keep people interested in you brand, services and products with varied and interesting consistent posts. This will not only increase your brand awareness but allow you to reach a wider audience when your followers like, share and comment on your posts.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you need to spam your audience with several posts a day either. Every social media platform is different and every brand is different; unfortunately there is no posting frequency golden rule that would fit all businesses. It’s a very personal thing for each brand and requires some testing and researching. If you need help finding the right social media accounts for your business and knowing the recommended amount of posting you should be doing on each platform, speak to our social media experts.
No Engagement With The Audience
When you respond to the comments or questions under your posts, it shows that you care about your audience. By replying and reacting swiftly and with care, you let your followers know that you are willing to take the time to help them with their queries. Even if there is no question but simply a nice comment, it will make them feel special and noticed if you comment, like or even just respond with an emoji. Even if the comments you are replying to are from past customers or somebody who has no intention of buying your products or services, showing an eagerness in engaging with your audience will be seen as positive by everybody else reading your post’s comments. And people do like to read comments. If you look good by replying, it may drive your potential customers to check out your products or services.
Not Measuring Results
To some, an increase in social account followers is seen as an effective social media campaign. Although this can be an indication of success, it should by no means be the only target. Increased reach and engagement are other great identifiers of a constructive campaign. Having good reach means that more people, who are not necessarily already aware of your brand, products or services, are seeing your posts. When people are engaging with your content, this is a very clear indication that your marketing campaign is working.
In general, businesses need to check the results of your social campaigns constantly to determine whether what you are doing on each of your platforms is giving you positive results. And if they’re not, measuring this activity can help you to understand what adjustments are needed and what you could do differently!
These common mistakes on social media campaigns are only a few that we have seen, but they are some of the biggest. Remember that your social media accounts may be the first touchpoint for potential customers, so make sure that you are creating a great first impression. The content they see or experience they get from you may have a positive or negative impact on their decision to check out your products or services.
A great social media strategy starts with understanding your business and marketing goals. We can build an intelligent campaign based on research and the latest data to ensure you achieve maximum results with your social media. Interested? Contact us to get help with your social media campaign!
