One of the best outlets to promote small businesses in a cost effective manner is Social Media. Social Media has gained traction as a customer service channel, and thus it is unaffordable for small businesses to ignore their social strategy. 10 Social Media mistakes these businesses should avoid while refining the strategy are:
You would surely not watch one Youtube video on repeat all day, would you? Well, your readers too would expect more variety on their newsfeeds or timelines. No more are consumers limited to frequenting only one social platform and they’d sure despise going through the same post on different platforms all the time. It is important that you ensure that the content you post on each social media site is varied and you do not come across as a repetitive business with limited ideas.
While it is the most convenient thing to do, it is also the biggest blunder you’d make. It is important not to mix your personal and business accounts and this mistake even biggies in the industry tend to make. A new account is worth the effort you put in as it will not only help you come across as credible but will also provide your organization with appropriate branding to help readers find out about your business.
Another social media mistake which turns down your credibility and even potential partners and clients is having people follow you but never following back in return. You must ensure you follow your business associates, clients or fellow thought leaders and may even share their content. Not only will you come across as well connected and collaborative but it will also help expand your audience and keep readers engaged.
Don’t you hate when people don’t respond do you text? Best not to make this social media mistake. Your customers would need to check on your credibility before believing in your business and for that they’d engage with you. It is essential that you be responsive or the lack of engagement with your audience may make your business seem dormant, uninterested or simply turn away customers to business with quicker response time. Also, besides being prompt, remember you’re speaking for your business and must be polite.
When you post too frequently, your followers may begin to see their timelines as having been spammed with your posts. When the post frequency is too low, there is chance that your audience has forgotten of your existence. There is a very thin line between too much or too little. While experimenting is a good way to check what provides maximum engagement, you must keep track of your social media stats for your future promotion strategy.
A mistake most businesses do is to make social media profiles on all platforms at once and try to master them all overnight. Every platform functions differently and it is best you take your time to first understand a platform, gain engagement on it and test what content strategy works best and then move to the next. Also, not all platforms are for every business. If one platform tends to not perform for your business despite many attempts, move to another without spending further time or resources on it.
When do you binge-watch an entire series? Simple, when it is worth your time. Similarly, your content or other social media posts should be worthwhile and should have exclusivity to them to engage your followers. This uniqueness would help build their trust on you and will gain you loyal followers and potential customers.
Every business takes time to flourish. Similarly, you’d need patience to see your social media strategy succeed. Millions of followers will not happen overnight. You must keep calm and build your audience over a few months before expecting a miracle to happen for your business.
The market is flooded with subscription tools and to maintain your social media platforms manually makes little sense. Tools like Stencil and Canva create wonderful imagery whereas Hootsuite and Buffer help to schedule posts. A great tool for resharing is Hiplay. Again, not all tools work for all business. You need to experiment with a few and then settle with the ones which work best for you.
While social media may bring substantial sales, if all your posts are selling something or the other, your follower may get bored of the sale sentiment associated to your business. Lure them to make the purchase by posting content that makes them stay interested in what your business has to offer.
The only way to build your social media kingdom is to respond to the audience’s performance and engagement. It is essential also to be fun and creative to keep the engagement intact. With these social media mistakes avoided, lesser time would bear more fruit for your social media strategy.