Social media is one of the most powerful marketing platforms today. It provides unlimited reach that allows you to access your audience directly. You can even promote content, product info, and promos with an exposure that can rival what TV advertisements offer. It’s almost like a free flowing marketing tool that allows you to reach your market anytime, anywhere.
However, a lot of marketers commit costly mistakes when using this tool. In this two-part series, we’ll look at social media blunders you need to avoid. Today, we’ll tackle the marketing side then next week we’ll shift gears to customer service. Are you ready to find out your social media marketing mishaps? Here are some of them:
Lack of Strategy
Just because things look pretty easy with social media doesn’t mean it’s automatically effective. Lack of strategy can result in mixed messages, inconsistent content, and a misleading brand identity. Having a marketing strategy will help you set specific goals, attainable steps, and measurable results. Social media is the leading tactic used by content marketers, affirming its effectiveness. You may create good content but if you lack strategy you might end up receiving minimal engagement. However, when you combine it with a laser-focused campaign your content can turn from good to outstanding.
Copying Without Curating
There’s nothing wrong with copying another brand’s social media effort provided you carefully studied it before executing it. What works for one brand may not work for another. Replicating a campaign can be costly if it’s not consistent with your brand persona. There’s no guarantee that rehashing Oreo’s brilliant tweets and Samsung’s record-breaking Oscar selfie will be as effective for you as it was for them. You need to find your own voice and incorporate it if you want to copy a certain campaign.
Incomplete Profile
Social media is probably the best way for your customers to know you. You may have been consistent in posting content but if your social media profile is incomplete then your credibility may be put into question. Make sure that your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other social media accounts provide a consistent and accurate description of who you are and what you stand for. Your clients will check out your profile at some point. Make sure that it’s written in a professional and clever manner so that it will impress not only your target market but also your colleagues in the industry.
Not Tying Digital Platforms Together
Social media is just one aspect of digital marketing. Your website, email, mobile marketing, and other channels are part of your brand’s digital ecosystem. A lot of companies fall into the trap of focusing on a few channels and neglecting the rest. Some replicate the campaigns across all platforms without realizing that you have a different audience for each channel. You need to tie all these digital avenues together and create a unified strategy that fits the profile of each platform. From content to distribution, there must be a clear direction that steers all your online marketing efforts.
Inability to Measure Social Media Effectiveness
It’s absolutely necessary that your social media efforts are measurable because these figures dictate the effectiveness of your campaign. Knowing the number of likes and shares isn’t enough. You need to be able to track if your post prompted them to “click through” your site and respond to your call to action. This can be challenging. In fact, 52% of marketers admit that accurately measuring the ROI is their biggest frustration in social media. You need to use both social and business metrics to see if the engagement you see translates to sales and brand affinity.
These social media mistakes can be corrected and that’s all that really matters. Knowing what you did wrong and finding a way to make things right will put you back on track in your social media marketing. So go back to the drawing board, get those heads together, and come up with a focused strategy that will reinforce your brand identity, reignite customer engagement, and realign your social media voice across all channels.
About Pepper Social Media
Pepper Social Media is an online marketing firm that specializes on social media management, content marketing, SEO, PPC, social media marketing, copywriting, and targeted blogging. Our creative team consists of experienced marketing strategists who can fortify your brand identity and amplify your reach.
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