There is no doubt that social media platforms today, when used properly, have a huge potential to provide businesses with an opportunity to increase:
· The reach of their posts· Traffic to their websites· Quality leads from different social platforms · Conversion of social followers into their loyal customers· Sales volumes and · Business growth. However, the key here is to use these platforms properly and avoid the common mistakes that businesses and marketers often make. This will ensure that there is no damage done to the reputation of your brand and make the best of everything that social media has to offer to get the most out of it.The most significant mistake businesses make is to try to be present on all of the social media networks available at once. Research says that most of the companies want to be present and rely on at least three to four social networks for branding from the following list:· Facebook· Twitter· LinkedIn· YouTube and · Instagram.This is the wrong approach. Ideally, you should use only those platforms that are suitable for your brand and specific industry and that two only a couple of it. For example, if your site relies heavily on images and graphics, use sites like Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest. are ideal. On the other hand, if your site gives professional advice, use Twitter and LinkedIn is your best bet.
Not Defining Goals and Audience
Just like you should choose networks based on the time you spend most on it, you must also define your goals and audience to yield the highest ROIs from your social media marketing campaigns and your target audience.Clear and well-defined goals and the audience will help you to:· Make proper analysis· Find simple ways to build your social profile· Establish your authority on social media and· Meet the needs of the search engine algorithms.All these will ensure that your social media marketing attracts more social followers and drives them towards your site to generate sizable traffic. However, it is not easy to know who your audience is. You can overcome this challenge and set up your marketing strategy and goals by asking a few questions to you such as who are the ones that you made the products for? It could anyone from:· The adults· The adolescents· Men and to · Women.When you know your target audience, it will be easy for you to determine the kind of results they expect from you and design the ideal social media campaign.This will also help you to set and work around specific parameters to achieve your goals and set up the varied KPIs.Make it a point to be more specific in your approach so that you get a higher engagement rate, create more brand awareness and drive more traffic to your website.Not having a Plan to Measure KPIs
Most marketers and businesses do not have a proper marketing plan in place and do not measure the KPIs either. Without a proper plan to follow, social media marketing will be a huge waste of time. A proper plan will enable you to:· Create a strategy to design your content that will resonate with your target audience · Set specific goals making it easy to achieve and know what to expect· Allocate proper budgets and outline.In short, your plan will help you to know what and how to accomplish your goals. In addition to that, it will, more importantly, help you to measure results, the KPIs as well as the resources that you will need to use.It will also prevent you from measuring the wrong KPIs, another common mistake made by businesses during social media marketing. You should not fall into the trap like them and measure the vanity metrics only and restrict it to the number of your fans on Facebook or followers for Instagramand Twitter and be happy if it is growing. Ideally, you must measure the impact of your social media efforts on your business and not simply on the growing numbers.Not Focusing on the Analytics
Overlooking the analytics is another a common mistake made by businesses which you should certainly; avoid getting more social traffic to your site. If you do not have any actionable insights, then there is no need to use social media for your business marketing efforts. Measuring the success of your social media marketing is nothing different from measuring the success of your email marketing campaigns and SEO.When you use the right data analytics software, you will not only be able to track and assess the performance metrics on social media but will also make the necessary amendments on the basis of the metrics provided by the platform as well as the external software, which you should ideally use. Tools like Google Analytics will help you to:· Ensure additional functionality· Track the shares· Analyze the traffic source to your site and even · The likelihood of them converting to leads and sales.There are a lot of different analytical tools that have very useful and innovative features that will also help you to measure and know:· The quality of your followers· The extent of the influence of your SMM· The popularity of your posts· The data required to help you in your future social media marketing efforts· The social KPIs and define them and · The demographic and engagement factors. All these will make your social marketing much simpler and your efforts more productive.Lacking in Brand Consistency
Lastly, you must be consistent and know the unique essence of your brand. This will help you and your SMM shine all through your efforts and content. This will help you to create and sustain a powerful brand authority. Just know that consistency does not mean monotony and therefore make sure that you do not use the same content over and over. Maintain variety, experiment with different formats, focus on your brand mission, voice, tone, look, feel and never copy the style and format of other brands.
Pete Campbell is a social media manager and has immense knowledge about email marketing and Instagram promotion. He delights his clients by helping them buy real Instagram likes as well as buy followers for Instagram. He loves to travel, write and play baseball.This post was proofread by Grammarly
