Getting your social media strategy right can be a long and arduous task, the majority of the time, relying on trial and error to create that perfect post that eventually goes viral. That’s the dream right?
Though many companies make quite a lot of mistakes with their social media strategy, especially when starting out and these can be costly in the long term, alienating potential customers.
Social media 101 – give your audience what they want. Easier said than done, for one, how do you know what they want? How do you know if the followers you have are even relevant to your social media strategy?
Let’s take a look at five ways that companies get their social media activity wrong and how we can help you to leverage this back in your favour.
Posting to sell immediately
There is nothing worse than accepting an invitation to follow a company’s social media page and then being spammed with the products and services that they provide. Unless you happen to get lucky and find that one person who wants what you sell straight away (a rarity) you are going to have to use social media as a way of building up relationships first, which then leads to trust.
Not giving any value
Making sales should be the last thing on your mind when you are engaging via social media. The biggest thing that you need to focus on is providing as much up front value as you possibly can to your potential customers. Essentially, you need to build up a raving fanbase. People who will go out to bat for you, understand what you do, have your back and ultimately sell your products and services themselves.
By creating or sharing content that can actually make a difference to your audience, you are well on your way to positioning your business as an authority. Offering value is the first way of doing this, while it also helps to build the relationships that help to drive your business forward.
While education is one of the primary examples of value, striking the right balance and showing your audience that you don’t take yourself too seriously as a business will also help, so funny posts with some levity associated can go a long way to combating this.
Targeting the wrong people
In a bid to get as many followers as possible, some businesses invite anyone to like their page, who aren’t necessarily the best fit. Furthermore, some actually pay for likes by making the targeting option too wide.
Every business page on Facebook for example, allows you to ‘promote’ your page by spending a certain budget to get in front of people by way of a sponsored post. It is thought that the cheapest likes come from less economically developed countries (LEDCs) such as Indonesia or the Philippines, which have little to no value on your business and can harm your brand long term.
Electing not to hire a specialist
If you are serious about getting your social media strategy right, you should invest in a specialist who has a track record of implementing successful campaigns and using this to help a business grow over particular length of time.
While some small business owners don’t like to relinquish control or perhaps spend what they think is unnecessarily, having someone who knows what they are doing can work wonders,
Not making the most of Free Competitions
The great thing about social media, particularly Facebook, is that it is a great platform to push free competitions to your audience.
This is one way of providing value and is considered one of the most ethical, quick wins as a way of connecting with your community and creating almost instant fans.
Thanks to the Snizl platform, you can create competitions easily and seamlessly share them via social media. The best bit? This is a great way to ramp up your followers, because everyone who follows and shares your competitions, receive two more entries!
Even better, we are offering a month’s free non-obligatory trial for businesses, so why not get started today and start growing your following?!