Congratulations. Six months ago you joined the Social Media Revolution after procrastinating for a long time. You realised that if you didn’t get started, your business would suffer considerably and you’d be left behind. So, for the past six months you’ve been busily posting, tweeting, and generally engaging on social media platforms. It’s taken you time and effort.
And right now, your gut feeling is that all your efforts haven’t had much impact on your business at all. You sense that there is more potential for actually increasing sales, but you just can’t nail it.
Well, don’t despair. You’re not alone! This is a typical scenario for many businesses, embarking on social media marketing for the first time and they are making some common mistakes.
Here are some:
* Using old methodology with new technology
* Getting started without a strategy
* Spreading yourself too thinly on too many platforms
* Failing to engage on a regular basis
* Not being social enough – broadcasting – forgetting the “social” aspect
* Getting too social & forgetting about your business focus
* Abandoning traditional media & not taking an integrated approach
* Not producing engaging content – (content based marketing and storytelling)
These are all common reasons why some businesses are simply not getting results.
We must understand that it’s as much about the psychology of human behaviour online, than anything else.
For example, there are four reasons why people share content online: (i) To make their life easier (ii) To show their expertise (iii) To help others and (iv) For emotional reasons. You should pay attention to these when you are creating content, if you want it to be shared!
Added to this, is the notion that customer experience is important online! Check out: http://www.zappos.com for an example of high-end social media enabled customer service!
The biggest take-away you should embrace, (if nothing else), is that your engagement on social media is all about your customers/followers and NOT about you!
Recommendation: If you don’t want to make these costly mistakes and you want results that count, then it’s probably worthwhile to invest in some basic social media training!
Where will your business be this time next year? Will you be crying: “Show me the money!”? Or will you be gleefully rubbing your hands together, muttering: “Show me more!”?
Suzanne Kiraly (Digital Consultant, Business Storyteller & Social
Media Trainer.) [email protected]