Social Media for Business – You’re Doing It All Wrong
Being active on social media is essential to the success of every small business. Everyone is connected through social media networks. It is through social media that people tend to discover the hottest and latest trends. If you don’t have followers, you’re not connecting with your customers and your audience and you’re being left behind. Although many businesses know this and try to engage with customers via social media platforms, they’re doing it all wrong. Social media for business is not about simply signing up with a social network, but it is about using it effectively to promote your brand. Here are some of the common mistakes businesses make when using social media for business:
Build it and They Will Come
Every business starts off with the intention of effectively marketing their business through social media. However, so many Facebook pages and Twitter accounts become completely dormant after some time because there are no followers to engage with. This mistake often happens because businesses feel that customers will just automatically follow them on Twitter and/or like them on Facebook. If you’re a small business, chances are you’re going to have to put in the work for your social media audience – they won’t simply come to you.
Not Being Social
They’re called social media networks for a reason and interacting with others is one of the most important aspects of using social media for business. When it comes to Twitter, it’s safe to say that between 5-10 tweets per day are a decent amount. Not only should your business be tweeting regularly, but retweeting and commenting on tweets are great ways to engage with your customers. If you have a Facebook page (which you should), posting regularly and commenting on posts are excellent ways to communicate with your Facebook fans.
Focusing on Quantity, Not Quality
Of course it is impressive to see a Facebook page or a Twitter account with thousands, or even millions of fans. But what if those fans aren’t really interested in what your business is all about? It is important to ignore the quantity of followers and focus more on gaining followers who are actually interested in your brand.
Failing to Look Professional
When it comes to social media marketing for small business, setting up a profile is obviously the first step. However, if your business fails to look professional, people aren’t going to take your brand seriously. Pay attention to small details such as making sure your logos fit properly in the profile image area, posting only high-quality images for banners and backgrounds, etc., all contribute to a professional social media presence. In addition to images and graphics, using proper grammar and punctuation cannot be overlooked. Just because you’re posting something quickly from a smartphone, doesn’t mean it’s okay to make spelling mistakes and typos.
Billions of people around the world are active on social media – it’s been an absolutely gigantic movement, yet businesses still fail to utilize these platforms to their full advantage. Social media marketing is one of the biggest players in the marketing game and it is crucial that you avoid certain mistakes when jumping into the social media marketing scene. Social media is here to stay and it is important to hone your marketing skills in this area if you want to keep up with the competition.
