Putting together a social media strategy that gets a return on investment can be a real challenge. With never-ending ideas and strategies out there, it may seem like every ‘expert’ you talk to has a different opinion.
While it’s difficult to say exactly what strategies will work best for you without understanding your business goals and objectives, there are 4 tactics I often see companies use that may be holding them back from their full potential. If they look familiar to you, start digging deeper into your strategy: you may need a course correction.
1. Posting Too Infrequently
Infrequent or inconsistent social media usually indicates a haphazard strategy or lack of resources. You won't get significant results, and it could end up a waste of time. Social media is about building and maintaining relationships with people. It takes time and commitment. If you can’t commit to a consistent plan, it might be worth taking your marketing investment elsewhere.
2. Only Posting Product / Service Related Information
“Back in the day” companies used marketing to promote specific product or service advertisements. In today’s world of information overload, that strategy makes it really hard to differentiate from the competition.
People go through various decision-making stages when making a purchase: They need to have pain (something that is making them feel uncomfortable), understand what is causing it, and evaluate solutions to alleviate it. Only then, when they have all of that information, can they make a decision.
Today, more and more companies are using marketing to develop (and promote on social media) educational information surrounding their offerings. The goal is to help prospects along the buyer’s journey by providing the right information at the right time.
Unfortunately, companies without a clear social strategy still focus most of their efforts on promoting themselves. They miss the opportunity to engage prospects at various stages of their decision-making process.
3. Not Sharing High-Value Content from Other Sources
There’s a lot of really good information on the Internet that could be valuable to your target audience. Just because you didn’t create it, doesn’t mean you can’t share it. If you’re an aggregator of high-value content – no matter who wrote it – you'll build brand awareness, trust, and credibility with your followers.
4. Not Linking Back to Your Website
I've seen many social profiles that have fairly frequent posts, but they rarely link back to their company website. Not driving social media followers to the site is a missed opportunity to more deeply engage potential customers. Be sure to include a steady flow of posts that link back to your blog, landing pages, or other relevant web pages. Your analytics will tell you how much traffic you're getting from social media.
Avoiding these four mistakes can help set you on the path to a stronger social strategy that attracts potential customers, educates them at various stages of the buyer’s journey, and builds credibility and trust with your company.
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