Social media is one of the most effective ways to market your business. However, many businesses have developed, or even started with, bad habits. These bad habits can prevent you from maximizing the benefits that come from marketing your business through social networks.
Having a successful social media marketing strategy is something that takes plenty of time and effort. But it is difficult to be a champion for your business if you find that you are developing any of these three bad habits:
You focus too much on numbers
Back when businesses first began using sites like Facebook to market their business, the number one focus was to get as many €likes€ as possible. It was believed that a large number of followers would translate into more sales for the business.
But it has become pretty clear that that is not really the case for most businesses.
When your only focus is on growing the number of people who have liked your Facebook page or started following you on Twitter, you are setting yourself up for failure. Today's social media user is much more interested in quality than quantity.
Social media is a way to make contacts and build loyalty with the people who follow and support your brand. Make an effort to create lasting relationships with your fans by engaging and interacting with them online just as you would in person.
You are only concerned with yourself
Sure, we all want to use social channels to get our own messages across. However, in the world of social networking, sharing other people's work is one of the best ways to give your audience what they want.
There is a vast amount of information available to share with your followers, and it doesn't all have to be created by your business. Find other influencers in your industry who are putting out helpful and valuable content that your audience would want to read.
Re-tweet articles that you have found interesting. Share information about your favorite products from other brands. Link to other blog posts that are relevant to your business.
Encourage your audience to share their own content with you, whether it's written content, a short video testimonial about your brand or just a photograph of them using your products.
Social media is not just about what you, as a brand, want to put out there for your audience. It is about finding ways to connect with them and bring them information that they will be able to use.
You abuse the hashtag
We all see it on Twitter and Facebook- a person who tries to cram as many hashtags as possible into one post. A lot of times, those hashtags are not even relevant to what the post is about. Sometimes, the post is nothing but a long stream of them put together.
Nothing makes a follower more annoyed than not being able to glean anything valuable from something you post.
Remember, you are taking up valuable space on their News and Twitter feeds. Don't clutter them up with gibberish. Be considerate and only include one or two hashtags that make sense with what you are posting.
Connecting with followers through social media is one of the best ways to build loyalty to your brand. It is not always about making sales, but creating relationships with the people who want to support you.
Are you guilty of any of these social media bad habits?