There are more than 2.206 billion active social media users worldwide, according to an article published at The Offbeat Story. No wonder, social media marketing is so crucial for ecommerce businesses looking to drive traffic, generate leads and boost conversions in 2017 and beyond.
But with a large number of giant corporations and large enterprises dotting the world of social networking, it has become challenging for small ecommerce businesses to level the playing field. Due to the fierce than ever competition on the social media turf, even a minute mistake can prove dearly to businesses, especially to small ecommerce companies.
It gets worse – a large number of ecommerce companies supposedly have reported huge losses due to petty mistakes in their social media marketing mix. Owing to the fact that even smaller mistakes in social media marketing can cost heavily, it makes sense for ecommerce companies to get acquainted to the common marketing mistakes and refrain from their when promoting their brand.
In order to help you avoid such grim errors when using social media to market your ecommerce brand, here we present to you 5 such social media marketing mistakes that you must avoid to stay ahead of the curve in 2017 and beyond.
- Marketing without a Plan – Many ecommerce businesses make the mistake of diving into the world of social media without a sound plan in hand. Remember, it’s important to carefully consider results that you expect to achieve and the activities that intend to include in your social media marketing mix. Without a sound marketing plan, you wouldn’t be able to attract your ideal customers because you wouldn’t know who they are and what they actually want. An elaborate and well-thought of social media plan brings in clarity, transparency and a sense of direction. So if you’re at the helm of marketing your ecommerce business on social media, do well to plan what values do you want your audiences to perceive for your business and how exactly are you going to portray your business and brand.
- Posting Unappealing Content – This too is a common mistake most of the marketers make while promoting on social media. People look for fresh information that they want to be delivered in an appealing way. Therefore you must create and post engaging and informative content. Such content must solve your customers’ problems in using your products and should educate them on various aspects of your business and industry. It makes sense to carefully select an efficient and worthy CDN (Content Delivery Network) to provide social media audiences with regular dose of entertaining and engaging content. Remember, Out of the top 2,000 e-commerce companies in the USA, 45% American ecommerce sites use an effective CDN.
- Not Paying Attention to Complaints – Yet another common mistake made by many ecommerce businesses is that they tend to ignore complaints filed by their consumers on their social media channels. According to a report by Shankman 24% unhappy consumers turn to social media to talk about their experience. So, leaving complaints and comments unattended can prove be fatal for your ecommerce business. It makes sense to know that when people complain, they are actually giving valuable feedback. If you do not answer promptly, they may leave you forever. Moreover, these dissatisfied customers may also leave negative reviews related to your products or services, which results in a negative brand image of your ecommerce business.
- Trying to Appease Everyone – Another common mistake is to promote products to everyone on social media. The right approach is to target your specific set of consumers. Therefore, research your niche markets and its consumers you need to target in order to promote your products or services. You can find out your consumers by selecting the ones who ‘Like’ or become your ‘Followers’ on social channels. Then, start promoting your brand to them only.
- Reaching Out at Wrong Time – The biggest challenge that most ecommerce marketers are faced with today is getting a word out about their brands to the people who are most likely to become actual paying customers. In fact, social media marketing is all about getting the right message to the right people at the right time. But it is important to understand that every social media website has its own best and worst days to share an update or make a post. For example, weekends and non-business hours remain the worst time to post on LinkedIn. Similarly, Mondays and off-business hours are the worst time to reach out to instagram audiences and Weekends are the worst time to post on Twitter and Facebook. Remember, users on social media use different sites during different hours. Therefore, post your content when your users are available on your intended sites in order to maximize your reach and engagement.
Over to You!
We know it takes hard work to become one of the most loved brands on social media. But now that you know the common mistakes that you must avoid when marketing your ecommerce business on social media, we’re sure that your hard work is going to pay off.