5 Dumb Blunders to Avoid When Promoting Your Business With Social Media Marketing
Learn these 6 social media blunders from our hard earned experience...
Blunder #1. Lack of planning, seriously
Like everything in today’s business world, social media is constantly evolving and changing and with it so is the way in which we market. Like any successful military campaign, you must have a plan in place with clear objectives, goals and tactics.
Too often I have seen small family businesses launch into a social media campaign with no plan, but all the enthusiasm in the world, only to find months later that their energy has waned because the results they were after never transpired.
Blunder #2. Expecting instant sales
I know this one is obvious, but I too have become frustrated with the lack of apparent sales that appear to have derived from social media. What is important to understand is the concept of a ‘sales pipeline’, where we are nurturing the customer along, in order to bring them to the point where they are ready to buy.
Here's an interesting fact; Out of 100 people that come to your website or view your content, only 3 will be ready to buy, 23 will be comparing options and 75 will be looking for information.
Blunder #3. Don’t take on what you can’t handle.
Put simply, if you don’t have the resources to regularly maintain a social media page or the budget to hire a consultant, then just wait until you can. Start small, experiment with Facebook a bit and remember that no online page at all is better than a page with no activity.
Blunder #4. Lack of authenticity.
This one links to blunder #2, remember the main reason your customers go on social media is to be entertained, generate curiosity, show what makes your company different, gives them a reason to connect and show that we are New Zealanders just like you. Your social media pages should reflect this, people buy from people at the end of the day.
Authenticity and a strong sense of being genuine will stand out as one of the most attractive traits.
Blunder #5. Situational awareness.
Let’s say you are already a market leader in a certain industry, it goes without saying that you have a certain authority on that topic with whatever to post on social media. For example; any Structural engineer's online comments/opinions on the recent bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy would be well respected and acknowledged.
Say an issue comes up, be aware of the situation and don’t undermine yourself and your company’s reputation by post something insensitive, controversial or arrogant.
Know your stuff, do your research before posting and be ready to back yourself with your comments. By demonstrating this on social media, you can further leverage your online reputation and influence.
Ensure you connect with your followers in a genuine, empathetic, human way as much as you can. Un-surprisingly this will go a long way with followers who will recognise your intentions and choose you over your competition. This also is another clever way to compete with big global brands who have a much bigger marketing budget than you do.
There is no one ‘right’ way to promote yourself on social media, you may have noticed the thousands of blogs out there saying do this, do that; buy this, buy that. At Admore, we feel your pain, we don’t have all the answers yet but we look at social media from a sales focused business approach, we cut out all the jargon and focus on getting results.
We want you to have a phenomenal year!
So do you need help to avoid these blunders?
Take advantage of our free half-hour social media audit - (worth $250.00)
Contact us on www.admore.co.nz or let's have a chat 021 228 4297
Best Regards
Craig Kelly