While most businesses are now learning the power of social media marketing, they are still working hard to figure out what the best practices are. Unfortunately many of them are making common mistakes which end up hurting their business instead of growing it as they had hoped that it would. When you learn what these mistakes are, you can avoid them and propel your business to the top of the market over your competitors.
The first mistake is to leave your corporate branding out of your social media efforts. When you use your logo, corporate colors, tagline and other branding materials you help become familiar with them and as they grow trust they are more likely to buy from you. In fact using social media marketing to gain exposure for your brand is one of the most important things you can do for your business.
Another mistake is to use the right platforms. For example, people on LinkedIn are not going to be nearly as interested in your products if you sell youth apparel as someone on Facebook or Pinterest. On the other hand, people on Facebook or Tumblr are not going to be interested to talk about accounting products as those on LinkedIn are. Go to the social media sites that will have the highest amount of your target market for the best results.
Make sure the right person in charge of managing your social media marketing program. Many times businesses will leave this up to someone on staff such as the receptionist who has extra time on her hands. But marketing should be left up to professionals and unless your receptionist is cross trained in marketing the results are not going to be nearly as effective.
Creating a social media site and then rarely posting and never answering posts from potential customers or others is a big mistake. More people are starting to check out a business social media page than they are going to their actual websites. This means your social media site should get some sort of activity everyday with an emphasis on engaging with others and keeping conversations going.
When you make sure you have thoroughly branded your social media profiles, are focusing on the right ones for your target market, with the right person in charge and the right amount of activity you will notice positive consequences. Not only will your presence online become more robust, but it will translate into more sales.
