Common Social Media Mistakes Every Business Makes

We live in an age where social media is growing in popularity across the globe on a daily basis with more and more users registering with the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to name just a few. With such a large and engaged audience base that covers all corners of the globe, social media opens up many opportunities for businesses looking to connect, interact and engage with their customers as well as reach out to new customers instantly.

The growth in social media marketing/advertising is further proof of how social media is helping businesses explore new markets and develop new products or services for their customers. For example, Facebook’s reported global revenue from advertising in 2015 totalled $17.08 billion U.S. dollars which shows how many businesses are dependent on the Facebook ads platform to market their businesses on a global scale.

With that being said, it is surprising to see the amount of businesses, whether based in the UK or overseas, that make common social media mistakes which limits the effectiveness of their social media marketing strategy. Read on to see how you can help businesses make the right choices when thinking social media and implementing the right types of strategies to ensure success.

One of the basic errors that many businesses make is creating a social media account on every platform, whether with Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat for example, because competitors have a profile on that social media platform. Without understating the benefits of having a social media account on a particular platform, a business cannot leverage the platform to their full capabilities.

Think about the types of customers that a business has, which platform are they most likely to visit and what content engages them; these are all considerations that a business should reflect upon before making a decision to create a profile on a particular social media platform. Once a business has this information, they can better judge the type of social media marketing strategy to pursue and the likely time and investment needed to do it successfully.

Many businesses mistakenly believe that having lots of content available on social media is the right way to engage with customers. However, having quality content is definitely the best way to make the most out of the opportunities that social media allows. For example, the goal of any content created for social media should be to create brand awareness and foster customer engagement. Social media allows businesses of all types and sizes to build relationships with customers and increase customer loyalty. The key thing to remember with content is to offer real value such as useful how to videos or targeted information that is relevant to the audience that is likely to consume the information.

As mentioned above, many businesses fail to recognise that social media allows them to reach out and converse with their customers. One of the most effective ways to do this is by responding to comments, as they form the beginning of any dialogue between the business and their customers.
A recent study found that 90% of social media comments sent to brands are ignored. In addition, customers expect a response to their comments within 4 hours but the average is 10 hours. For a society and customer base that is increasingly active on social media, this does not reflect well on many businesses. To remedy this, many businesses should respond quickly and decisively to comments, whether negative or positive, to strengthen their relationship with customers.

While social media is a great medium for connecting with customers, many businesses often perceive social media to be a purely marketing function. However, social media is critically important to almost every aspect of a business. For example, it helps to manage relationships with customers, promote products or services, provide customer service and also acts as a market research tool. As a result, it is important that businesses understand the value that social media brings to every area of their business and should not be deemed as the responsibility of the marketing function alone.

It is very evident that social media should be an integral part of a business’s overall strategy. Yet, many businesses are failing to recognise the importance and wide reaching implications of a well thought out content strategy which can have substantial benefits in all areas. Utilising social media in the right way, with value driven content as well as high engagement between the business and its customers can be the key to leveraging social media for every business.

To find out how you can help businesses leverage social media and ensure it is a key component of their mobile application contact us today.