Think back just a few years; it’s hard to believe we’ve come so far in the landscape of search and social media. It wasn’t 
that long ago that we didn’t have the option to use a mobile to share video with everyone in our network, or check into our favorite restaurant to let people know what we love.
Thanks to social media marketing, and the widespread adaptation of social networks, our world is forever changing into a more globally connected entity where even small businesses can find growth in order to thrive.
Gaining from Social Media Marketing
If you’re trying to develop brand visibility, drive traffic through a sales funnel, improve your customer base, bring back existing customers, etc. then it’s no surprise that one of the best ways to do that is to utilize social media marketing. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses jump in without a plan, headfirst, and wind up with a splitting headache over the results.
When you dive blindly into those choppy waters, it’s easy to get lost and hurt your business. You wander around, fumbling to find your way, and ultimately cannot maximize your exposure and business like you originally hoped. You can avoid this though by reviewing some common mistakes in social media marketing, and hopefully learning from them.
Mistake #1 – Social media marketing without a plan of attack
For goals to be reached, you need a plan of action. This applies to your social media marketing as well. Before you launch a new campaign into the social web, create an outline that details the process, goals, etc.
- What is your purpose behind social media marketing
- What is your ideal outcome
- Who are you targeting
- How will you connect with your audience
- How does your social media marketing integrate with other marketing strategies
- Who’s in charge of the content marketing in social media
- How do you track success
Go at it without an outline and you won’t know what works, what doesn’t, or what you should be saying. Social media is not a sounding board for whatever comes to mind. Like all other forms of marketing, it requires a clear strategy.
Mistake #2 – Social Media Marketing without Promotion
Listen to people long enough or read enough of our posts and you’ll regularly see the message that you need to do less promotion and more sharing. This is true to a point, but you do need some kind of promotion. Some call to action. Otherwise you’re just kicked back, sharing interesting content, and you’re not giving people any reason to do business with you. What do you want people to do after they share something from you, or read something you’ve posted through social media? What do you want your followers to do? What’s the ideal course of action? Promote it.
Mistake #3 – Lacking Consistency in Social Media Marketing
A lack of consistency makes a business look like its doors are closed. It’s disappointing to check into an interesting brand only to discover that they’re not doing anything outside of automation – if they’re even doing that – on their Facebook page.
If you’re going to leverage social media for marketing and outreach, then set up a consistent schedule to post content, share the content of members, start conversations, reply and engage your audience.
In all you do, remember that your primary focus with social media marketing is to build relationships with your audience. As you build relationships, the links will come, as will the sharing. It creates a snowball effect when implemented and managed properly, and effectively supplements your efforts with SEO in Tulsa.
