With the rise in prominence of social media as an essential element of small-business marketing, many are rushing to get their campaigns up and running. While there’s no time to waste in capitalizing on the far-reaching impact of social media marketing, it’s important to make sure your efforts are not in vain. In the same way social media can help your business soar, it can also serve as a double-edged sword. If you are new to the game or getting ready to launch your small business on social media, make sure to avoid these five common mistakes.
Launching Without a Plan
While social media marketing has the potential to take your business to new heights, it’s not quite as simple as signing up for the popular platforms and posting and Tweeting at will. Without a clearly defined plan of action you are doomed, so be sure to sit down to determine important factors before you go off half-cocked. A few questions you should be asking yourself: who is your audience, how do you plan to reach them, and who is going to be in charge of managing and maintaining your campaign?
Failing to be Consistent
Whether you are gaining exposure for your law practice or trying to sell classroom furniture, if you enter social media you need to update frequently. Few things can undermine your efforts more than failing to follow through and post consistently. Internet marketing can trump conventional advertising in terms of economics and sustainability, but you will never see the fruits of your efforts if you don’t maintain.
Offering Inane Commentary
Never just repost well-tread material or make one-off comments without context to your brand message. What drives social media success is and will always be original content that’s insightful, informative, and entertaining.
Not Treating it Like a Discussion
A common mistake by those new to social media is failing to understanding it’s a two-way street. Unlike other methods of advertising, sending a message via social media is entering into an ongoing discussion. If you don’t take the time to respond to comments and monitor the conversation, it can quickly go in directions that are damaging to your image.
Ignoring Analysis
It’s important to discover the ways and means to analyze the effectiveness of your message. By understanding which of your efforts are having the most impact and learning more about whom your audience is you can revise your strategy for maximum effectiveness.
Social media is universally thought of as a good thing for small businesses to get their message to the masses. But as much as it can help you boost traffic and revenues, one wrong move will undermine all of your hard work.
Take the time to understand your goals, streamline your logistics, and revise your strategy, and over the long haul you will reap the rewards.
Byline: Michael is an aspiring writer and blogger who currently works for a company that sells classroom furniture. He has passions in all corners of the online world. In his down time he enjoys being outdoors, traveling, and blogging on everything from technology, to business, to marketing, and beyond.
