More and more businesses are using social media in their marketing strategies. Like anything new, getting it right is part of the learning process, and so is getting it wrong. Luckily, we can all learn from mistakes.
Below is a list of common mistakes made in social media strategies, or what not to do:
1. Take time to set up a profile then neglect it
– You set up a Facebook page or Linked-In profile as a place where your customers could find information and interact. Hooray for you! However, if you don’t visit it often, post information, and interact, what good does it do you?
2. Ignore your customers
– You didn’t do it on purpose, but somehow you just didn’t see the request or question or call for help tweeted or posted by one (or more!) of your followers. If you’re not paying attention, your customers will very likely assume that you don’t care. Is that what you really want?
3. Allow only your marketing people to represent your company
– Big mistake! Don’t assume that only marketing employees will know how to successfully tweet or post to get your word out there. Think about it: the more of your employees you involve in updating and posting, the more often you’ll get your message out there. This includes non-marketing people. All hands on deck!
4. Allow social media content to be published only after every word has been reviewed and approved by management
– Wrong again! To make social media channels work best for you, the idea is to be quick and prolific. You may want to circulate some basic guidelines and ask your employees to use common sense at all times, but by all means, encourage the spontaneous updates!
5. Discourage discussion
– One of the very best ways to get your content seen is to ask questions that encourage discussion. The more discussion, the more you are out there being seen, thought about, and talked about. Isn’t that what you want? Be sure that with every resource published, you are also asking your customers what they think of it.
6. Give up after only a few weeks
– Networking takes time. Just as it may take a while to create and solidify face-to-face relationships with customers, relationships through social media channels need nurturing and time as well. Stay committed, and your social network community will grow to where you want it to grow.
This is a guest post by Kaushal Gandhi, you can check out the guidelines to guest post here.
Image Credit: Social Media VA
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