The Common Pitfalls of Social Media

It’s no secret that social media is becoming an increasingly invaluable marketing tool for businesses. Facebook alone has over 900 million active users worldwide – that’s a lot of potential customers. As well as building brand awareness, social media is brilliant for increasing website traffic and search engine optimisation. So we all agree that social media is great but not everyone gets it right. Here are our top 5 social media pitfalls and how to avoid them.

1. Don’t Overlook Creating a Strategy for Social Media

As with every aspect of marketing, planning is key when it comes to social media. Think about what you want your social media to achieve and create a structured plan. This will help you decide which social media channels you want to use (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Flickr, – they’re not all the same), who will be creating content, the types of content you will create and how you will integrate social media with other marketing strands.

2. Don’t Make Obvious Sales Pitches

A social media page that posts constant self advertisements is not only boring, it will very quickly annoy your customers and put them off. This isn’t the idea of using social media in business. Interesting, fresh and engaging content will see far greater rewards.

3. Don’t Ignore Your Customers

Social media is all about interfacing with your customers. If your content is good, it will initiate discussion and invite feedback. Remember to read the feedback you receive and respond to comments.

4. Don’t Be Afraid of Negative Feedback

By using social media, you are inviting feedback from your customers, both positive and negative. Positive feedback is great but don’t be intimidated by negative feedback. Responding to complaints and negative comments in the correct manner on social media can be a great way of regaining customer trust and respect.

5. Don’t Underestimate the Power of Social Media

Many companies place social media well down on their list of priorities when it comes to marketing. Very often businesses assign the responsibility of managing their social media strategy to an intern, which is a huge oversight. Social media is one of, if not, the most important way that businesses can communicate with their customers. Make sure you have someone on the job who gets your brand and, perhaps more importantly, understands your customers.