As a new terrain, social media marketing is a place for companies to explore a different language and master another approach to connecting with their customers. Because of this, companies are bound to make mistakes along the way. We’ve compiled a list of the most common ones below, and some of them are really easy to avoid: Looking fragmented. Social media is a different domain, but the image of the company should generally be consistent across various marketing platforms. However, many companies make the mistake of sounding like another entity altogether when on Twitter or Facebook, either because of the tone, or the content. Key to being a coherent brand on social media is the single-mindedness of the social media management team, members of which refer to the same communications manual and marketing plan, and even better, a content guide developed way ahead. A good team cross-promotes their accounts, for example: the Facebook page promotes a blog entry, which is on the website, and blog updates are automatically posted by the company Twitter account. Meanwhile, the Pinterest page features photos drawn from the featured blog of the day. Not following through. Social media generates tons of conversations on a daily basis, but fail to bring conversion for many companies because of lack of follow-through. Most of the time, what matters is not how many followers they have, but what they actually do with the connections they have built. How many of these lead to improved consumer awareness and even better, translate to positive consumer behavior? What is done after a customer shares a post from the Facebook page? A good social media team thanks them, and keeps them engaged. They ask for the customer’s email address so that they can be part of the database, and receive similar content in the future. If a customer writes a blog inspired by the company’s own entry, they are tagged if there is a related post. If they tweet about a product or service, they are provided with information about the company’s nearest branch. In short, the communication lines are kept open, and each step in the conversation leads them closer to the store or the actual purchasing situation. Not thinking of the future. Facebook and Twitter may be all the rage these days, but a good social media marketing plan understands that this can all change, at the pace technological developments are happening. Companies should not, therefore, “put all their eggs in one nest,” and instead look outside of these more popular channels to see how else the social media landscape can develop. Whatever information stored in a social media platform – from the contact information of customers, to the images and videos, to the customer engagement data and page impressions – should be recorded or stored on a company-owned platform. This way, if the website goes down permanently in the future, the company does not lose these marketing resources too. To know more about conquering the challenges in social media marketing, contact GreyBox Creative, a New York-based provider of full-service marketing solutions.
Mistakes Companies Make in Social Media Marketing
