6 Social Media Mistakes You Must Avoid When Branding Your Business

Social networks allow potential users to reach others within their social groupings to share information and communicate information of mutual interest. Marketers and businesses, large medium and small, are using popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn to reach an almost unlimited base of potential customers.

With millions of daily users, social media provides a unique opportunity for business to become more visible, build greater brand awareness of their products and services and increase their customer base.

When used appropriately, social media can help promote a business culture of brand loyalty that allows businesses to stand out from the crowd and stay ahead of the pack in today’s competitive environment.

Social media outreach is essential to make your business more visible to potential customers who are likely to be interested in your brand.  It is the most popular platform to reach our modern generation of consumers and has the advantage of global reach, with 24-hour availability.

Best of all, social media provides users with opportunities for interaction at low or no cost and ensures that millions are reached almost instantaneously.

Social media outreach can help you find and grow your customer base, build brand loyalty and create synergies that can be mutually beneficial to customers and other businesses.

A good social media strategy will formulate a solid plan to drive traffic to your site and engage your target audience to help generate sales. Here are a few strategies that can be effective:

• Clearly articulate your objectives: Where are you now, and where do you want to go? A keen sense of direction is important to formulating a good business strategy for corporate positioning and leverage.
• Know your customers’ demographics, interests, likes, and dislikes, and set your targets to meet their specific needs.
• Identify your competition: get to know your market players. Learn from their mistakes as well as successes. How effective is their marketing strategy? What are they doing that you are not doing? What are some of the unique ways they engage their audience?

However, with the best marketing strategy, there is the potential for pitfalls that can be costly to your brand.

Here are 6 social media mistakes to avoid:

1. Ignoring your customers

The purpose of your social media presence is to engage your customers and build loyalty. Customer disengagement can be costly to your business.

• Although you can’t see them make a commitment to be courteous and professional to your online users.
• Address queries and concerns promptly to retain customer loyalty
• Avoid being confrontational or argumentative. Maintain a professional tone and be genuine with any promises made.

2. Bombarding customers with too much information

• In your excitement at having a social media presence, customers can be turned off with constant postings.
• Strike a good balance with your content. Create a good blend of information and promotions that attract rather than repel attention.
• Find unique ways to adapt your strategy to promote your brand. Expand your content to meet a current need or situation that arises.

3. Not analyzing your market

Formulating a good strategy is not enough. Careful analysis of your market will give you valuable insight into what is working and what’s ineffective.

• Be aware of growing trends and monitor results
• Is there measurable engagement of your audience?
• Make regular updates that are targeted to your customer base
• Re-evaluate your goals to ensure they remain realistic
• Use social media tools to help manage your content to remain relevant

4. Having too many social media accounts

It may seem a good idea to have more than one social media account to increase awareness, but this may prove counterproductive.

• Shop around for the best platform that complements your goals and objectives and brings results.
• Choose the platform that has the greatest reach for your target audience (age, habits, lifestyle, etc.)

5. Providing Poor Content

Content is the heartbeat of your social media presence. The type of information you post and how it is presented will determine how much traffic is generated. It is foolhardy to post information that does not reach your audience or is practically ignored with little or no engagement.

Pay attention to:

• The value of your content: is it appropriate?
• How you present your information: is it relevant to the audience you wish to reach?
• When you present your information: Know your demographic and post at times when the majority of your audience will be available.
• How often you present your information is also critical. Don’t post for the sake of posting. Make your content stand out from the competition.

6. Busting your budget

Count the cost: In an effort to compete, businesses can sometimes go overboard in maintaining an online presence. Determine how much you realistically afford to spend, bearing in mind that there are other aspects of the business that need attention in addition to social media presence.

Conclusion

The main purpose of social media marketing is to engage your target audience in increasing your corporate reach and building brand identity. The key to success lies in having a clear vision of your goals and objectives and making your information relevant, timely and effective.