Why Social Media Marketing Fails (And How To Avoid Failing)
CEO of 100 Pound Social
“We’ve tried, but social media marketing doesn’t work for us.”
Many SMEs and startups have tried – and failed – to leverage social media marketing. More often than not, when I ask business owners why they don’t use social media to market their business, they respond with the quote above, or similar. So why does social media (proven to be the lowest cost form of marketing), generate few – or zero – results for so many businesses? We’ve identified two key reasons:
1. Understanding Inbound Marketing
Too many business owners still think of social media as a billboard.
Like any other sales platform, they assume crafting their sales messages and pushing it out is the only requirements.
Thing is, social media is over awash with offers, sales posts, and generic content that adds little or no value.
To get noticed and engage your audience, the content you post must have a purpose and add value for your reader.
This quote sums this up:
“If you help people be successful without you, they’ll be dying to be successful with you.” — Garett Moon
Social media is a form of inbound marketing. If you try to use it like a billboard (outbound marketing), it won’t work. End of.
Sharing Value
Instead, use your social channels to share valuable content that demonstrates your expertise.
Social media is social. It involves connecting with potential customers, and building relationships.
As noted above, hard selling doesn’t work.
Even after potential customers discover your business and social media pages, turning leads into sales takes time.
Business Insider estimates prospects need anything from three to 12 ‘touches’ (contacts with your brand) before making a purchase.
That makes consistently publishing valuable content even more important.
When your audience are ready to buy, it should be your service or products they remember.
Being sociable, informative, and helpful will develop trust in you and your brand, and make you the top choice when your audience is ready to buy.
Unlike billboards, users will simply unfollow if you bombard them with ads.
2. Time and resources
For social media to bring results, you must commit to the long-game, and dedicate the appropriate resources.
The average small business that successfully leverages social media marketing, dedicates 6+ hours per week managing their social channels.
And that’s 6+ hours per week, week in, week out.
For most SME, social media is the first thing that gets pushed off the to-do list when things get busy.
The best way to remedy this, is to get a dedicated social media person on the job. If hiring in-house is outside your budget, consider hiring a freelancer or working with a low-cost social media marketing agency for £100 per month.
To ensure social media does work for your business, make sure you have a plan, you have committed the required time and resources, and you have a dedicated Social Media Manager on hand.
Create a FREE customised social media plan for your business
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