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Social Media Red Flags: 5 Signs You’re Using it Wrong

The sheer value of social media marketing combined with the rapid rate in which these platforms are progressing is something most business owners and companies cannot cast aside.

Social media marketing works and is here to stay. Everybody knows that. But that does not necessarily mean you’re using it right.

In an attempt to help you, we have outlined 5 signs that you’re using social media wrong plus a few tips on how to fix it.

Not updating regularly

Not sticking to a regular posting schedule is the most common mistake new social media marketers commit. If your profile runs dry for a few days or weeks, your followers may fall out of habit of checking in with your business.

Your tone is inconsistent

The internet is a noisy place. If you wish to cut through that noise, then you have to employ a unique tone for your business. Employing a unique voice will help you build trust, build and maintain your reputation and engage in meaningful conversations with your followers. Without it, your message shall be left twisting in the wind.

You are constantly broadcasting

Social media is all about interaction. Sending your thoughts in a one-ways fashion will not help you in any way. Instead, you’ll be missing out on the powerful benefits of engaging with people.

You ignore negative comments

No matter how popular your company is, you can’t prevent negative comments from coming. Instead of ignoring or deleting them, it would be best to offer your sincerest apology, provide them with a candid explanation and any actions you might want to take. Plus, re-assure your client that this won’t happen again in the future.

You are focused on quantity

When it comes to building a social media following, you should not focus on quantity alone. You may have a lot of followers but if your engagement rate is close to non-existent, then you’re definitely doing it wrong.

Build a following that would help you grow your business. Try to connect with people who would find your contents useful and whose content you can benefit from as well.

 

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Growing Your Business Network with Social Media

If your business or company is struggling to find new customers, you can count on social media to help
you build your business network. However, before you can sell, keep in mind that creating a trusted
relationship with your potential customers is of great importance.
In this article, we’ll give you a few tips on how to use social media to find prospects and leads for your
business and establish a relationship with them.
Converse with people on Twitter

Tweet chats are recommended for building a network as they are seen as one of the most effective lead
generation tools in social media. The best thing about this is that everyone starts out as a stranger.
Eventually, they begin to know each other and may develop a relationship that extends beyond the
regular chat.
Here, you may encounter people who ask you questions. Since your reply is only limited to 140
characters, you have to be as concise as possible. Also, let them know that you are open to accept a
direct message and would be interested to carry the conversation further through another platform or
by phone.

Join LinkedIn groups
LinkedIn provides its users an opportunity for connecting with people who fit their prospect profile.
Here, you can find a specific group you’re interested in.
In the header navigation, just hover on “Interests” and click on “Groups”. From here, you can use
specific keywords to search for groups that are relevant to your business or company. Feel free to check
out each group and join a group with members who might be interested in what you offer.
Please be reminded that this is not a selling place. Build a relationship by being helpful and offering
services to the other members.

Share insights from an event
If you have attended a conference or trade show, feel free to share the highlights of the said event with
people who weren’t able to attend. This will help you attract people who are interested in the same
niche.
Share your notes through social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. Also, don’t forget to include
the event’s official hashtag in your tweets. This will include them in the conversation. Most importantly,
this post will be visible to other users who are not following you. You have to pay attention to user who starts following you as they could be your new prospects. And when the time is right, reach out to them
and offer your services.

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How Do You Evaluate Your Social Media Strategy?

Evaluating the effectiveness of your social media strategy is just as important as the strategy itself. Many small business owners forget about this part – don’t let that be you!

  1. Are your friends and followers increasing? It is very important to remember that an increase in friends and followers does not mean that profits will immediately increase too. An increase in friends and followers does mean you are doing something to attract attention, which is a good thing! If the number is decreasing, it is definitely time to change your strategy. You may be sharing content that is not relevant to your audience.
  2. Monitor the engagement of your followers. Are your posts and pictures getting comments and likes? Are tweets getting re-tweeted? Do your events have a significant following of people that will ‘attend’? These numbers can be monitored very easily. Make sure to be aware of them. You can also apply various tools (like Google Analytics) to receive deeper insights. Pay attention to which posts and pictures seem to be the most popular – and ask yourself why.
  3. Analyze what is working for your audience.  If you are seeing an increase in sales, consider what it is on social media that could have been responsible for the spike. In other words, what is your audience responding too? Was it a promotional discount or the free shipping option?

The takeaway: you should be regularly evaluating how your audience is reacting to your social media presence. If you are constantly up to date on your social media progress, you will find it easier to identify your strengths and weaknesses.

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Why Use Google AdWords?

Using a combination of marketing platforms is healthy for your business. If PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising is one of the platforms you are considering, you’ve probably contemplated Google Adwords.  There are a few elements that make Google AdWords worthwhile.

One of the clear benefits to online marketing is that your results are measurable. As a marketer, one of your biggest priorities is determining if your campaigns are working and returning ROI. PPC Advertising through Google Adwords is one of the most measurable online mediums. Adwords provides a variety of metrics that allow you to evaluate what is working and what is not.

With Google Adwords, your campaigns are completely customizable. You can target your campaigns to reach the audiences you want too. You have the ability to narrow your audience by the time of day, location, and device type (after all, there is no point in your ads reaching those in England if you are promoting a weight loss seminar in Colorado).

By using the right resources in AdWords you can see results immediately. You can monitor the clicks and impressions. In doing so, you can determine if your keywords are working. If you are not seeing the results you want after a certain amount of time, changing or adding key words is simple.

Once you have established your PPC campaign is working, there is not a huge amount of maintenance thereafter (although you should always be monitoring the campaigns and results).

It is no secret that visually appealing ads get results. Google AdWords provides new ad formats, so you have options to differentiate your ads (consider using ad extensions as well)!

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What Makes A Marketing Video Effective?

Successful marketing videos engage, educate, and persuade audiences towards a call to action. Ensure your next marketing video is successful by incorporating the following ideas:

Utilize the power of video marketing by showing your audience what you are talking about. In other words, do not just tell them. Video marketing can be incredibly powerful because it allows you to engage and persuade your audience directly. Make sure that your video illustrates the benefits of your product or service. Demonstrate how your product works and why they should care. Play on the visual power you have with video marketing!

Make sure your video has a beginning, middle, and an end.  In this sense, your video should be formatted like a good story. Good stories make us think and feel. But most importantly, they make us remember. The beginning of your video should establish who you are as a company and as a brand; this would be equivalent to establishing characters in a novel. The middle of your video should explain the product or service and give your audience a call to action; this is similar to the climax or problem in a novel. The end of your video must leave the audience with a reason to interact with your brand.

Play to your audience. Think about where your video will be displayed. Your video should be targeted to the audience you want to communicate with and in turn, the audience that will be interested in watching video content. The tone of your video should align with the personality of your company. Give your audience a strong sense of who you are through your video.

Keep it simple and interesting so that your audience views the entire video. You would not want to lose them half way through!

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Why You Might Be Loosing Twitter Followers

You’ve been building your Twitter presence and you feel good about it. It is great to increase that number, but it is equally important to maintain that number. If you have been loosing followers lately, there are a few things to consider that might be behind it.

Are you delivering the content you promised you would? If you own a clothing boutique, your followers are likely expecting you to tweet about fashion trends, clothing tips, store deals, etc. If your tweets are about your political opinions, or the new frozen yogurt place you tried yesterday then your followers are not getting what they signed up for by following you. Make sure that any personal opinion tweets go to your personal account and not your business account.

Do you respond? If your followers ask you a question, or reply to your tweets they probably want a response back.  Being responsive on your account assures users that they are tweeting to a real person, and not a pre-scheduled system. Twitter is about building relationships. If you are not building a relationship with your followers, they are not going to stick around to build one with you.

Do you use Twitter solely for promotion? Remember that Twitter is a social media platform. People join to be social – they do not check their twitter solely to read promotional messages. If you are doing some promotion tweeting, be sure to provide a value to your followers. If you are promoting something on Twitter, make sure your followers get a benefit from reading that tweet. For example don’t tweet “Buy our new perfume…” instead consider tweeting, “Mention this tweet for 10% off our new perfume.”

Are your tweets original? If you are abusing the retweet button, that may be why you are loosing followers. The retweet feature is wonderful for sharing content, but when you retweet something you should add your own opinion. Use a few words to share why you decided to retweet something. Your followers connected with you on Twitter to hear what YOU have to say – give that to them.

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The 411 On Hashtags

Have you been using hashtags in your tweets? If you have not jumped on the hashtag train, you have no doubt seen them on Twitter.  Hashtags are the words, or sometimes just jumble of letters that you see following the # sign. Hashtags are not essential, or appropriate for every tweet. Before going hashtag crazy, it is important to know how they can help your business, and when they are actually useful.

Hashtags work for categorizing content. Adding a hashtag into your tweet makes it easier for other users to find. This can be extremely useful when discussing a topic other Twitter users may be discussing as well. For example, during the Superbowl you could search #Superbowl on Twitter and a display of Superbowl related tweets would be the result.

From a marketing standpoint, hashtags can also help to create some buzz around your product or business. For example, say you are the owner of a shoe boutique and you are having a sale on winter boots.  Tweet something about the sale, and then use the hashtag #winterboots. This is a broad category, and someone in the market for winter boots is likely to search “#winterboots.” By incorporating the hashtag into your tweet, your tweet will show up in the search results.

Keep the hashtag brief and easy to read. If you use the hashtag #WinterBootsAreHalfOffAtTheShoeBoutique it is not only hard to read, but it is also likely that nobody will search for that hashtag – and your tweet will not appear in any searches.   Your tweets are already limited to 140 characters, so use them wisely! Use hashtags to get your point across but still remain brief.

Remember there is no point in using a hashtag if you do not keep using it. In other words, be consistent with your hashtags. If you do not repeat the hashtag, your tweet may go unseen by potential customers. Make sure to use your hashtags. Last but not least, be sure your hashtags are relevant and easy to understand.  Twitter is about simplicity – so do not confuse your Twitter followers with a confusing hashtag.

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Your LinkedIn Group Guide

LinkedIn is becoming a vital marketing resource for businesses. Make sure that as a small business owner you are taking in all the opportunities LinkedIn has to offer you.

The beauty of LinkedIn is that it is full of resources. You can join groups that are full of professionals in your industry. Then you can use these groups to get product or service feedback, network, and even connect with future business partners or employees. In addition to creating a personal LinkedIn account, you should also establish a company page on LinkedIn for your business.

If you are considering starting a group on LinkedIn, here are some tips that will help you take full advantage of all of LinkedIn’s opportunities as a group leader.

If you choose to begin your own LinkedIn group, you have the option of creating a closed or open group. An open group allows any member to contribute and is visible to the public. A closed group is private and requires a user to be accepted to the group before contributing. When making your choice, consider that an open group will clearly grow faster, but it is also likely the group could be prone to spam.   Alternatively, a closed group will grow more gradually. Yet, the members will be much more targeted. Consider how you want your group to be seen and used when making this decision.

Remember that you started this group, so you must be a part of it. Be active and let your presence be known to your members  – it will help you network rapidly.

As the leader of the group, remember that you can make rules – this is a power that should be taken seriously. If there is an unruly member of the group, you can remove them. On the flip side, if there is a member that is a great contributor to your group, be sure to acknowledge them!

One huge advantage to creating a group is that you can send weekly announcements out to your members! This is an opportunity for you to contact your members directly. Just be careful to fill those messages with useful information – you want to ensure that your followers actually engage with the message (not just overlook it as spam).

There are countless opportunities on LinkedIn that may be of benefit to your company – capitalize on it!

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3 Ways to Use Apps on Facebook

Anyone can make a Facebook page. This is why it is so important to incorporate ways to engage your friends on Facebook. Getting those “Likes” does not mean too much if you do not interact with your fans beyond that. One of the best ways to bring excitement to your page is to use Facebook apps.  Keep in mind that some of the ideas below are complex – they are often developed by a third party and then can be run on Facebook.

  1. Create interactive quizzes. The truth is, as ridiculous as it may seem, people love taking quizzes about themselves. So whatever quiz you decide to create, make sure that the quiz is all about your customers. For example, if you are a frozen yogurt company the quiz could ask, “What frozen yogurt fall treat are you?” The bottom line is to make sure the quizzes ask personal questions. Keep it relevant to your business and all about your fan. To get it started, you could offer discounts to the first 100 people that take the quiz.
  2. Use personal Facebook information to create a story about the user. People love interactive apps like this. Typically, apps such as these use the Facebook user’s photos, name, and hometown to fill in the story gaps. This usually gets a good laugh, which is great because it is likely to be shared. If you are a tax company, use the information to narrate a scary tax scandal.
  3. Make your apps about your fans. This option is not as complex as the two above.  Ask fans questions and encourage them to reply. Then, each month your company can highlight the fan that had the best response to your question. If you work for a beauty company, ask a question about the meaning of beauty. Offer a coupon or a free product to the participant with the best or most creative answer.

The takeaways: be creative and stay relevant to your business.

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Be The Small Business That Does Social Media Right

So you’re a small business. That means you probably don’t have the budget to run with the big dogs of social media. AKA – stop trying to keep up with Starbucks. If you do not have the budget to giveaway the latest IPad – don’t do it. Offer a prize your company can handle such as a service, discount, or small product.  This also means that the participants in your giveaway are likely to be interested in your company, and not just in it for the free Ipad.

You have probably already picked up on the fact that there is no physical cost to join social media.  As a small business, marketing without fees probably sounds like the best kind.  But don’t be fooled – social media marketing is anything but free. Doing it right requires serious man-hours. The commitment to social media is unrelenting and endless. Engaging with followers and sharing valuable content is a full time job.

Most small businesses feel a sense of urgency to get onto social media because of the tidal wave big brands have made on all social media platforms. Focus on your social media goals. Whatever they are, the bottom line should be to build relationships and grow customer trust. That means that social media is not the place to display your promotional copy. Get rid of anything remotely resembling a “BUY ME” button. Social media is about social engagement. Think of yourself in a social situation – do you spend the entire time talking about yourself? Hopefully the answer is no. This type of etiquette applies to social media as well. Just as you would in a social environment, strive to be interesting on social media. Post content that gives your followers or friends something to react too. If someone were to walk up to you and give you a compliment or ask you a question, you would never just ignore it. You would acknowledge it with a “thank you” or a reply. The same thing should be done on your social media platforms.

As a small business, you do not need to be present on every social media account. If you use Facebook over Google +, it does not mean you are a social media failure. The biggest error you could make is to have a Google + account that is completely neglected and shows inconsistent activity. It is better to have one or two active and up to date social media accounts than have five accounts that are not receiving adequate time and management.

Avoiding these social media mistakes small businesses tend to make is crucial to your success. Be the small business that gets social media right!

 

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