Every minute, a company advertises a service or product where people have to visit its Facebook Fan page instead of its website. Social media is becoming so popular that when you open up your favourite newspaper, you will most likely see content from the publisher’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Social media has been integrated into our news feeds, the movies we watch, and even the music that we buy. While some social media statistics will try to convince you that the younger crowd are not regular users of Twitter and other social media channels, the fact remains that social media has become one of the primary settings for many digital marketing campaigns. Social media channels are providing immediate feedback and reviews and everything is public. If you really want to make a good impression on targeted prospects, be ready to respond to “Tweets” and other online mentions with the right information.
If you really want to chase people away with your social media strategy, here’s a couple of things you can do to achieve this.
1. Interaction
Social media is not about automation but about interaction. Too many people (especially online marketers) expect to get good and positive results with automated interactions. Of course you can automate a few things, but make sure that what you are writing and broadcasting creates a conversation among people and that you can interact directly with the people in your network.
2. Social bookmarking
Never treat a social bookmarking service like a web directory. Social bookmarking services are not link directory submissions and they are not social media directories.
3. Shouting
Never shout with no intent of listening. When you start marketing your business and services remember that it is not about you, it is about addressing your targeted audience questions and needs. Listen to your audience and start marketing the things that they desire. If you do this your business will be relevant and potential prospects will increase.
4. It is not SEO
It is always better to give. SEO is all about receiving where social media is all about giving. Before you can receive, you must give. It is a proven fact that people buy from people that they trust, like and know. If the information or services that you provide has value to your listeners, the chances are very good that they will follow you.
5. Design
Many social media experts and online marketers believes that the design is not that important but they are wrong. The design is important because it is the visual presentation of your business. Potential clients will leave immediately if they do not like the design of the website. Make sure that your design is reader friendly and that your targeted audience will find appealing.
6. Facebook Groups
Invite people to a Facebook Group without asking their permission. The creator of a Facebook Group has the ability to add friends to the group automatically. Facebook Groups are quite handy if you want to create a targeted forum that can take customer concerns off of your Facebook Business page. If you add people without their consent, the feedback you will get will most likely be negative.
7. Only Tweet direct message ads
Just imagine how your customers must feel when they are bombarded with direct messages and mentions with information regarding your services or products. Don’t ping people directly on a regular basis if they didn’t ask for direct contact. This is most likely one of the easiest ways to lose readers.
8. Start a blog and never blog
I still believe that a blog should be one of the central points of your overall social media marketing strategy and campaign. Blogs capture the attention of search engines. Blogs are easy to use and broadcast timely messages to the world as they occur. If you are planning to use a blog for your social media strategy, the best thing you can do with that blog will be to blog regularly and never slack off. If a customer visits your blog and discovers that it was only updated back in 2010, he might get the feeling not to expect any customer service any time soon. I’m not saying that you should blog every hour, just keep it current.
Being social is the big keyword in social media marketing. You can be social in your activities online without broadcasting your sales pitch every time over the heads of your targeted audience. Build their trust first before you start selling and provide value first before you start marketing.
