Here’s how social media can backfire on you. 

Well, social media came to facilitate the networking between individuals. It has evolved to become an essential tool for marketers to boost their business and interact with the client base. More than that, it has proved itself to be an impactful tool to generate business and rapidly became one of the essential assets any marketer should use in various industries.

However, like any tool, social media marketing has its pros and cons. If properly implemented, social media marketing can help you reach your objectives. Yet, if used in an amateur way, it would lead to disastrous results.

[Avoid social media pitfalls, book your seat in our upcoming online marketing workshop]

Selecting improper channel to promote your business

Consider yourself in a non-smoking environment and trying to promote your newly launched cigarettes packs. Well…the results will not be as you wish. This is the same impact you will get when trying to launch
your marketing messages in irrelevant channels. Social media channels are not a one-size-fit solution. You have to know exactly what channels you need to use to target your audience. To clear things more, as a marketer, you need to understand your audience and know exactly which channels are most suitable to reach them. This can be done through research and of course through trial and error. The best test to do is to launch your marketing campaign through various social media and see which channels are best serving your interest.

Not assigning the proper human resources to manage your social media

This is a common mistake in most businesses. Social media marketing is not a secondary job any person can perform. Do not expect to get the proper results and proper image of your business on social media if you do not take it seriously or assign it to inexperienced talents. Always remember that their many companies lost their reputations because of fraudulent posts on social media sites. It is the same example as assigning an untalented spokesman to represent your company. Make sure that you allocate the proper resources to manage your social media and deliver the proper messages you seek for.

Do not insult your competitors

Business courtesy rule number one: No business would insult its direct competition publicly. The same rule applies on social media. Do not expect to maintain your brand’s respect on social media if you directly insult or offend your competitors publicly. If you insist to do it, there are clever ways to do so, but never fall in this mistake. It will backfire on you. Instead of doing that, you can focus on highlighting your businesses benefits and the convincing reasons why your fan base should favor it over other businesses.

Do not bombard your fan base with sales messages

Well the ultimate goal of your presence is to generate sales and interact with your customers. However do not use social media to bombard your fan base with sales content only. Mix up things up and know when and how to promote your objectives at the same time keeping your audience entertained. Remember, people access social media to get a break, check out their circle of connections, get informed with updates and corporate news, etc. You need to mix up your content and make sure to use the 80/20 Rule.

You are not responding to your fan base

The biggest mistake you might fall in is to leave messages, mentions, and comments with no response. If someone asks you a question or include you in a mention or a comment, make sure you respond professionally and in a short time span. Even if the message sent is not of importance to you, make sure to thank your fan’s efforts in spending time and talking to you. Here we are not talking about junk messages that need to be deleted, but we are talking about any content your fan shares with you.

Finally, if you find yourself in need of proper social media marketing training and learn the best tactics to improve your presence on these channels, check our upcoming training course.