Social media marketing is an ever-evolving strategy that companies, both big and small, are always working to adapt. And in adaptation, there are going to be mistakes. But luckily, social media mistakes offer great learning opportunities to improve your strategies.
What better way to learn than to study the mistakes of others? Here, we will explain four social media mistakes that we have made in the past (so you don’t have to!).
Not Looking at the Analytics
When we first implemented our social media marketing tactics, we were posting without looking at the analytics and performances of each post. This is a lot like shooting a bow and arrow with your eyes closed – your probability of hitting your target is a lot lower!
Instead, make sure to look at what works and what doesn’t with your social media. This will make your efforts much more efficient and save you time and resources. The majority of analytics can be found on the social media platforms themselves. For more information on social media marketing, check out our whitepaper, The Financial Advisor’s Guide to Social Media.
Failing to Create (And Stick With) A Strategy
Often times, social media lacks a lot of the formality that other types of marketing have. It’s easy, you just post a status and garner likes! But this isn’t exactly the case. Social media marketing benefits from a defined strategy that is thought out in advance and adhered to.
We suggest creating a marketing calendar at the beginning of every month that includes your emails, social media posts, blogs, and more. You can download your own marketing calendar here. When creating your calendar, try to group posts that are similar together to create a mini campaign. For example, we focused on Google AMP a few weeks ago and did some blog posts and Marketing Tips about the subject.
Forgetting to Add a Human Touch
Social media is just that – social! It is unlike other marketing strategies in that way. Other B2C or B2B marketing is often one-sided, with a business promoting their products and why they’re great, and the consumer (hopefully!) buying. But with social media, there is a lot of back and forth of what your audience wants and what they think of your products and services.
This human touch is great for marketers because you can easily get feedback and gauge what your clients are looking for. Make sure to always comment back on the engagements you get, follow up on messages, and show that you are active on social media.
Only Self-Promoting
Unlike other marketing ideas, social media is not meant to be merely self-promotional. Every brand is different, but some marketers recommend the “911 Rule,” which includes nine posts of strategic content from others, including thought leadership pieces, content curation, or testimonials, one piece of valuable brand content, and one promotional post. With this ratio, the majority of your content works to build your brand and community and only a small percentage actually promotes your company and products. Your fans turn to social media for valuable content, not advertisements.
These four social media mistakes are things that we have done in the past and we have learned from our mistakes. Have you made any social media mistakes and what have you learned? Comment below, we would love to hear!
