5 MISTAKES ON SM

Social media is here to stay and it’s a cost effective opportunity that small business can tap into to grow brand awareness and the bottom line.

Unfortunately many businesses make these five common mistakes on social media that can easily be avoided. If you are guilty of making these mistakes, don’t despair because the remedy to repair them is available.

Ok let’s face it there are more than five but it’s no point alarming you too much.

 

Build it and they will come

Many businesses mistakenly believe that all they have to do is set up a business page on any and all social media platforms and the profits will start rolling in. Business owners know that when potential customers search their social media platform of choice their small business will show up in the results and ultimately customers will find all the relevant information needed that will lead them to their business point of sale. We covered the importance of having a social media presence in a previous post Hello, are you out there?

However, building your social media business page it is only the first step. Unfortunately once the page is established many small business owners fall into the next mistake….

 

No commitment to a long term social media strategy

Sure the customer can find you on social media but today’s consumer is looking for more information and requires as much as 18 touch points before making a purchase. Your social media business page is only one of those points. If you have taken a set and forget approach to your social media platforms then your customer is going to go elsewhere to be informed and entertained.

Using social media requires a constant and consistent approach. With a well-constructed strategy the time you spend on social media for your business can be used wisely that will prevent the next mistake of…

 

Post Overload

With no strategy many business owners jump onto their social media platforms once a week and publish and share multiple posts within minutes. The followers who have stuck around have now been bombarded with your inconsistent messages and posts that they don’t bother reading, let alone engaging with. Most will scroll right past your information and some will move immediately to unfollow.

If once a week is the only time you have to spend on updating your followers then look to schedule your messages so that your audience is drip fed the information over the course of the week/month. The other alternative that many small businesses fall into is the next mistake of….

 

Post Ghost Town

With no commitment to a long term strategy there are those business pages that have been left derelict for days, weeks and months at a time. You can see from the timeline if the business has made the commitment to keep their followers informed. When you come across these pages you are left with the impression that the business is no longer operating or they just don’t care about their customers.

Your business page is not there for you it is for your customers, that leads to the mistake of….

 

Ignoring your Followers

Your social media business page is an opportunity to interact with your consumers and just as you wouldn’t ignore a potential customer on the shop floor, neither should you ignore them on social media platforms. It irks me as a small business owner when I visit pages, of both large and small businesses, that have received comments, questions and messages from their followers with no response from the business – even if the page is managed by someone other than the business owner.

It is a simple customer service action to acknowledge the engagement and will leave your follower feeling valued who is more likely to engage with you on a regular basis and from that contact a relationship will be established that hopefully will result in a sale.

 

Once you get these mistakes sorted you will find that your social media efforts move from being a time sink operation to an organised process driving brand awareness, customer engagement and ultimately profits.

Have you made these mistakes on social media?

 

If you require assistance with repairing these mistakes across your social media platforms, then Baillie Admin Services can define and develop a custom designed social media service covering strategy, management and marketing to meet yours and your customer’s needs. Your business is unique and your social media strategy should be too.