Social Media Misconceptions

Businesses are quickly realising that social media is one of the sure fire ways to engage with customers, create leads and even establish and improve brand reputation. The number of worldwide social media users has reached 1.96 billion and is expected to grow to 2.5 billion by 2018… but what are the common misconceptions about social media marketing?

Of course businesses want to provide good customer service to encourage repeat custom for their business, but you must remember that social media is not always about making the agitated customer happy (although, this would be nice). It’s also about making sure your brand is on form and that you are seen to be listening to and caring for your customers. You have to remember that it’s not just a two way conversation when somebody comments on your post- thousands of other customers are looking on and eagerly awaiting your response or rectification. Answer every comment whether it’s positive or negative.

Yes. There are many millennials on social media. Infact, studies show that 41% of millennials use Facebook every single day! But the purpose of social media is not just to entertain millennials. Statistics show that half of internet users, ages 50-64, and one in four users age 65+ use social networking sites. So you should make sure that your approach and content on social platforms takes every user into account, irrespective of their age.

I’m sure at some point that all of us have come across a post #that #is #written #like #this…? This is a rookie mistake which can have adverse affects on your brand reputation. Make sure that you use hashtags in moderation and only when it’s suitable. The purpose of hashtags are to join in with a conversation or topic that is ‘trending’ at any one time.

Many social media platforms that you may consider are free to join (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). Unless you’re planning on going down the paid advertising route, you won’t spend any money to post anything either. But that doesn’t mean social media marketing is free. As a business you should treat your social media presence as an investment. We all know the saying ‘time is money’…and you have to invest A LOT of time into research and ongoing maintenance if you want to succeed.

This is more of a mistake rather than a myth that all companies can make, whether they are just starting up, or if they are well established. Businesses will find themselves creating numerous accounts on different platforms, but instead of doing this, you should create a focused strategy for your social media and channel all of your efforts. Researching different social media platforms out there will allow you to get results and filter them to find the platforms most suitable for your business. This will definitely help you more in reaching out to your target audiences.