Social media is the buzz word these days. Everyone seems to be talking about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs these days. The migration of customers to online and social media platforms has also attracted the attention of business, both big and small. The smaller, start-up ventures seem to be benefiting most from social media channels as they do not have the big budget required for traditional, outbound marketing.
If you do not maintain a virtual presence, you do not exist for the customers. However, many start-ups join the bandwagon of social media advertising, without a well-thought-out plan. In doing so, they make several mistakes, which could spell death for their business. Let’s have a look at some mistakes that entrepreneurs and start-ups must avoid to ensure marketing success.
1. Bombarding customers with information without a marketing plan
Some entrepreneurs believe that developing a Facebook page and signing up on Twitter is central to their social media campaign. This may not be the best approach. You need to have a well-thought and coherent social media strategy. Your social media operations need a strategic plan that clearly identifies the social media campaign goals, target audience, ways to reach that audience and measures by which a campaign’s success would be judged. Simply blasting customers with information could prove to be detrimental and annoy them.
2. Being clueless about the social media audience
A traditional marketing plan also requires adequate research on the target market. Businesses cannot afford to throw darts in the dark. You need to do some research on who they should connect with, who they want to speak to directly and who they think will be reading their posts. You should regularly engage with top influencers in the industry well ahead of the competition. Marketing initiatives, which do not target the audience, may well in fact be a waste of time.
3. Forgetting social media etiquette
You might be well aware of email etiquette, such as greeting people properly, using correct grammar and providing a signature at the bottom. However, you also need to be mindful of social media etiquette. Social media etiquette involves asking potential customers thought-provoking questions, promoting other people as well as your own brand, and not always sounding like an advertisement without caring to establish a strong bond with the people. People would appreciate you if you are mindful of these basic etiquettes.
4. Measuring success
All marketing efforts need to have some measure through which success of the campaign may be judged. You may use several tools to help measure the success rate of customer engagement sessions. These tools should take into account your total online community size, the number of mentions you’ve received, how many people have commented on your Facebook page, and traffic referred to your business site from social media outlets. One such tool, Facebook Insights, is built in a Facebook page to track the progress of your marketing efforts.
5. Do not spam, time your posts
Small businesses may also make the mistake of spamming people with automatic direct messages after they follow you. You should get rid of all spam accounts from your social media pages. You should be creative and develop new content to circulate your product or service. As social media acts in real time, you should time your posts and updates well to increase your following. By being unique and creative, you can win new customers.
About the Author:
Martin Vance is a marketing and brand enthusiast, and regularly contributes articles related to marketing strategies for Degree Jungle.
