Social media is a major component of any business, but if used poorly, it can end up hurting more than helping.
Most Canadian B2B businesses recognize the importance of using social media for marketing and have already established a presence in the major social networks. When used right, social networks can be a good platform to build your brand and connect with prospects.
The key to successful social media marketing is knowing how to reach your ideal customers and where to focus your efforts. However, there are some common social media mistakes that can make it difficult to achieve your traffic and lead generation goals.
Here are five common mistakes we see businesses making on social media:
1. Incomplete Profiles
An incomplete social media profile makes your company look unprofessional and out of touch with technology. No prospect would like to do business with a company that seems unprofessional or out of date.
Your social media profile can make or break your brand in the eyes of prospects. Whatever information is on your profile should position your business as professional and a leader in your industry. Make sure the profile is complete and presents your ideal brand.
Your profile information should inform prospects what your business is about and how you can help them. Do not forget to have a call-to-action message. On the minimum, indicate your phone number and website.
Coming to photos, make sure they are clear and well-lit. Use your logo as the profile picture and customize the profile with your brand’s colors.
2. Lack of a Social Media Marketing Strategy
Being on social media just because your competitors are there is an uninformed move. Social media marketing should be taken seriously, just like any other inbound marketing techniques. Before you delve into social media, define your target market, create content for the market, and have a conversion strategy.
Identify your prospects that are hanging out on social media and devise ways to reach them. For example, what kind of content do they prefer? Which social media networks are they active in? What times are they most active in the networks?
Carry out experiments to determine the right time to post content for maximum reach. Also find out how you can move prospects down the sales funnel. For example, you may need to link your social media posts to a dedicated landing page or close leads through private messages.
3. Being Everywhere at Once
Another social media marketing trap many B2B companies get into is being on every social channel they come across. While social media is important for brand building and lead generation, you do not need to be in every channel.
If you have established a presence in all social media networks, are you getting any returns for your efforts? If your social media activities do not result into leads and conversions, scale them down.
Before joining any social media network, think about your prospects. Are your prospects in the network you want to join? Identify the social networks where your audience hangs out and build a presence there.
Focus on a few social networks and get really good at using them for lead generation.
4. Being All About “You”
Social media provides an avenue for prospects and brands to create conversations on different topics. Make sure you are talking as well as listening to your prospects on social media.
Avoid making social media all about your brand or products. Rather, you want to make it more about your prospects. Engage with your prospects by providing content that resonates well with them. This content can include blog excerpts, photos, videos, questions, etc.
Ask yourself “how can I make the life of my followers better?” This question can help you know whether the content you are producing will endear your followers to your brand.
Your goal with social media marketing should not be to get the most followers, but highly engaged prospects that can become customers.
5. Not Measuring Your Efforts
You should identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your social media marketing. The KPIs will help you know whether your marketing efforts are helping to achieve your end goals and whether you are getting any ROI from them.
KPIs can help you identify marketing strategies that are working as expected and those that need to be tweaked for improved performance. Some of the metrics you can measure include leads’ close rate, brand mentions, leads generated, website traffic from social media, among others.
Social media cannot be ignored in today’s landscape. However, simply being on social media does not mean you will get a positive ROI on your marketing. Without a plan and strategy to follow, you will end up wasting time and resources, and can erode your brand value rather than improve it.
