How Much Do You Really Know About Social Media Advertising?
There are many myths that surround the use of social media marketing, from how your company should be using it, to how much of a return on investment you can expect and how effective can it be.
Myth #1: It’s all about you.
Talking only about your brand, your offerings and their value on social platforms is a big mistake. Albert Costill of Search Engine Journal identifies talking only about yourself in his list of things to avoid doing on social media, he reminds readers that social media is at first social. You should instead engage your followers much around the topics that are related to your brand, that would help spark real conversation and get people active on your page.
Myth #2: A high number of likes and followers is what’s important.
Having strong number of followers is normally beneficial, but this shouldn’t be the most important aspect of social media activities. Basically, chasing likes and followers should not be your primary objective. The key to building a strong community with real value to you as a business, is to have fans that are existing or previous customers as they would more likely be keen to engage with you or the fans that have interest in your brand as they would respect your messages and engage with it too.
Myth #3: Social Media can’t drive sales.
Rather than focusing on pushing your sales messages, create a strategy with the kind of content that will be meaningful and valuable for your target audience and that will likely lead to a social exchange. Being personable on your social channels has a positive outcome as the customers want to interact with brands that have a face and personality.
Your social media channels are just a big sound board for you to shout about how great you are. If used properly it can gain more sales.
Myth #4:
Social Media ROI can’t be measured.
The truth is that social media ROI can be measured. Make sure you are using an analysis tool like Google Analytics and ensure that you have goals set up so that social media conversions can be tracked accurately. This would help you to then see how much number of sales and enquiries are being made as a direct result of your social media activities. Ensure that you choose meaningful KPI’s and analyse data frequently as this will help you gain valuable insights and how to make it more effective. Some social platforms have their own insights and stats tool built in that may help you to assess additional variables such as reach.
Myth #5:
You must be on every platform.
Many brands and businesses believe they need to have a presence on every social media platform available. This is not true.
Every social media platform has a certain audience. If you’re targeting the millennials, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram is where you need to be active on. If you’re targeting a generation before that, you might want to consider LinkedIn. You just need to find out where your best customers are active and engaging and then focus your efforts on that platform.
To do all this, the social media expert needs to have a thorough understanding of the brand, marketing objectives and the target audience.
Not just anyone can run a social media campaign. Maintaining a personal social media account is very different from running social media activities for a business. The person who would be carrying out these activities for a business, should understand the process of how a social network works and needs to know how to engage and build communities.
Stay tuned for more common myths…
Source: www.saleshub.ca
www.socialmediatoday.com
