5 Problems With Your Business’s Social Media

Author:  NICHOLAS ROY

Let’s face it.

Social Media is here, and it’s here to stay.

If you run a business, and you acknowledge that the year is 2015, then you know that you should be on social media.

Why?

Well. It’s relatively new. It’s cheap. Almost everyone is on it.  It generates results.

And most likely, your potential and current customers are on it as well.

And they’re ALWAYS on it.

This begs the question as to why you’re not getting the results you’re looking for when it comes to drawing an audience and generating results.

Here are some common mistakes as to why you’re not experiencing the results you want.

And I’ll give you a few tips on how to fix them as well :)

1. You’re on the wrong platforms.

You heard it. Not every business is going to do well on every platform. Some businesses will see a flourishing and engaged audience on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; while others will see results on Youtube, Snapchat, and Vine.

There’s actually no need to be on all of the major platforms unless you are testing the waters out.

The solution more or less is to find out what platforms are right for your business.

There’s many ways to find out if you’re doing well on a particular platform, which leads us to the next reason…

2. You’re not looking at the numbers.

That little “Insights” tab on Facebook that you click on and

graze over every once in a while…Yea, that’s not just for statistics majors and large marketing agencies.

That’s your ticket out of the social media dumps…

Almost every major social media platform has some sort of way to analyze its growth and direction.

Google+ has “1+’s”, shares, comments, and total engagements. Twitter has favorites, re-tweets, replies, and direct shout outs (the “@”).

Facebook has “likes”, shares, and comments, but more importantly if you have an actual page on there, then you have access to the insights tab which will give you a vast array of different metrics to help you along.

Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, Youtube, and LinkedIn have very similar metrics as well.

Just take a look, start writing things down and try to determine where you can improve. All of these indicators can help you successfully determine if you need to change the game plan.

3. Your free content isn’t on point.

Look. People never get bored with content, but they do get bored with monotonous content.

I’m not telling you to put out a vastly different piece of content everyday. Your audience likes to have a general idea of what they’re going to see when they visit your platform.

Chances are that your content is similar to one of your competitors content. Which is why I recommend you freshen things up a bit.

That quote meme you just put out could probably use a more original graphic. Maybe something more creative than what you competitor is putting out on the average. Or maybe it’s time to expand into different mediums. A blog, a podcast, a quick video every week, or maybe introduce a customer thank you program.

Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb though. That’s where the fruit is.

Before you do start breathing a little more life into your content, make sure you read the next problem with your social media…

4. You’ve failed to properly understand your target audience.

Most likely, this problem starts with your marketing plan (which should be sitting with your business model). Any good marketing plan usually outlines who your target market segment is, what they do, what they like, and where they are amongst a few other key pieces of info.

Let’s take for example that if you’re a B2B company. There’s probably a big chance that your target audience isn’t on vine or snapchat (although this may change), which is why you need to properly research the dynamics of your audience.

Tip: B2B businesses can do well on LinkedIn. Check it out.

5. You’re not putting enough time into it.

General business operations are time-consuming as it is. When you throw social media into the mix, then you probably have a lot of sleepless nights coming ahead of you, especially if you’re a bootstrapping startup.

The thing with social media is that its bite is a lot smaller than it’s bark.

It can seem awfully daunting at first, but once you put in the basic hours of setting up your accounts and have laid out a game plan, then most of the work comes from content design and communicating  properly with your community.

Aside from the listed reasons above, never cast aside a healthy dose of self-awareness into your daily schedule. Being able to take a look at your current process and learning how to refine it is an integral part of your business’s success.

P.S. If you can’t just seem to find the time, or lack the ambition to learn social media yourself- then hire a pro.

Your business depends on it. =)

Source: https://bornofdream.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/5-problems-with-your-businesss-social-media/