Considering how many businesses – local to international – are now utilising social media as an everyday promotional tool, it’s amazing how many are still making basic errors when it comes to the content they’re posting online.
When marketing your brand on social media, there are a few very simple, yet very common, slip-ups to avoid.
Don’t be self-centred
When you want to show your social media audience how great your brand is, your first instinct will probably be to start firing out loads of posts about how amazing you are. But this would be a mistake. Your audience doesn’t want to hear about how many customers you have or how high your stock has risen; all they want to know is what you can do for them.
So, instead of filling your posts with words like “we” and “our”, make an effort to include plenty of “you”s and “your”s. Make your content customer-centric rather than self-centric and you’ll find that your audience feels much more inclined to engage with you.
There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Team’
When you post content via your Facebook Business Page or brand’s official Twitter account, remember that you’re not posting as yourself – you’re acting as the voice of your entire company. And, because companies are made up of a team of people rather than a single person, it makes sense to speak from the perspective of a group. In other words, use “we” instead of “I”, “us” instead of “me” and so on.
It sounds like common sense, but you’d be astounded how common this particular issue is.
Going for the hard sell
Because social media is a free platform, using it to push your products and/or services without having to pay advertising fees might seem too tempting to resist. But alas, this is nothing more than another common pitfall. Social media is all about engaging your audience, and your audience aren’t going to engage with you if your timeline looks like the Amazon homepage. Instead, try posting interesting content like videos and blogs of relevant interest to your audience.
If you’re dead set on pushing your products then focus on special offers and competitions rather than generic product posts.
Likes don’t equal sales
A popular misconception about social media is that increasing your Likes and followers is a sure-fire way to increase sales. The truth of the matter is that Facebook and other social platforms are more about creating brand awareness and brand advocacy than they are about contributing to your bottom line.
Unfortunately, if you want to use social media for selling purposes then it’s going to cost you. Running paid promotions is the most effective way to sell stuff on social, but you’ll need to get extra creative with your ads if they’re going to stand out from the oodles of other content out there.
Of course, one of the most important elements of social media success is knowing how to talk to your audience. Click here for free tips on how to learn the lingo of your online community.