Social media marketing is the norm. Gone are the days when the only form of digital marketing that we know of is through the television. Advertisers, product influencers, and bloggers – they’re all over Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media platforms! Social media marketing has been one of the ways to make extra money online.
Even if it sounds relatively easy to do, there’s still a lot of mistakes that you can commit while doing your social media campaign. Here's a list of some of them – so you can polish your marketing strategy next time – and avoid committing the same mistakes again!
You’ll still need to have a marketing strategy. After all, you’re introducing your products to the market! Know your target market – in this case, your audience – and how you can reach them. Once you've launched your social media account, don’t go MIA. If you can, post every day, so you can enter your target market faster, and have a bigger audience, as well. Know how to relate to your target market. What do they like to see? Be sure to stay away from what bores them.
Further, strategize on how many hours in a day you should spend working, posting, replying to comments on your products, etc. You should be quick to monitor the activities and updates on your social media account so that you can address an issue immediately. Think of it just like a typical marketing job, except in this one, you’re doing it through social media. Measuring your social media sites’s score before adopting a strategy will helps to achieve expected results.
Maybe up to this point you’re still doubtful as to whether or not social media can help you. You've only got a few followers, social media is just for the younger generation. The busy workaholics might not have the time to be on social media, and the list goes on and on. Let's face it; you’re merely creating alibis in your head. Facebook made its empire because of the vast – and continually growing number of users! And hey, take note of this. It’s not just the millennials who are on social media. Try searching the name of your grandmother – you might be surprised to find out that she's there too! Everyone seems to be on social media – and that's where your market is. Take advantage of this and market, market, market.
Although the whole world seems to be on Instagram right now, not all of these users are your target audience. For example, if you’re selling products for mothers, use hashtags that are relevant to moms so that you post on that hashtag group! Every time a mother searches, she can reach your products easily! Imagine if you didn’t determine your target audience first, and you’ve already gone to all heights of talking about your product – but your page landed on a user who is the least interested about these products (as it doesn’t meet their niche), then you’re just wasting your time and effort. There are many websites that allow you to check your domain and your site performance. Your followers (or subscribers) should be representative of the group that you wish to reach.
Some users are crazy about Twitter, while others utterly detest it. Some enjoy Instagram, while others shy away from it. Why? Because not all of the social media platforms available are the same. The type of content, for example, is hugely different from each other. Be sure you’re treating all of your social media platforms differently. The quality of the content you post on social platforms always matters. So, it will be great if you evaluate copied content before making it live as a social post.
The beauty with social media is that you can reply to – and directly address – comments made by someone against your product. Remember this is their own honest opinion, which you can adequately address, instead of being defensive, offering up excuses, or worse, just ignoring them. (Although yes, sometimes, ignoring these comments can be the wise thing to do.) Based on what the feedback is, you should know how to reply to this correctly, so that it will appear like as if you’re conversing with your audience – your target market – the people who matter. Do remember that they’re still your customers, and you still have to meet their needs.
If the comment is about a lapse in your product, then fix it immediately. You can even be kind enough to accept back the defective item and replace it with an improved one – like how it is in physical stores. If the comment is meant merely to criticize, take this criticism constructively and be polite. You can list all these criticisms so you can have in mind to apply them the next time that you come up with an upgraded version of your item. Do your best not to ignore these comments, as this will also lower your ratings with your target market. See it on the bright side, instead: If you reply to these comments, your number of comments will increase and will even make your page more popular! When your page is accessible, your products are more visible. (It is like making a good marketing strategy out of an unfortunate situation).
Your viewers are your customers, after all. Have a team to respond to their comments, to converse with them, if you can’t do so yourself. You have to improve conversion rate of your site with various diverse strategies. These users won’t drop a comment if they don’t wish for a reply from you. Refrain from censoring, or dismissing their comments. The more that you reply to them, the more engaging you will look, and customers appreciate this. They love it when they feel like the team behind the products that they purchase cares about them. Be friendly and relatable. Be reachable and personal.
Your tone of voice should never be just about you. Remember, this is about your viewers - your market. Talk about what they’re going through and what they want to hear. Try to fit in with the norm of your target market so that you can make your product more relatable – more real. Shy away from becoming a robot in an environment where people are supposed to be interactive with each other. Remember to be a human being, more than just a company trying to sell out products.
It sounds pretty funny when you think of it right now. BUT – you may be guilty of it. Are you the one who ALWAYS comments on random peoples' posts about items that you’re selling? Well, guess what, you’re most likely to get blocked the next time you do that. Spamming will lower down your online rank, and you have to again index your site in search engines.
Social media users HATE this! I'm sure you hate it yourself when companies post spam comments on your posts. Again, do remember that social media is about being real, interacting with each other, and engaging with your target market. It’s not about spending twelve (12) hours a day posting company-written messages that are so impersonal on every post that you see.
Put this in your head: quality over quantity. You don’t need twenty (20) social media accounts to promote the fifty (50) products that you have right now. You’ll get confused yourself, too. One account for each social media platform is ideal. Keep your followers intact and contained.
Now that you’re aware of all these mistakes, perhaps the next time you can market your products better. Remember, it’s in these social media platforms where the highest "audience" and target market is! It’s where you can find the crowd. What are you waiting for? Get posting – or Vlogging now – market your products, and see your income grow, while doing something that you love.