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It seems that just about everyone is on Facebook or twitter these days. Every business book, article, and magazine is advising business owners to get on the train. There’s really no reason not to. It’s growing exponentially every day, everyone from teenagers to senior citizens are interacting with each other, and more importantly it’s free to use. You’re essentially being invited into a massive networking party, filled every demographic you can imagine.
However, it’s not as easy as it may initially seem. While it’s true that social networks are free, and it’s relatively easy to go to Facebook or twitter and create a company account, there’s more that needs to be done and over to truly succeed in social media. The following are three common mistakes that companies make when adding social media to their marketing mix:
1. Assuming that creating a profile page is good enough. More often than not, when you visit a small business twitter or Facebook page, it’ll either not have any messages or interaction, or the activity will be minimal. The fact is that social media is an ongoing and interactive process. By having a twitter page that hasn’t been touched in months, you risk sending out messages to potential clients that you’re not active, well your company is in disarray. Not only that, it gives people absolutely no reason to return to your twitter page and interact with you. An empty social media business page, is equivalent to going to a party and not talking to anyone: you’re likely to not make any sales.
2. Talking only about yourself. How many times have you been in a conversation with someone, only to find that person talks only about themselves and waits for their turn to talk? In most cases, unless that person is incredibly interesting, that conversations could be a slight bit boring. You likely to not look forward to the next time you speak to that person. Social media works in the same way. When you send out a tweet, or share an article, you need to make sure there’s a benefit to the visitor. Give them a reason to return. For example, if you’re a bankruptcy lawyer don’t send the message out to users on how you just want a big case. This sounds like advertising, something that social media users dislike. Instead, share an article on the top 10 reasons for bankruptcy, or the most common myths about bankruptcy. An article that is beneficial to the user, will prompt them to not only come back, but also share resources with others.
3. Talking too much. It may seem hypocritical to advise people not to interact as much after just advising you to not interact so little. However if you are constantly sending out messages to people connected to your social media we can have negative effects. For example, sometimes people don’t like to be bombarded with multiple messages every hour, similar to most people’s e-mail inboxes. Do you risk the chance of people un-friending you, or un-following you. In addition, by constantly sharing articles, news and messages, you dilute the importance of each message. So when you tweet out about important promotion, or changing your services, you lose a priority for that message because it’s likely that more people will ignore it. The rate at which you share information, it’s something that’s dependent on your industry and your audience. On average, sending out messages once or twice a day might be enough. When engaging in social media, determine how much you can handle, and how well your audience reacts to your interaction.
