5 reasons your social media strategy is failing 👎🏻

If you run a small business and want to get more people to click through to your website, then you may consider using social media. After all, social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are free to use and help you reach a wider audience – and, despite the time it takes to manage a profile, it still makes financial sense.

But is your social media strategy giving you the results that you want? Below, we’ve rounded up five reasons why your strategy might be failing…

 

You’re not pushing out quality content

Perhaps the most important thing that you can do when working on a social media campaign for your small business is to publish high-quality content on a regular basis. That means content that your audience is going to want to read and interact with, so think news articles related to your niche, special offers, promotions and the occasional silly post like a GIF or joke. See what content gets the most shares, likes and interactions, and form your strategy around that data. A willy-nilly approach to content is never going to cut it, so consider creating your own content using websites such as Canva, like we do for our Twitter and Instagram posts.

 

You’re ignoring your followers

It obviously makes sense to respond to every comment and tweet that’s sent to your business account, but when was the last time you actively engaged with your followers? You don’t have to be tweeted directly to enter a discussion or engage with another user – in fact, doing so can make your brand appear more human and personable. One of the best ways to open yourself up to this is by taking part in a Twitter hour – respond to people who use the same hashtag and create a dialogue – you’ll soon be glad you did!

https://twitter.com/99socialUK/status/949007690495397889

 

You’re not taking advantage of multimedia content

All of the major social networking sites now allow you to post multimedia content like images, GIFs, infographics and videos, so take advantage of this fact and make your stream more interactive. Multimedia content can boost engagement rates and help your brand travel further – as Buffer reports, tweets with images get 150% more engagement than those without. If you don’t have any images of your business, then take some on your smartphone and use sites like Photoshop.com and Canva to create attractive graphics to share on social media.

 

You’re automating too much

Social media automation is a great way to speed up your marketing efforts and get more content shared online. Tools like Buffer and HootSuite have changed the way businesses do social – and that’s great. But one thing that you should try to avoid is overusing social media automation and making your social media accounts look robotic.

People won’t want to follow you if they think your account is unmonitored, so make sure you log on regularly to respond to comments, engage in trending topics and keep people on your side. In fact, Facebook will close down your Facebook page for inactivity if you don’t post manually often enough, so it pays to log in.

 

You’re trying too hard

Another reason why your social media marketing strategy may be failing is that you’re trying too hard – whether that’s to get more followers or to get people to click through to your website. Never posts tweets such as “please follow us” or “please click the link” as it looks desperate and can cause damage to your brand and its reputation.

Be yourself, be confident in your brand and keep posting, even if you think that nobody is listening. Every tweet and Instagram story is a chance for you to connect with potential customers, so you need to make sure that you’re at your best at all times. Spammy and attention-seeking social media content won’t cut it.

 

Wrapping up

Nobody said that social media is easy. Of course, you don’t need to be an expert to post on Twitter and gain followers, but time and patience are required if you want to stand out and make social media work for you. We wish you the best of luck with your social media campaign!