Small businesses can use social media to boost sales and gain attention from potential customers. Unfortunately, a lot of small businesses make mistakes when trying to harness the power of social media. Some of those are rookie mistakes that are easy to avoid, if you just are conscious of them and work to handle them differently.
Below are 5 of the biggest small business social media mistakes to avoid.
1. Trying to Do Too Much
Using social media well takes a lot of time. That’s a resource that small businesses rarely have. It’s usually best to focus on doing one or two things well instead of using every social media platform available to you.
Instead of doing a bad job on five social media platforms, focus on one that you already know how to use. If you have time later, you can always decide to branch out.
2. Wasting Resources on Ineffective Social Media Campaigns
To use social media properly, you need to know what works and what doesn’t. That means you have to measure the success of your strategies.
If you find that your Twitter posts don’t inspire customers, then stop wasting time on them.
If you see that your website gets a lot of attention after you post a video on Facebook, then you should spend more time and money doing that, instead.
3. Missed Branding Opportunities
Your company needs a coherent branding term that takes advantage of social media. When you set up profiles, make sure you fill out every piece of information. Most social media sites will give you the chance to include your logo, images, website links and business description.
Taking advantage of these branding opportunities will help customers identify your business. Filling out your company’s profile can also help people find you online. If you skip any aspect of this, then you’ll lose at least one sale. That’s one too many.
4. Speaking Without Listening
business social media mistakes
Social media isn’t about you constantly sending messages to your customers. It’s about starting a conversation.
That means you have to pay attention to what people post on your profile. You should thank people for their kind words and address comments from disgruntled customers. It doesn’t look good for bad comments to sit on your page. If you address those comments with positive, affirmative messages, you can educate your target audience and placate unhappy customers.
This is also a great opportunity for you to learn more about what your customers want. If you don’t pay attention to them, you’ll never learn from their suggestions.
5. Leaving Social Media Profiles Unattended or Inactive
Social media is a commitment that requires a little time every day. If you don’t have time to submit a post or send a tweet, then you shouldn’t even bother getting involved.
Yes, people expect businesses to have profiles on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, but it’s better to disappoint them than to ignore them. When customers see an inactive profile, they could assume that you’ve gone out of business. When they find out that you don’t have a profile, they think, “Why doesn’t so-and-so have a Facebook profile?” It might bewilder them momentarily, but it doesn’t keep them away permanently.
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credit: smallbiztrends