12 REASONS WHY SO MANY BUSINESSES ARE STILL NOT WINNING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Even though most business owners have heard how powerful social media marketing can be the majority are still unsure as to how to use it to benefit their business. So many Facebook pages have been created with enthusiasm only to be abandoned a couple of months even weeks down the line. Others are painstakingly posting consistently every day but posting the wrong type of content without a clue how to get their fans to buy their products. Many businesses are just paying lip service and seem to think that displaying a few social media icons on their site is enough to miraculously increase their revenue and some are not even connected to any networks at all. Although on the face of it, social media marketing seems free it actually takes a sizeable investment of man hours, and if you are getting it wrong you may as well be throwing a great deal of money out of the window. Here are some common reasons why so many businesses are getting it wrong:
Not 100% committed and convinced
Many businesses are not convinced that it actually works at all and therefore are not prepared to put in the time it takes to learn how to plan and implement the effective strategies it takes to build a successful campaign. As a result their campaign falls flat and they simply give up after a few months.
Little or no understanding about how social media marketing works
Many still think that setting up a profile and putting an icon on their website is what it’s all about. They may even post a few status updates and post some pictures of their product in the hope that their website is suddenly going to be inundated with new traffic and think that these new visitors are miraculously going to convert into customers.
They don’t understand the fact that fans and followers are worthless unless they know what to do with them
Just because a business has maybe 1000 or 30,000 fans or followers, does not mean this will automatically transfer to their balance sheet. Fans are just fans, and as long a business doesn’t know what do with those fans they will stay as fans and not customers.
Not understanding the psychology behind buying decisions
They have absolutely no idea about the psychology behind how and why people make buying decisions and therefore, do not know how to use this knowledge to their advantage in their campaign.
Lack of clear goals
Aimlessly sharing content on their network without setting specific and measurable goals is just a waste of time and resources.
Not having a system to capture and convert leads
Building a following is almost useless if those followers are not visiting the business’ website or subscribing to the newsletter so that they can be converted into paying customers. Many businesses are still not making lead capture one of their main goals.
Unrealistic expectations
Social media is a long terms strategy, it needs to be an integral part of a business’ marketing plan and today it’s as important as any other daily task a business may undertake. It is not a one size fits all solution and is not a solution for overnight success, it takes careful planning and long term commitment.
The wrong audience
It's no good having a huge number of fans if they are not interested in buying your product. There are even sites where you can buy fans, but if they are not the right audience then they are very unlikely to be interested in what that business has to offer.
Not enough followers
The majority of businesses are going to need a sizeable audience to make any impact at all, and although engagement is important, unless a business has a healthy number of followers it's not going to be a great deal of benefit.
Not being proactive
Many businesses seem to assume that people are just going to press the ‘like’ or ‘follow’ button on their blog or website. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that and people generally need a good reason or incentive to follow a business, unless it’s a very well known brand.
Trying to push their products all the time
This is not what social media marketing is about and businesses that continually push their products are just missing the whole point of how social media marketing works and will lose followers as a result.
Posting too little, posting too often, or posting the wrong content altogether
If you post too much your posts will be considered as spam. If you post too little you will just be forgotten and if you post the wrong content you will not attract the right audience which may harm your brand. The top three reasons for losing fans are:
i.) The Company posts too frequently
ii.) The business pushes their products too much
iii.) The business posts offensive content
This is an excerpt from my book Make Social Media Work for your Business and all books in the series. Can you think of any other ways businesses maybe getting social media wrong, if so I would love to hear about them in the comments below.
