Social Media Mistakes

The major mistakes many companies make with social media is forgetting to provide value to their fans and followers. Do you provide information that has value to your fans? Are you looking for feedback to see what those who are following are looking for or expecting? For larger companies and corporations are you offering discounts to those who follow? If your not it is no wonder facebook and your other social media are not performing as you would like.

Consider what you are looking for from your social media. If you find a fan page full of links what are you going to do? When you see nothing but business links from someone on twitter how do you feel? We just pass them up and look for something which gives us value. Fan pages are about offering value to the followers it’s not about you. Social media is about finding your niche then giving value to it.

Add value with what you are passionate about and we are not talking business here for smaller users. Larger companies or corporations need to add value by offering discounts on their goods or having contests. Even smaller marketers can run contests. Especially if you know how to do something others haven’t learned yet. You can even offer to teach people new skills as a contest prize.

Take a lesson from the Amish, they don’t use computers yet ninety percent are still in business after five years. They use everything they are allowed to use to their advantage. Word of mouth throughout their entire community often does them no good. The majority are too far away to buy goods. They have learned to use people outside the faith to spread the word. This is what social media is about, getting others to spread the word. Not using these sites properly is a mistake.

Certain types of things people are passionate about are easy to link. The people who love pets are a good example. Putting in a link every once and a while about a pet products website, either an owned website or an affiliate site is almost expected. Though it shouldn’t be an every day occurrence.

The Amish go out of their way to make sure a customer is satisfied. They more than most realize how much damage a dissatisfied customer can cause. What hurts the name of one Amish business hurts the entire community. Something to think about, on the internet we have all have been hurt by people who have shoddy products or ones which have provide no real value to the end user.

Old school applies here, people still want answers. They are liking and following you to find them. Value is important be sure to provide it. The answer can be a discount on something they will buy, learning something they don’t know, or a contest which gives the winner something (they) value. Think about your product and timing. You need to maintain value year round even if your selling a seasonal product. It helps to remember no matter what season you sell to it is that season somewhere in the world. Other places in the world are in a different season and you need to fill a need for them also.

It is important to remember, use your social media daily. For most it is hard, some work jobs and have a limited amount of time, companies and corporations often overlook making new posts not truly seeing the value. As a company or corporation use a team approach with one person given the final responsibility for daily posting.

For small and one man businesses, and those running part time, as you are going through your day take a few minutes here and there to look around to find something worth posting. When you find it, write it down, email it to yourself, or leave a message on your home phone with your idea. Remember to check the email account and your phone messages which will remind you to make the post.

If you have your own marketing website remember the more people who like and share your link the better your search engine optimization is going to be. You never want people to feel it is being asked of them. People who link and share in a positive way are building your reputation which is now taken into consideration in your search engine ranking.

When posting to social media you should always use a time pattern. This applies to part time marketers as well as large corporations. Post at the same times and on the same days because people will come to expect your post when you use a time pattern.

What you gain using a pattern is people sharing and commenting on your posts. This helps with Search engine optimization.

.Almost every person we have met is making one or more mistakes with their social media. If you want yours to be as effective as possible consider the end user. Make sure they are receiving value and they will remain your fan or follower.

© Feb, 11, 2012 Dennis Thorgesen Lisech eMarketing and consulting

© updated November 4, 2014 Dennis Thorgesen, Lisech eMarketing and consulting