Social Media Mistakes
Is there room for improvement with your social media
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.
What to consider and how can you add value
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.
Are you adding value?
Social media tips from the Amish
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.
Visitors are searching for answers
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.
Use a time pattern
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.
With social media you must remember the end user
.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
Social sharing for search engine optimization and immediate readers
Social Sharing, is it part of your plan?
Comments
AUTHORThank you, Angela Brummer if you continue to provide the answers this is true. Just remember when someone wants an answer they want it today. They might not need one next week.
I think the readers are looking for answers will stick with me for a long time!
- AUTHOR
Thanks Vocalcoach. For us time is at a premium. Our corporation works both online and off. We have published over two hundred articles for ourselves and more than this for others.
We also design websites and provide all the content for them. So much of our time is spent doing social media work for others our own is often neglected.
I am passionate about learning and open to receive all the knowledge I need to be a better writer. I enjoy social media and appreciate your excellent and well presented hub. It's so important to "get it right" as early as possible.
One of the perks for being a member of hubpages is knowledge and information available. The prospect of meeting people like you is nothing short of exciting.
Thank you for taking time to write this informative and helpful hub. Voted up!
- AUTHOR
Thanks Alocin, As a corporation we like to know what works and what doesn't. The Amish are the best example of successful business people we could find. We emulate them as much as we can.
We also have a large group to support. We have sixteen share holders (all children who had been homeless) who we plan to pass the corporate assets to. The business is being built for their future. It is important to us it is there for them when they need it.
At the moment we are supplying child care for 16 when needed and have 8 children under our wing. We also take in the mothers!!! At the moment we are paying college tuition for one. Luckily the other was able to get a grant which covered hers completely. It still costs to get them the over 100 mile round trip to the class location.
I think this is very sensible advice. I love that you brought up the example of the Amish and then stated that many are still in business after five years. That's longer than typical small businesses. Voting this Up and Useful.
- AUTHOR
kevins blog52 Social media has become an important factor for online authors, both for the links they supply and readership. More and more are finding links supply the same quality readers the search engines bring. The fact hub pages is a blog has recently been brought to our attention. We feel hub pages is more than a blog however many of the same rules about how to find readers and links apply.
I have read a lot of hubs on blogging and how to make money doing it wheelinallover, and I believe you hit the nail on the head.Thank you wheelinallover, you will go for. up and useful.
- AUTHOR
I understand your feelings tlpoague. We have the responsibility to our friends, fans, and followers not only for our own social network but those of others also. There have been times when our own falls by the wayside, because there are just not enough hours in a day. You would be amazed how many hours we spend in hub pages a week looking for articles of interest to share on social sites.
Thanks for sharing these terrific points. I use most of my social media sites for my hub and sharing other hubs I come across. But lately, work has taken me out of town so I can't contect with everyone as I would like. In many ways it makes me feel as if I am letting my fans and followers down, since I can't communicate with them. I set up a FB page for our business, but hardly update it. I can see by your advice here how that can hurt more than help my business. Voted up!
- AUTHOR
adomcruze social media "is not all about you." Yes you share your passion but in a way that captures the interest of other users. I just had to throw this in. I do understand what your saying, and don't believe you feel it is all about you.
sls450 we often use the Amish as an example because they have a business model which works really well. They also have the lowest failure rate of any group we have ever found. As a community they are doing something right when you realize more of them who start businesses succeed than any other group or community of people worldwide. They have a success rate 45% higher than the United States national average.
- AUTHOR
shalycriston since as a corporation setting up social media for others is part of what we do, it is a safe bet you will be seeing more hubs written on the subject. The basics are not hard. With social media what companies are doing is creating interest in them.
This would be the same for authors. What we do is listen to customers to find their passion. Passion creates interest. For authors we advise the same. Find something you are passionate about and share your passion.
I like the Amish example. Living in central PA I've had the opportunity to do business with several Amish over the years and have gained a lot of respect for their business model. Social networking, I never thought of it way. But it is exactly that and they do it well.
The Amish are also good at outsourcing what they can't do. I find myself on more than one Amish stores email list. Believe me, when you get an email listing what pies are coming out of the oven, the odds of you stopping for one on your way home increase greatly.
Great hub, you really have me thinking.
Grouping and commenting is my way to keep engage my visitors over facebook. Engaging in the sense to provide them what is best as per my mind. Always looking forward to find something and without hesitation, share with my friends. This is just about me.
"Social Media" great topic to share, keep it up. I hope read more from you this type of informative articles. Thanks
- AUTHOR
thumbi7 Understanding that social media is really anyplace people gather in large numbers is all a hubber needs to know. What a writer is looking for is someone to read what you as an author have written.
For businesses social media means the same thing. The needs however are different for business. Whatever is offered on social media has to be of value to the reader. Many businesses will also offer discounts or gifts they believe have value to those who visit social sites. Many of the social sites have a viral effect, meaning people will pass on information they find of value to others.
We hope this clears things up for you a little. Thanks for sharing.
I am still trying to understand the concepts of social media.
Thanks for sharing
- AUTHOR
prairieprincess one of the reasons we use the Amish so often as an example is they seem to have the best of both worlds. They are allowed to be individuals as long as it somehow benefits the community. Their gift is their ability to be apart as a group of many communities, yet part of the world community.
This is good advice. I agree that we have to not be so selfish with social media. I think we forget the "social" part and sometime make it "me" media. Great hub, as always!
- AUTHOR
rebeccamealey one of my friends told me tonight "keep learning or get left behind". I try to pass on in the simplest English possible that which we have learned in our time online. Sometimes it is hard to keep learning and passing on information learned at the same time.
I'm tryin' ....so much to learn and thanks for the help. I vote this up am SHARING!
- AUTHOR
Brett.Tesol community is 100 percent correct. Very early on I realized Hub pages is a community of writers. The value of knowing others for me personally has been those who have guided me in improving my writing skills. I was a published author before coming to hub pages, but my work lacked quite a bit. It has improved dramatically with the help of other hubbers.
Sharing and Caring is an important part of business, and for most hub pages is a business. Sharing makes sense especially when it adds value to our social media marketing for the business. We always find something which is of value to our friends and fans on hub pages.
biancaalice we are glad you found something of value here. We and others publish hubs on simple search engine optimization for hubs. A few minutes ago we shared one written by another with our twitter followers. His was the simplest we have ever found but we feel he missed a few important points. It was still worthwhile for beginners so we shared.
Your hub was so interesting and actually helped me answer some questions I had about writing. Thanks.
Voted up & shared.
A very good hub. At the end of the day, it is a community, allbeit online. This means that to know people, make friends and interest people, you have to communicate. Just posting links is the equivalent of someone in a town sticking posters in their window ... it will have far less affect than someone interested in and helping the community.
Thanks for SHARING you tips, up, useful and tweeted.
- AUTHOR
dmop, viral marketing and social media marketing have one thing in common. That is the viral aspect which is achieved with both. Social media marketing isn't so much about getting a product out there for the world to see as it is about bringing people to you. Once they follow then is when very little advertising can be done. It won't take much once a person gets to know and trust you.
With our advertising we are getting ready to go with a new approach. We found corporate branding is great if your a large corporation. We are a small one so are going over to a picture of the CEO on all ads. Just like we have been told to make it personal on social media we are going to do the same with the ads we place.
Thanks for your Hub, I just published a Hub concerning viral marketing, that touched base on some of these ideas. Though it was more based on using ads appropriately to gain some income from the traffic you generate from viral marketing. The two together will certainly give advantages to those who follow the ideas expressed. Voted up and useful.
26