Even though social media marketing is relatively new, being social isn’t. Successful entrepreneurs and business owners all know that getting to know their customer base, I mean REALLY know them and what their expectations are, is the key to their business success. Using social media marketing to accomplish this task is easy and effective, yet some business owners totally miss the point of why they’re using social media in the first place; using this medium to draw clients in so they can sell to them.
Learn from the mistakes others have already made to create successful social media marketing campaigns that get customers begging for more.
Non-existent Newsletter
It’s imperative that you create and send out a regular newsletter to your list. The more they don’t hear from you, the sooner they forget about you and your business. You should send a newsletter or interesting mailing at least once per month.
Posting to Anyone Anyplace
Sure, social media is pretty much everywhere, but your clients probably aren’t. People are creatures of habit; they have their favorite foods, drinks, cars and social media hangouts. You need to find out where YOUR audience hangs out and post in those places.
You Don’t Post Enough
There isn’t a right formula for posting on social media, unless you’re NOT posting at all. That’s all kinds of wrong! I’ve read that you should post anywhere from 2 to 12 times per day, so what’s the right amount? Enough to get your audience to engage with what you post; is the correct answer. Each audience and platform is different. Do some research and experimenting then get to posting.
You Post the Wrong Stuff
If you’re thinking to yourself that you’re exhausted from all the posting you’ve been doing and still not seeing any engagement, you’re posting too much of the wrong content. You need to go back to your audience and ask them what they want to know more about and in what format. Those awesome videos you put up that drew ZERO reaction may not fit with what your audience wants to consume.
Empty Calories
Just like you can eat foods that don’t give you any value, you can do the same with content. Does your content provide value to your readers or it is just fluff? Can they so do something with it, take away an idea or act on what you’ve posted? If not, just stop, re-evaluate and give them what they want.
Connection Lost
If what you’re posting doesn’t cause people to engage in some way; “Like,” “comment” or “share” at least some of the time, you need to go back to the drawing board. You may be posting what you THINK they need or want but they may have absolutely no interest in it. For example, if you post healthy meals that contain long, drawn out instructions but your audience consists of busy women execs who barely have time to breathe, there’s a definite disconnect.
Too Salesy
People are smart; they can smell a sales pitch a mile away. Pitching is ok, on a limited basis, but if everything you create for social media screams “Buy Me!,” no one will buy, but they will go on to the next business that gives them solutions, not salesy pitches.
Post and Run
If you post, then don’t check to see what happened to the post—like NEVER, you might as well hang it up. Remember, you have to social. You wouldn’t call up a friend or potential client, say what you have to say and hang up would you? It works similar for social media. Each and every comment must be addressed in some way to show people you really do care that they actually engaged with your post.
When you really begin to understand the power of social media to build your brand, a whole new world will open up for you. Not only will you be able to sell more to your audience, you’ll actually begin to understand them so you can provide real solutions for their problems. That is so much more powerful than JUST selling.
Grab the infographic and share it with your audience.
8 Reasons Why Your Social Media Marketing Sucks
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Carol J. Dunlop
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Here are things I like about working with CSI:
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While in the process of creating a social media marketing strategy for by start-up business I had the great pleasure to work with Carol Dunlop. It was an excellent experience in every way. Carol is very patient in working with social media novices such as myself. She explains opportunities, and how to maximize those opportunities, in easy to understand terms and provides hands-on guidance with each project and assignment.I would highly recommend Carol for work related to social media and web design. She is excellent.
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I had the pleasure of working with Alvin for 4.5 years. From the moment I met Alvin, I was impressed with his professionalism and knowledge. He is a great team leader and a team player. I could always count on Alvin to fix a computer problem the first time or offer an alternative solution. Alvin's talent, dedication, and knowledge of his work are reflected in the excellent quality of the finish product. His leadership skills and ability to get along with his peers makes it a pleasure to work with him.
Alvin was/is considered a SME in his field. Alvin is a doer and gets the job done indivdually or a as a team. He is a great team player as with Alliance Data, he was the Data/PC SME however; assisted with the telephony as needed until taking on that responsibility fully. Alvin is a well-rounded, hard worker.
Alvin provided excellent customer service to myself and my departments by supporting our hardware and software needs. He was attentive, detail oriented, and aware of the fact that delays on his side directly affected our ability to serve our clients. His work was efficient and accurate,his management of issues commendable, and communications with internal co-workers was timely and effective. I would definitely hire Alvin to be part of my team again.
Alivn and I worked together at Utilipro, Alliance Data and Vertex Business Services. Alvin was very knowledgeable in his subject and performed and completed his tasks with ease. He is committed to his profession and believes that his work is a reflection of himself, so he only does his best. Alvin was always a pleasure to work with, positive, upbeat and cheerful, no matter what the situation. It was an honor to be his colleague.
I've been a client for 15 years, since I met these folks at a landscape company I worked for, where they built a beautiful and extremely forward-thinking site. Since then, CSI has built and managed 2 other company sites for me and my teams. We are currently in a complete redesign on one of them- the developer quit supporting the template and CSI stepped up and did a redesign at NO CHARGE! #customerservice.
We have been clients of Creative Services International, Inc. for many years. Carol is an awesome person to work with. She designed our website several years ago and has recently transformed it into a site we are extremely proud of. It is easy to maneuver through, colorful and up to date.She goes over and above our expectations. She also manages our Facebook page and is doing an extraordinary job there too. Would suggest for any website needs contact CSI,Inc. some of her ideas are just over the top!!!!!!
Carol jumped in and helped me get my website and Facebook page set up quickly and without taking a lot of my time. That was so helpful when I was overwhelmed with getting social media integrated for my book. Thanks, Carol, for your responsiveness and for getting my Facebook page up and running. It was so nice that I had you in my corner and didn’t have to waste my time “figuring it out!”Author, The Graduate’s Guide™ to Money and Building a Business, Building a Life
Carol Dunlop has been a tremendous help when it comes to marketing for my CrossFit gym. She helped set up and connect all of my social media avenues. She has come up with great ideas from holiday events to fundraising to media options to set our gym apart. I believe investing in Carol's services for your business will be one of the biggest payoffs you will see!
Working with Carol Dunlop of CSI Corporation for the past few months has introduced me to new social media platforms. I was very familiar with Facebook and Twitter but wasn't using Pinterest and had recently switched to using Mailchimp to send newsletters. Carol was able to setup Pinterest and Mailchimp and merged them with all of my social media platforms making them easier to manage. She was also able to answer all of my questions even those dealing with my website and made recommendations for improvements. Thanks Carol for all of your hard work.
I hired Carol Dunlop to design my website because I had no idea about what was needed. Carol really listened to and answered every question I had. She was patient and gave me suggestions that I would never have considered. Carol is truly an expert in the website design and social media arenas.I am also grateful to both Carol and Alvin for going above and beyond to repair my website when it was hacked while under Go Daddy's hosting. Go Daddy left me out in the cold but they stepped in, found how deep the hack was and brought my site back as good as new with new protocols in place. Needless to say, I dropped Go Daddy and now use CSI Corp for my website hosting.I highly recommend hiring CSI Corporation for any website or online business concerns you have. They deliver on their promises!
Finding the right person to support my dream projects hasn't always been easy. That is -- until I connected with the Online WOW! Strategist, Carol Dunlop. Carol is knowledgeable about her craft and truthful about what can be accomplished within proposed time frames.She is a beast at bringing my vision to life while setting up the right tools to ensure my online success. The project Carol just completed for my live event is absolutely AWESOME! I look forward to our next project. It's because I know without a doubt that NO ONE can translate my vision into reality like Carol. She is truly my Online WOW! Strategist. I highly recommend Carol not just as a web designer but as a consummate professional with the ability to support you in achieving all of your online goals.