Why You Need to Revamp Your Social Media Strategy

September 13, 2012 4:30 pm

Why You Need to Revamp Your Social Media Strategy

There may be a variety of reasons why your social media marketing strategy is ineffective. Unfortunately, many strategists still maintain the belief that being on the various social media platforms will translate into marketing success. This is why frustration with vague social media strategies has been common inside many companies. These businesses will need to take an introspective look at what they’re doing wrong and pursue a reinvented approach to make improvements.

  • Be More Specific If you haven’t explicitly stated what you would like to achieve with your social media marketing strategy, then you will have major issues. Just like anything else, it’s important to clearly define your goals so you’re not blindly throwing money at something that you’re not sure about. Yes, nearly every business is jumping to social media to pursue their marketing objectives, but not all are successful. Why? Because they do not understand what they want out of their social media campaign. When strategizing your social media plan, think about factors such as web traffic, brand awareness, and customer relationship management. Your social media strategy needs to be tailored to a specific goal in order to achieve success.
  • Provide Value Failing to write great content is also a potential pitfall to a comprehensive social media plan. Being personal and responsive will go a long way in your customer relationship management efforts. Though your credibility is truly reliant on how compelling and valuable your content is. If it makes the audience reconsider preconceived notions and provokes thought in the way they perceive your brand, you’ve achieved your goal. Do not look at content creation as an obligatory task, one that does not need to be taken seriously. In many cases, it is the backbone of your social media strategy. Treat it that way.
  • Focus On Your Target AudienceDo not focus on you, focus on them. That means understand the target audience you are interacting with – their tendencies, behaviors and sentiments. Then, communicate accordingly. Help your audience understand how your product or service can be beneficial to them. Too often, businesses fall into the trap of becoming overly self-promotional. This is something that can potentially alienate your base.Failing to make a concerted effort to recruit the proper audience can also be a detriment to your social media strategy. Sure, there will be those who will blindly follow you, but it’s important to actively search for users whose interests match your brand. It is a good practice to follow back those who follow you. It demonstrates that your business truly cares about the customers and is not using social media as a self-serving method of generating revenue.
  • Manage Your ExpectationsAnother aspect that may potentially set you back is poor management of expectations. It’s important to be patient and understand that you will not be able to accomplish all of your social media goals overnight. Generation of sales can be achieved after building a reputation on social media as a trusted source of information and communication. Building a rapport and humanizing your brand will take time, but the rewards will be worth it in the end.Failing to be completely transparent about your brand’s core values and objectives will only hinder your business. Do not use social media as a façade. Be as truthful about who you are and your target audience will appreciate this and reciprocate.

Contact our social media marketing team today if you would like to avoid common mistakes like these.

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About The Author

We specialize in b2b, supporting the clients who are the "The Brands Behind the Brands." These are the supply chain partners of brands, either in Tier 1 or Tier 2 positions, who drive value through the delivery of goods, services and technologies. We enjoy blogging about all things related to Branding, Marketing, Inbound, Tradeshows, etc... And we're always happy to talk about any ideas you may have that might Get You To Your NEXT!