Small to medium-sized business make self-defeating mistakes when it comes to their social media marketing campaigns (or lack of)! In this post, I’d like to cover the 4 most common mistakes business owners commit; and, in my humble opinion, if they continue on this path, they’ll find themselves out of business sooner-than-later!
1. Quantity Over Quality (though a more proper term is measurable metrics):
90% of business owners that my agency runs social media audits for are under the FALSE belief that the number of fans they have is more important than the quality of fans/followers. The big mistake here is that business owners still view social media networks as mass tools to shove content down consumers throats. This is so frustrating to me. Gone is the ear of telemarketing and pushy sales. Social media is about tangible connections which offer solution driven content. You want to know the secret to client conversion, STOP PUSHING YOUR SERVICES/PRODUCTS on them. They’ll resent you for it! The reality is that it really doesn’t matter if you have 12,000 followers, if they’re not sharing your content, videos, tweets and the like, it’s equal to having ZERO fans! Social media is based on engagement. In fact, SEO will change and depend largely on how much interaction you’re having with your clients/fans/followers.
2. Too Many Social Media Handles:
From Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn to Pinterest to Google Plus to Tumblr to Instagram to SnapChat, what’s a business owner to do? First, pick two or three you’re comfortable with. Plus, sit back, take a deep breath and analyze what these social media sites offer and the type of business you have. If your business caters to women, Pinterest is quite appropriate. It’s not if your business mainly caters to men. If you’re a dentist, Twitter and Facebook are quite appropriate. If you’re a realtor, Google Plus, Facebook and Twitter are more than enough, if you’d like to add LinkedIn for extra measure, go for it. You don’t need the other forums. However, if your business caters to teens, you’d want to focus on Tumblr, Instagram and SnapChat. More and more teens are growing bored with Facebook, so it would be a waste of your time. Pick up to three and you won’t waste your time or get overwhelmed.
3. Making Your Tweets and Posts All About You!!!
Notice the extra exclamation marks? I can’t begin to explain to you how frustrating it is for me to explain to my clients that social media networks are not about them or their business, but rather about the fans/followers/consumers. If you keep pushing your services down their throats, you’ll lose out to your competitors. If fact, I’ll go out on a limb, and make this bold statement by saying that within five years, you’ll be out business if you continue to ignore or use social media as it is meant to be. The last thing you want to do is bore your fans/followers by always talking about your brand. Of course, you want to sell more products and/or services, but unless you focus on how these services/products will improve their quality-of-life (so to speak), you’ll lose out. I guarantee you that if you start pushing out interesting and useful content, you’ll gain more fans/followers through engagement of comments and shares!
4. If You Fail To Plan, You Plan To Fail:
First, let me tell you this– if you’re not taking risks in social media, you’ll fail. I urge you to try different forums. Play around with your content and see what type of response you’re getting. If you’re not interacting and your content is not shared, change it up. Don’t be afraid of failure! I recommend that you make a weekly schedule. Pick a day or two for writing helpful content. Then pick a day or several days to share the content via the social media forums that best suit your business.
Please let me know if you have any questions or need a specific idea for your business. I’ll be happy to answer short questions and give you some quick social media marketing tips and advice. Just leave a comment below.
Wishing you much success,
Anabelle Taub
I recently got a call from a small business owner in Hallandale, Florida, who happens to be quite proficient in social media marketing. He was seeking the services of my agency because he had reached what he referred to as “social media burnout.” Actually, this is quite common. I can relate– I eat, breathe and sleep social media! Both in my personal and professional life. Luckily, I have found the antidote to social media fatigue. I’d like to share some tips with you on how to avoid social media burnout:
- Don’t try to be on every social media network! Leverage the social media channels that best fit your business’ needs. Let’s go over some examples: If you own a bakery, Pinterest and/or Flickr are the perfect social media forums for you. Why? Because both focus on blogging through pictures. An image says a thousand words. Your cake creation will be enough to convert a visitor to the site to a client. If you’re a jewelry designer, same scenario. However, if you’re a veterinarian, blog posts back linked to Facebook are far more suitable than the latter! Why? Because writing about the importance of annual canine teeth cleaning is far more informative than a picture. It offers the consumer an avenue to make an informative decision about his/her pet’s care.
- Plan ahead. The common mistake many business owners make is that they try to be on every social media channel. A complete waste of time and energy. For instance, Twitter is not an effective tool for the average business owner! I mean that sincerely. I often use it as a seo tool for my clients. What I mean is that unless you’re JLo, chances are that your followers are not interested in what you had for breakfast, or what services you have to sell. The biggest mistake business owners make is trying to sell their services on Twitter. They get no response (obviously!… this method is the modern-day unsolicited telemarketing calls we all used to get years ago), and get discouraged. I’ve written some helpful twitter tips in past blog posts. Decide which channels include your target audience and engage them with useful information. DO NOT SELL your services! Engage your audience and the business will come! For example: Sydney! Faye-Davis, a prominent Williams Island realtor, does an impeccable job with her social media efforts. Sure her website contains listings, but she also writes about up-to-date finance trends which affect lending. She writes posts advising landlords on how they can attract potential renters.
- Use your time efficiently! Allot one day for writing your blog posts. If you need 2 hours, schedule it in. Then, allot the next day for linking these posts on 2 to 3 social media channel max. I suggest Facebook and Google Plus. Maybe LinkedIn as well. However, on this network, please don’t share what you’ve had for breakfast. Keep it strictly professional.
I suggest selecting at least one or two of these tips and putting a plan in place for effectively utilizing your time on social media.
If you have any tips you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you. Use the comment section below.
Wishing you a great day,
Anabelle Taub
Twitter: Quality over Quantity, or Quantity over Quality? Easy! Quality! If you’re a small business owner you’ve probably been solicited to buy a package of 5,000 followers for $99. You probably think having 5,000 followers will look impressive and add legitimacy to your business. Right? I beg to differ. As the owner of Eco Press and being a proud marketing whiz since 1996, I strongly disagree. My specialty is rescuing businesses who are literally going out of business, and turning them into a flourishing wheel of revenue. I do this not by quantity, but rather quality. I add quality to my clients’ online marketing campaigns; thus, I help set them apart from their competitors.
The biggest mistake I see people make with Twitter is that they think that having hundreds, if not thousands of followers will bring them business. However, if you’re not engaging your followers, chances are you’ve NEVER got one phone call, one conversion from follower to client! I know this to be true for so many. So, let’s get to how you can change this!
What should you say in 140 characters or less?
- Pose questions to stimulate follower engagement
- Don’t just post a link to a blog or event; ask for feedback
- Tag your followers and get them involved
- Use hashtags when posting to get in front of more users
Try my advice out. I hope you’ll find it useful! If you have any social media marketing or social networking questions, feel free to post them on the comments section below.
Wishing you a great day!
Anabelle Taub
Eco Press, Socializing Brands
Hi there,
Thanks for stopping by ecopressinc.com. For those of you who don’t know me- my name is Anabelle Taub. I am the proud owner of Eco Press- a digital social media marketing and web design agency located in Miami, Florida. I write about all things related to social media marketing, social network marketing, and my favorite- search engine marketing. Recently, during a consultation with a new client, I had to explain to her what the difference was between what is known as traditional marketing vs. internet marketing.
My client, a very intelligent and capable woman was confused, so I realized that others may be as well. Thus, today’s blog topic. Allow me to begin by explaining the difference.
TRADITIONAL MARKETING vs. INTERNET MARKETING
- High cost Low cost
- Broad target Narrowed targeting
- Requires time for exposure Immediate exposure (if handled by professional)
- Difficult to track results 24/7 availability to track results, allowing for immediate changes if needed
The truth of the matter is (in my humble opinion) that as technology advances, the traditional methods of marketing are dying out. Print media is dying out. Even high-end print media, such as Vogue and the like, may suffer losses. Think about this- when Jennifer Lopez wears a dress at the Oscars, it literally goes viral- you’ll find it on people.com, usmagazine.com, and many more websites. High end designers get a ton of exposure within a matter of minutes; honestly, that is FREE exposure. With a tweet that goes viral, what is the purpose of spending millions of dollars on ad space in magazines?
The same applies for small businesses. Gone are the days of having to advertise (at high cost) in local newspapers or magazines. For a fraction of the price, you can get tremendous exposure on the internet that is available 24/7 and covers your targeted demographic and then some!
However, I’d caution you about the following if you’re not going to hire an experienced online marketing professional- unless you create a sound social media strategy, you will not experience an increase in revenue! Social media without a planned out professional strategy is a waste of time. Why? Because social media should be used as a means to send traffic to your website or blog. Unless you know how to utilize your website or blog to your advantage, you’re losing tremendous exposure.
Feel free to subscribe to Eco Press’ Blog for future social media marketing tips as well as updates on changes in social media which may affect the way your business or brand is viewed on the internet.
If you’d like a marketing professional to run you online marketing campaign, please consider Eco Press. Feel free to email me with any questions at: ecopressmiami@gmail.com.
Take care,
Anabelle Taub
Thanks for stopping by Eco Press. My name is Anabelle Taub. I am the owner of Eco Press- a digital social media marketing and web design boutique based out of Aventura, Florida. In my day-to-day meetings with new clients, I realized that many people have heard the terms social media, social networks, and so on, but don’t know exactly what it means.
So, here’s an easy explanation. Social networking refers to the practice of people interacting with one another, typically on the internet, about common interests, thoughts, ideas, and activities. In the mobile world, social networking is becoming very popular because people can use apps to tap into, and communicate (network) with their friends/followers. This is an extremely effective marketing channel which many business owners don’t tap into. In the very near future I’ll be unveiling a social network which I’ve worked on with a client for almost a year. In the meanwhile, here’s an example of a social network for kids created by Disney: http://clubpenguin.com.
If you’d like to have your very own mini facebook, or social network, and you have a concept, but are unsure on how to go about creating your very own social network, please call me at: 305-924-741. My social network building service starts as low as $1995. In a matter of a month (longer depending on how complex the concept is), you can have your very own social network.
Wishing you a great day,
