Small Business Social Media Marketing – 6 Pitfalls to Avoid
Small Business Social Media Marketing can help organizations grow and become more efficient in a number of ways. However small businesses have made mistakes and are continuing to do so as they try to adapt to new tools, platforms and the shift towards a more social culture.
1. Jumping In Too Quickly
Social Media marketing is not something that you can get started with unless you are willing to commit consistent time and resources to it. There is nothing worse than a Facebook page that is never updated, or if someone has managed to spam an offer on a business page for a pair of red glitzy shoes! How many Twitter pages have you seen where the last update simply says “happy new year to all our followers”.
Rather than jumping in, reserve your user names, monitor what’s going on and listen to what is happening in the social community. Follow what the most profitable small businesses do; observe what your customers, prospects and competition are doing and how they are interacting before joining the conversation when you are ready.
2. Not having a defined strategy
Simply having a Facebook Business page or a Twitter profile is not a strategy.
- Why are you building a Facebook page?
- What is it that you are trying to achieve?
- Who is your target audience?
- Do you have a content marketing strategy?
- how will you look to engage your following on a regular basis?
- How are you going to encourage users to become engaged community members?
- What value will you offer them? What results are you looking for and how will you measure them?
These are the types of questions that you should be asking yourself and of your business before you begin the social media marketing journey.
3. That it is Free
It may cost nothing to set up a profile on Twitter or a Facebook Page, but that doesn’t mean that small business social media marketing is free. The profile or the page is a mere carcass, a shell for what is the true investment. The investment is the time that you will have to spend in order to develop a community that people want to be involved with.
4. Shiny New Object Syndrome
If you spend even a small amount of time on social media you will recognise that there is new fandangle, super shiny, fail proof, push button solution that can increase your fan base fifty fold by increasing your conversions and sales dramatically – whether it be Google+, Pintrest, Twitter or another new site that everyone is talking about. However it is important to see your original strategy through, and spend your time and resources where you know your customers will be.
5. Small business social media marketing is not all about sales
Too many people and businesses jump straight on to Facebook or Twitter and immediately start making offers and pitches, sharing links to sales pages and showcasing their latest products or offers. Social media is not about that. Social media and online marketing for small business is about developing an engaged community, building trust, developing relationships and increasing interest. It is a longer sales cycle but once you have established that relationship and built a level of influence through being authentic and sharing value to the community, leads and sales will follow.
6.Giving up too easily
Small business social media marketing can be frustrating; there is no doubt about it. Building relationships takes time and it can be discouraging when you think about all the time, effort and even money with no immediate impact. But as long as you are providing value, sharing great content, and targeting your audience well, your patience will be rewarded. It may not be through immediate sales, but you may pick up some great business contacts that can help elevate your business to the next level.
In conclusion, small business social media marketing can have a dramatic effect on increasing the awareness of your business and over time, leads and sales. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that because it costs nothing, it is free. You need to have a plan in place and you need to interact and engage with your community on a regular basis to see the long terms goals.
Click on this link to learn more marketing ideas for small business that just work!
About
James Debono is a small business owner and Internet entrepreneur. James dedicates his time to helping other small business owners leverage the power of the Internet to drive business growth and positive change. Click here Join James Debono on Google+
Related posts:
Hey James,
Love the Shiny New Object Syndrome point
And, so true that social media is not all about sales – really it’s just an avenue to connect with people. And if you’re the one making sales pitches constantly, who will want to connect with you?
Nobody wants to be “sold”…
Thanks for sharing – great points to keep in mind!
Christine Brady recently posted..5 Internet Marketing Lessons Learned from the Academy Awards
Hi Christine,
A Shiny new object is great for a quick fix but it is not sustainable.
Thanks for commenting.
James
I fell into pitfall no 3, Time is the sucker that cost me far too much money. I have a business to run and a family at home and one or the other was not getting any attention from me when I tried to do my own social media marketing. I turned to MAgicbuz in the end, they now handle all my SocioViral marketing and I like the personal way they do it.
Great post James–thanks for the tips! Time investment was one that I also had to learn the hard way & I stick to the 80/20 rule when it comes to advertising on social media
Kudos!
Jenny recently posted..Stop Pulling Out Your Hair and Give that Stress a Swift Kick in the…
Great Tips! I like #2 the most. There are so many people that just jump in because someone somewhere told them too. But they have no idea what they are doing or why they are doing it.
Then they inevitably fail and blame Social Media instead of realizing that maybe the issue is they didn’t have a plan.
Good stuff, thanks for the (valuable) reminders,
Cindy
Cindy recently posted..Livescribe – The Cool Tool To Store Your Notes Easily YMU Update Feb 27th 2012
Hey Cindy,
Glad you find the post valuable.
Social media is a marketing tactic and as such if you want to see results you need to have a plan.
Thanks for your comment,
James
These are helpful tips to anyone starting out in social media. It gives them a good foundation to work from. Great job.
Hi Knikkolette,
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment!
Regards,
James
Social media can be confusing to small business owners, and you make some great points. Most owners I know (I own a gas station) have a very limited amount of time to invest into internet or social media initiatives, and if they don’t have a clearly defined vision of what to to, they won’t do anything! Or, they’ll follow article point #6.
Perhaps you could write an article about “if you were to do one thing on Social Media as a business owner, you should do…”. Or maybe “The easiest Social Media activity to engage in that will give you the most impact will be…”.
Good article!
Steve Martin recently posted..How to Motivate Employees – 6 Tips for Success
Hi Steve,
It is good to know as a fellow small business owner that you agree with the points made.
Thanks for the blog post suggestions; I will see what I can do.
Thanks for visiting,
James
Hey James,
That makes a great post – really I’ve found myself erring on some of these in the recent past. The business strategy, as you said, is key to making a mark. You need to have a plan, stick to it and stay organized all this while. I’ve seen myself ending up quite frustrated, and too soon when things haven’t worked my way. But yes, its not an overnight thing, one needs to invest in quality time and resources, build relationships, engage potential prospects and keep doing this over and over to finally succeed.
Sarah Reece recently posted..Bluehost Coupon
Hi Sarah,
“Invest quality time and resources, build relationships, engagae potential prospects and keep doing this oer and over to you finally succeed”
I don’t think I could say it better myself.
Thanks for visiting,
James
James once again great post.
I would like to introduce you and your readers the new way to promote their business.
UrBusinessBook.com opens the gateway into the social media world.
Business owners no longer have to commit that extra time to promote their business through social media. This extra time needs to be focused on to core of their business.
UrBusinessBook.com does it all, with promoting businesses to the top of all major search engines which helps brand their company name.
It’s easy create a business website page and a business is off and running, do weekly updates to your business to keep customers informed. You can create events, post classified ads, blog about your business and so much more.
UrBusinessBook.com is offering a 3 month free membership to try it out.
Thanks,
Darren Billington
UrBusinessBook.com
Hi Darren,
Thanks for your comment.
James
Defining a strategy is the key to marketing success, so don’t have a guess about how and what they are doing. They just keep trying different things before even finishing what they’ve thought about.
John Scully recently posted..Top 10 Advantages Of Business Partnership
Hi John,
Having a strategy is super important for any business.
Thanks for comment,
James