I would be sounding too mainstream when I say social media marketing has transfigured the approach we had towards marketing the products of a brand.

The conventional ways to advertise the offerings of companies had become obsolete, to say the least. We needed a fresh approach that would reboot our stratagem and generate a curiosity and interest among our customers one more time. And this is what social media helped us to achieve, ever so seamlessly.

But with all said and done, there are a number of goof-ups that brands unintentionally fall prey to, which fail to bring in the results. While some page owners complain that their page and the corresponding posts fail to get as many likes and shares as they would want, others have complains of an altogether different, but much too common, nature. They are worried about that fact that even though they get some incredible response from their followers on social media in the form of Likes, Shares, Retweets, etc. they do not see much improvement in the sales.

Simply put, the number of hits on their social media accounts do not translate into buyers, and that is something that bothers them – justifiably so.

$Smiley face$

So, how do they go past these barriers, which in the first place, they don’t know the cause for being there? However, when your social media marketing endeavors is not bringing the desirable results for you, or for that matter, failing to make any impact, it is most likely that the problem lies within your strategies around it. Here are the 3 mistakes you might be making:

Being Too Fancy, Too Funny

Let’s say, if you are managing the page of a Cola brand, you have a target audience that mostly consists of youth. So, posting fancy and funny stuff might just do the trick. But when you are managing the Facebook page of a multinational automobile brand, there has to be more sophistication on the page. You can’t post jokes around Rajnikanth or Justin Bieber and expect more people turning up at your counter to buy cars. Posting funny stuff isn’t bad, but you should make it more attuned to the taste of your audience, which aren’t there just to like and share your posts.

They may have joined you on social media to keep themselves updated with the latest offerings and services by you. Make it a point that at least twice in a week you post something that creates a brand recall value.

Not Interacting with the Followers

Wasn’t that the purpose of the whole exercise? To create a platform that helps your customers interact with you in a more amicable environment? So, why are blatantly ignoring their comments when they enquire about certain products? Once you have created a brand page, you need to ensure that you get involved in one to one conversations and reply to each comment that pertains to your services and products. By doing this, you are only making your customers feel more welcomed. Otherwise, you aren’t making full use of the platform.

Doing Excessive Promotion

So, there is another extreme end of the spectrum. At this end, there are page managers who keep bombarding their followers with the strictly product-oriented posts. Agreed, that was the intention, but when every posts of yours is centered on product promotion, and there is no fun at all, the Unlikes will soon start pouring in. So, try to be on a balanced ground.

Drive these 3 mistakes out of your social media marketing stratagem and you just might have the results you are looking for.

About the auhor:

Maria Mincey is a PHP Development expert who seamlessly delivers focus in her writings. She works for Xicom Technologies, a Offshore PHP Development Company. You can connect with Maria on LinkedIn, Google Plus, Facebook and Twitter.

xxxxxx

xxxx

7 Steps to Get Into Business Adding Social Media Features

Today business all over the world is getting wide and internet has become the main source of spreading their wings worldwide and gaining profits.

Social Media features have also played a great role in the same for gathering leads and attracting more customers.

But it is also worth to be noted that it needs much planning and concentration to enter into social media and if you enter into social media without a plan you will definitely fail. All the hours you spent and all the hard work you have done will be wasted.

As one should not jump into a raging river without knowing how to swim, it is also worthless to join a Twitter or a Stumble account without knowing how to make use of it effectively. You will receive no traffic bumps, no one will care about what you are doing there and there will be no engagement at all if you are not planned. So just check out the 7 steps to get into business by adding social media features and use them affectively.

As you know that social media are free to enter this does not mean that they do not have their limitations. If you cross their limits you will most probably thrown away from them.

1. Measure your success

Once you enter the social media you should figure out yourself on how you will be going to judge and measure your success. You should know your goals and challenges in front of it. You should have a clear idea about what you are expecting and how to gain leads for your lead generation campaigns. They can be blog commenting, twittering, link buildings, or brand recognition.

If you can’t measure whether or not you’re meeting your goals, then you’re going to fail before you even start. It will limit your results and you will fail to achieve what you are expecting.

2. Know who you are and select an identity

This is a first step when you enter into the social media and will help you out till long time. The first step of a successful (and long term) social media plan is to grab your brand everywhere you can, regardless of whether or not you plan to use it. It’s important to create your identity all over the web and have a name.

Having a unified social media username is very important in establishing trust with other members (and potential press contacts) that may belong to multiple communities with you. This way the persons will know you are the same person which they have met before.

3. Set Your Goals and Metrics

Do not enter the social media unless you know your goals and the “place” where you want to be. Set your time limit in this and judge yourself after each interval.

If you don’t know what “success” is for you, then you’re not ready to start yet. Know what you actually want. Is it more traffic, more money, more subscribers, your brand power, knowledge about a particular product, etc.?

Whatever it is, this also means that you must have some knowledge to enter into and need some more home work before you do it.

4. Tell your stories and positive points

When you use social media features for your business this is a must to tell your stories and tell your positive points about your company, products, services, etc.

Try to figure out why people should use them and what you have in extra which your competitors don’t have. Most of the strong businesses tend to believe that marketing is storytelling and they do it this way and succeed. People are interested in knowing who you are and by giving them that you will pick up the interest of your customer’s and make them interested in who you are.

The most successful companies always tell the stories about them selves and keep their customers attracted towards them. As we always wanted to be associated with them.

5. Tell the truth

Engaging strongly into the social media features and using them freely do not give you permissions that you should give fake knowledge about yourself.

If however you will give it, it is more probable that you will be going to fail in the near future. Only figure out your story in the market that is true as the false and fakes are not long lasting and you will surely collapse down if you use them.

Be sure to tell the truth about what does your company believe in? What are you known for and what are the positive points about your company?

What are your future goals and what make you serve better? That knowledge will also be crucial in determining how you’ll talk to people, what your tone will be, how far you’ll go, and what you are (or are not) comfortable doing and sharing.

6. Deal with your customers

If you have a fair idea about your customers and the communities with which you are dealing with, you can surely work better and serve better for them.

You should plan your social media strategy according to your customers and also knowing that how powerful and concentrated it can be. You should not waste time in the communities where there are no one interested in you and your kind. You should understand the taste of your customers. Understand better what they want and who are they and in what they are interested in? Also know where they are present in bulk.

7. Find the communities

Once you know what your customers are, you also want to know where they are present in bulk and then you should get in touch with them wisely. If you don’t naturally know where people are hanging out, don’t panic. It just means you’ll need to do some research to start. Head to Twitter or Facebook and search for your brand name, your competitors’ names, your keywords, industry, etc.

If there aren’t, are there a lot of people who list it as an interest and who may be interested in joining a community on your topic? Go to Yahoo Answers and see if people are asking or answering questions.

For more on Business and Social Media, visit the links given below:

Let me know what you think and comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

To stay up to date, please subscribe to our RSS Feed

Tweet this on Twitter!