Social media can be a powerful tool in your business growth and marketing strategy, but it has to be done well to provide successful results. In my last blog post I discussed where to hashtag and how, which platforms to join, and more. Here are some more of the biggest myths and mistakes to be aware of when utilizing social media for your business.

• My customers aren’t on social media … BS! Facebook has nearly 2 billion users, and over ½ of them are daily users. The average user spends 20 minutes 4 times a day! That’s 60 minutes of daily opportunity for your business! Instagram has over 150 million daily users. LinkedIn has over 467 million users and 40% of them use it daily. So let’s be clear, your customers ARE on social media, many of them daily, so are you willing to give up the opportunity to reach over 2 billion individuals?

• I should only try to get fans and followers that will become customers … Quality is absolutely important, but so is quantity. A larger audience gives you access to their friends and fans. They could be an influencer. When your content is shared it improves your SEO. And you never know who someone might know, and referrals are one of the strongest lead sources.

• If my friends and family like all of my posts and updates, my online presence will be epic … You can’t just have grandma and dad like all your posts, the EdgeRank algorithm is a LOT more sophisticated than that. You have to have a variety of individuals/businesses interacting with your content in order to grow your audience and improve your reach.

• I have to respond to activity right away … Speedy responses are appreciated, but not always necessarily. You are running a business and are juggling many priorities at once, so do your best to get back to someone within 24 hours and you’ll be just fine.

• Social media marketing campaigns don’t drive bottom line results … Social media does more than just increase brand awareness and generate leads, here are a few stats from Hubspot to consider:

• Companies that use Twitter average 2X more leads than those that don’t.
• Companies with 1k or more Twitter followers get 6x more traffic.
• 45% of marketers note social media has a below average cost-per-lead compared to other channels.
• 62% of companies using LinkedIn for marketing have acquired a customer from it.
• 52% of companies using Facebook for marketing have acquired a customer from it.
• 44% of companies using Twitter for marketing have acquired a customer from it.

Stay tuned for Part 3 where I cover topics like “I don’t have enough content” and “Social Media is only for young people” and more. Want help navigating social media for your business? Contact Us