7 Things People Don’t Tell You About Social Media Marketing

7 Things People Don’t Tell You About Social Media Marketing

Content Marketing, Small Business, Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing can seem deceptively simple to people who look at it from the outside. All you need is a great product or service and your audience will find you.

Wouldn’t it be great if that were true? But sadly, it’s not.

In fact, social media marketing is a real challenge for local businesses – and can prove tricky even to people who spend a lot of time and energy managing their social media accounts.

The reason? There are some popular misconceptions about social media marketing and some secrets that you simply won’t know about unless someone tells you.

Here they are.

#1: The Size of Your Following May Not Matter

One of the biggest misconceptions about social media marketing is that Page Likes equal success. That’s often not the case.

You can create an entertaining account that attracts new followers and not see any change in your bottom line. If that happens, you’re basically whistling in the wind. The time and energy you spend on managing your social media pages isn’t getting you anything in return.

A better bet is to focus on attracting highly qualified and motivated followers who are likely to turn into customers and share your content with their friends.

#2: There’s No Such Thing as Overnight Success

To quote the cliché, social media marketing isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. It takes a lot of time, commitment, and dedication to attract a following and see results from your social media marketing efforts.

In many ways, this misconception relates to the first one. A big following doesn’t equal success. You may spend a lot of money boosting your page and attract a lot of followers. However, if those followers don’t buy from you, the money will have been wasted.

In other words, social media marketing requires an ongoing commitment to excellence. You’ll need to work hard to create valuable and entertaining content – and be willing to tweak your methods to get the results you want.

#3: You Won’t Succeed Without Analysis

Analyzing the results of your social media marketing is a must if you want to grow your business. It’s not enough simply to eyeball your Likes and other obvious metrics. You’re going to need to dig deep to refine your strategy.

Fortunately, most platforms offer basic analytics that you can use to get started. If you pay for a social media management tool, you probably have access to additional reporting and analysis. Either way, it’s essential to use the data you have to test, refine, and re-test your content and strategy.

Even if you’ve done well on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll need to commit to doing the sometimes-tedious legwork that will help you hit on the right strategy to grow your business.

#4: Engagement Is Just as Important as Content

You might create fantastic content on a regular basis, but if you aren’t also setting aside time to engage with your followers, you might as well not bother.

A lot of companies make the mistake of forgetting the “social” in social media. It’s your job to monitor your content, reply to comments, answer questions, and generally make your followers feel that they are important to you.

Engagement can be time-consuming, and it’s one of the reasons that a lot of small businesses don’t do well on social media. You may need to hire someone to monitor your mentions, comments, DMs, and questions to ensure that nothing is falling through the cracks.ss on social media.

#5: Success is Difficult to Predict

The Holy Grail of social media marketing is the viral post. Whether it’s a video, a meme, a photograph, or a blog post, every social media marketer dreams of creating The One – the special post that reaches millions of followers and sends their business into orbit.

We’d love to be able to give you a formula to help you create that perfect post. Sadly, there isn’t one. The best you can do is create the most entertaining, valuable, relevant content you can – and hope that your followers will share it and that it will catch on.

Of course, there are some things that can help your chances of going viral. Humorous content does well, and so does content that’s useful to different groups of people. Instead of focusing on virality, spend your time getting creative – and the rest will, hopefully, follow.

#6: You’ll Need a Creative Team to Help You

Your social media goals may be simple or grand, but either way, it’s important to understand that you may not be able to do everything you need to do without help.

Creativity is a plus when it comes to social media marketing. If all you do is share content from other people or Tweet out information about your products, you’re not going to attract the passionate following you want.

The key is to give your social media manager the creative support they need. That may mean hiring a creative team to work with them. Or, it may be as simple as giving them a creative budget that they can use to hire freelance writers, photographers, and artists to give your social media marketing a boost.

#7: Everything Can Change at a Moment’s Notice

One of the trickiest aspects of social media marketing is that change is normal. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are constantly tweaking their algorithms – and you’ll need to stay on top of the changes they make if you want to do well.

For example, Facebook recently changed its algorithm to prioritize posts from personal connections over those from businesses. As a result, business owners have had to rethink their strategies, work harder to get organic engagement, and increase their Facebook marketing budgets to make sure that their posts reach their followers.

Tracking your performance and engagement can help you in this regard. However, it’s essential to be aware of changes and to adapt your strategy accordingly so you’re not spinning your wheels.

Social media marketing isn’t as easy as it seems…

That much is clear. But, keeping the seven items we’ve outlined here in mind can help you make the most of the time, creative energy, and money you spend to promote your business on social media.

7 Things People Don’t Tell You About Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing And It’s Secrets

Content Marketing, Small Business, Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing can seem deceptively simple to people who look at it from the outside. All you need is a great product or service and your audience will find you.

Wouldn’t it be great if that were true? But sadly, it’s not.

In fact, Social media marketing is a real challenge for local businesses – and can prove tricky even to people who spend a lot of time and energy managing their social media accounts.

The reason? There are some popular misconceptions about Social media marketing and some secrets that you simply won’t know about unless someone tells you.

Here they are.

#1: The Size of Your Following May Not Matter

One of the biggest misconceptions about Social media marketing is that Page Likes equal success. That’s often not the case.

You can create an entertaining account that attracts new followers and not see any change in your bottom line. If that happens, you’re basically whistling in the wind. The time and energy you spend on managing your social media pages isn’t getting you anything in return.

A better bet is to focus on attracting highly qualified and motivated followers who are likely to turn into customers and share your content with their friends.

#2: There’s No Such Thing as Overnight Success

To quote the cliché, Social media marketing isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. It takes a lot of time, commitment, and dedication to attract a following and see results from your Social media marketing efforts.

In many ways, this misconception relates to the first one. A big following doesn’t equal success. You may spend a lot of money boosting your page and attract a lot of followers. However, if those followers don’t buy from you, the money will have been wasted.

In other words, Social media marketing requires an ongoing commitment to excellence. You’ll need to work hard to create valuable and entertaining content – and be willing to tweak your methods to get the results you want.

#3: You Won’t Succeed Without Analysis

Analyzing the results of your Social media marketing​ is a must if you want to grow your business. It’s not enough simply to eyeball your Likes and other obvious metrics. You’re going to need to dig deep to refine your strategy.

Fortunately, most platforms offer basic analytics that you can use to get started. If you pay for a social media management tool, you probably have access to additional reporting and analysis. Either way, it’s essential to use the data you have to test, refine, and re-test your content and strategy.

Even if you’ve done well on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll need to commit to doing the sometimes-tedious legwork that will help you hit on the right strategy to grow your business.

#4: Engagement Is Just as Important as Content

You might create fantastic content on a regular basis, but if you aren’t also setting aside time to engage with your followers, you might as well not bother.

A lot of companies make the mistake of forgetting the “social” in social media. It’s your job to monitor your content, reply to comments, answer questions, and generally make your followers feel that they are important to you.

Engagement can be time-consuming, and it’s one of the reasons that a lot of small businesses don’t do well on social media. You may need to hire someone to monitor your mentions, comments, DMs, and questions to ensure that nothing is falling through the cracks.ss on social media.

#5: Success is Difficult to Predict

The Holy Grail of social media marketing is the viral post. Whether it’s a video, a meme, a photograph, or a blog post, every social media marketer dreams of creating The One – the special post that reaches millions of followers and sends their business into orbit.

We’d love to be able to give you a formula to help you create that perfect post. Sadly, there isn’t one. The best you can do is create the most entertaining, valuable, relevant content you can – and hope that your followers will share it and that it will catch on.

Of course, there are some things that can help your chances of going viral. Humorous content does well, and so does content that’s useful to different groups of people. Instead of focusing on virality, spend your time getting creative – and the rest will, hopefully, follow.

#6: You’ll Need a Creative Team to Help You

Your social media goals may be simple or grand, but either way, it’s important to understand that you may not be able to do everything you need to do without help.

Creativity is a plus when it comes to social media marketing. If all you do is share content from other people or Tweet out information about your products, you’re not going to attract the passionate following you want.

The key is to give your social media manager the creative support they need. That may mean hiring a creative team to work with them. Or, it may be as simple as giving them a creative budget that they can use to hire freelance writers, photographers, and artists to give your social media marketing a boost.

#7: Everything Can Change at a Moment’s Notice

One of the trickiest aspects of social media marketing is that change is normal. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are constantly tweaking their algorithms – and you’ll need to stay on top of the changes they make if you want to do well.

For example, Facebook recently changed its algorithm to prioritize posts from personal connections over those from businesses. As a result, business owners have had to rethink their strategies, work harder to get organic engagement, and increase their Facebook marketing budgets to make sure that their posts reach their followers.

Tracking your performance and engagement can help you in this regard. However, it’s essential to be aware of changes and to adapt your strategy accordingly so you’re not spinning your wheels.

Social media marketing isn’t as easy as it seems…

That much is clear. But, keeping the seven items we’ve outlined here in mind can help you make the most of the time, creative energy, and money you spend to promote your business on social media.

7 Ways to Acquire New Customers Starting Right Now

7 Ways to Acquire New Customers Starting Right Now

SEO, Small Business, Social Media Marketing

A stagnating business is more likely to fail than one that’s growing.

I mean, let’s face it. That’s just common sense. Businesses that experience new growth – in the form of new customers – have an advantage over businesses that are barely managing to hold onto their existing customers.

That’s not to say that customer retention doesn’t matter. It does! But attracting new customers is a must. And it can be expensive. In fact, research shows that attracting a new customer can be up to 10 times as costly as retaining an existing customer.

But…

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. And, not all customer-attraction methods are necessarily expensive. Here are seven (relatively) low-cost ways to acquire new customers and grow your business.

#1: Update Your Audience Research

I’m always amazed when I talk to business owners and they tell me that the last time they conducted audience research was years ago.

That’s crazy. Audiences change. You’ve got to know who’s interested in your products – and why they’re interested – if you’re going to understand how to bring your audience to your site.

If it’s been a while since you conducted any audience research, it’s time to get back on the horse. For example, you can:

  • Check your analytics and look for new trends
  • Create a customer survey and email it to your list
  • Do a social media survey

These things will help you fine-tune your targeting. You can also use them to create (or update) a customer persona or avatar to help you with your marketing.

#2: Know Your Competition

Competitor research is another key component of customer acquisition. After all, you and your competitors are vying for the same audience. Knowing what they do and how they’re doing it can help you pull ahead in the race for new business.

A couple of easy tactics to use include:

  • Tracking your competitor’s backlinks and traffic
  • Monitoring your competitor’s social mentions
  • Doing a complete audit of their websites
  • Reading their blog and other marketing materials

Ongoing competitor research will ensure that you’re not losing out to your competitors.

#3: Focus on Benefits, not Features

Another common mistake business owners make is getting too wrapped up in their product’s cool features at the expense of considering the customer’s experience.

Let’s face it. A potential customer doesn’t want to hear your brag about how awesome your product is. They want to know what it’s going to do for them.

Don’t tell them that a frying pan has a non-stick surface. Tell them that it will simplify their clean-up! That’s a simple example, but it illustrates the point.

You can list your products features briefly, but most of your marketing should focus on benefits. Think about your customer (see #1) and the problem they want solved. Then, explain how your product will solve it.

#4: Build Trust with Your Target Audience

If you know anything about marketing, then you know about the Rule of 7. It says that, on average, a customer must have seven interactions with your brand before they’ll buy from you.

The key to building trust is to use those seven “touches” wisely. You’ll need to be consistent. That means knowing your audience, having a clear vision for your brand, and using the same voice for all your online content, whether it’s on your website or social media.

And speaking of social media, it’s ideal for building trust. You can connect with your followers every day without seeing overly sales-y or obnoxious.

#5: Pair with Other Businesses

You can’t expect your direct competitors to refer business to you. That would be counterproductive for them. But that doesn’t mean that B2B referrals aren’t possible.

Try searching for businesses in your niche – or in a related niche – that aren’t in direct competition with you. Then, approach the owners about the potential for a reciprocal referral program or joint venture.

For example, if you sell dog training products and there’s a company that sells cleaning products for people with pets, you could pair up to create special offers and referrals. You might link to their site and have them link to yours, and you could even create limited time offers and specials.

The key is that you’ll get access to their customer base and they’ll get access to yours – and you probably won’t have to spend anything to do it.

#6: Create a Referral Program

It’s important not to ignore your current customers as ambassadors for your brand. After all, who’s in a better position to tell new customers about the benefits of buying from you?

The key is not to assume that your existing customers will spread the word about you and your products. They might do it without prompting, but why not make it easy for them? A strong referral program can bring you new businesses on a regular basis.

Many referral programs incentivize referrals. For example, you might offer customers a free product (or a free month of service) in return for a referral. Or, you might host a special event for customers who refer new business to you.

Make sure to specify the terms of any rewards and to provide customers with what they need to make referrals, whether it’s a supply of business cards or brochures or a dedicated URL on your website.

#7: Create Shareable Coupons and Offers

A referral program is one thing. But what if you could convince your existing social media followers to spread the word about your products in return for a simple coupon?

You can! The next time you’re running a promotion, encourage your followers to share it. Your call to action can say something like, “Why keep all the savings for yourself? Share this post with your friends and family so they can get a bargain, too!”

The key is not to assume that people will share your content. They may not know that it’s okay with you for them to do so – so make sure to ask in your call to action.

New customers aren’t everything…

But, if you want your business to grow, you’ll need to expand your reach. These 7 simple tips can help you attract new customers without blowing through your marketing budget. Instead, you can use them to blow past your competition!

Hook, Line, And Stinker!

Hook, Line, And Stinker!

Small Business

I admit it, I started my career as a “Geek”, then when the Internet came along, I quickly moved on to being a “Web Weenie”… I was around in the early days long before Google came along. In fact, the first time I saw the Internet way back then, you couldn’t even put an image on a page.

At the time, we were running a BBS (Bulletin Board System) that allowed people to use a dial-up modem to connect to our system.  We could have a total of 5 people connected at one time and back then it was a state-or-the-art-system… No kidding. How (more…)