Two Big Mistakes People Make With Social Media Marketing:

Mistake #1: Avoid social media because you can’t ‘figure’ it out. I  often wonder why people get so confused with this platform. Is it because most of the communication is done in bite sized pieces? Or is it because most of what we can do on social media can be done for free? As I interview local small businesses in my area of Kansas City I constantly hear things like, “I can’t seem to figure out how to use it”. When I explain to them that the very same highly-effective marketing they are currently using in their store is what they should be doing on social media, some people will have an ah-ha moment and others will look at me like a deer in headlights.

Here’s the simplest way to explain this: If serving people in your local store by being available and answering questions has helped your small business to be very successful, than use your Facebook page as the key place where you make yourself available and answer questions. If showing examples of how to use your product or services has given you a slight edge in your local business, than use your Facebook page to show these same examples. If keeping up with trends and topics and educating your customers has made you successful locally, than use your social media connections to help your customers just as you always have. Whatever it is that you’re currently doing to be successful in your business, do THAT THING on your social media platforms and you will have success!  But do NOT avoid social media simply because you think it is this ‘giant’ you have to figure out. Be unique, be real, be the funnest place to connect with on social media, attracting new clients every single day, than mention your product or service 10-15% of the time and you will see your sales increase.

Mistake #2: Use only social media for your marketing.

Just because social media is where more people are active every single day online, it doesn’t mean you should be avoiding email marketing, creating great digital media, writing articles, doing videos, etc. Social media should be viewed as a powerful CONNECTOR. It connects your ideal clients to your other means of marketing. Use social media as a great lead gen tool. Drive traffic to your blog or your website from your social media pages. Do highly targeted ads on Facebook and drive people to an offer on your blog, that requires an opt in. Then continue marketing on social media AND through email. But whatever you do, don’t do everything on social media.

You can have greater results on social media than through many other forms of direct response marketing. I’ve been in this business for more than 20 years, and have done nearly every form of marketing there is. Social media is highly effective. You’ll get greater results for every dollar spent on social media than you will with traditional marketing, but don’t throw out your traditional marketing in the process. 

One of the greatest things about social media is this: There are no hard and fast rules. We can create our own space, our own culture and serve our customers however we want. So get creative! Brain storm with your team. But be careful to avoid these two big mistakes as you’re rolling out your next marketing campaign.