Are you struggling to gain traction on social media

Are you struggling to gain traction on social media? These five reasons could be why, and luckily they are easy problems to fix.

• Globally, over 3 billion people use social media regularly. 
• 80% of internet users have at least one social media account. 
• Customer research can help you target the right audience. 
• Buying social likes and shares will hurt your business. 
• Improving engagement and delivering valuable content can have a significant impact on your marketing results. 

Do you want to find out why your social media marketing campaign is failing? If so, you’re not alone. Now that over 3 billion people use social media, businesses are continually looking to platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram to promote their products or services. In order to have more social media visibility and achieve your business goals, check out Socialgreg and their wide range of social media services.

Consumers get the chance to see all of the latest and greatest brands at their fingertips. When you consider that 37% of people say that they use social media as a research tool before making a purchase, it’s no surprise that marketers and business owners are trying harder than ever to reach their audience. 

A correctly implemented social strategy can help you increase your sales, build your reputation as a high-quality company and improve brand awareness. Today we are going to look at five of the most common social media marketing mistakes and show you how to fix them. 

1. You’re not targeting the right audience. 

The first mistake marketers make is trying to reach out to a broad audience, instead of focusing on people interested in their products or services. It’s common to see the data used to research your target audience skewed due to a lack of data or inconsistent tracking. As a result, you’ll reach people you think are interested in your brand instead of people who have a genuine need for what you offer. 

Fictional customer profiles can help you learn more about your target audience, but if you want this strategy to work, you have to conduct in-depth customer research. Review your website analytics for common trends on your blog and checkout page. Next, review customer feedback sent to you through your website’s contact form or in relevant groups on social media. 

Once you understand what consumers expect from your brand, you can restructure your social media strategy to put their needs first, which will contribute to the success of your campaign. 

2. You purchased likes, shares or website traffic.

You may be surprised to find out that many people still buy likes and shares on their websites and social media profiles. If this doesn’t surprise you because you’re trying to use this tactic to grow your brand, it’s time to switch strategies. 

It’s clear to real customers when a page is full of fake reviews and bot interactions. Nothing pulls customers away from a brand faster than the appearance of unsavory business practices. 

Real companies should always focus on growing their websites and social media pages organically. It’s not inherently wrong to use ads through the social platform you’re on, but if you’re paying for people to send bots to your profile, it could cost you the trust of your audience. 

3. You don’t make engagement a priority. 

Consumer engagement comes in many shapes and sizes. Online contests, polls and status updates in the form of questions are all techniques to encourage engagement. If you’re not giving people a reason to interact with your brand, your social media analytics will quickly plummet.

It’s hard to recover from this image, regardless of your industry. People have many options when they want to browse companies on social media, so engagement is a must. 

Imagine going to a business profile with one update from two months ago. Meanwhile, another business hosts two contests a month where it gives 10 lucky winners a $25 Amazon gift card. Who do you think has more engagement in their comments section and on their website? 

The marketer hosting events, talking to customers and encouraging discussions will likely see more traffic and sales than their stale counterparts. 

4. You’re not sharing valuable content.

About 80% of internet users have at least one social media account. If your content provides value or entertains, it’s a safe bet that people will share your article or video on social media. The problem many business owners have when creating their campaign is they don’t show these pieces of content to new subscribers. 

Your social media marketing strategy will likely fail if you don’t consistently share valuable posts and content. There are endless types of content you can share with your subscribers. Start by scheduling your blog posts to go out throughout the day with the necessary hashtags and mentions. 

Adding tags at the end of your posts will help your content reach the people who will benefit the most from your article. As a result, people who benefit from your product or brand will share your content and act as brand ambassadors. 

Creating and sharing valuable content is an essential part of growing your social media channels. You can also diversify your posts by repurposing your blog content into easily digestible videos. Videos get more shares and engagement, which could jump-start your stagnant social media profile. 

5. You’re not working with other brands.

Partnerships are crucial to the success of your social media strategy and business as a whole. Marketers and business leaders rely on other experts in their industry as well as social media influencers to help spread brand awareness. 

Your relationship with other business leaders will depend on where they operate in the industry relative to your business. In an ideal situation, you should look for a business partner whose products complement what you offer.

For instance, a marketer who works for an email marketing software company might work with a website hosting provider’s employee. If someone is in the market for email marketing software, chances are they will need website hosting too.

It’s not uncommon to see these types of partnerships, especially with SaaS companies. This tactic can benefit your social media strategy because it gives you a chance to write and share guest posts, connect with your target audience, and grow brand awareness. 

Social media influencers are internet personalities who promote products or services to their followers. These people usually have unique personalities or segments that draw in specific consumers, making them excellent social media marketing tools. 

A simple YouTube or Twitter search of your keywords will show you the most popular posts and videos on the topic. Look through the channels to find people you think would make good advocates for your brand. Send an email asking the influencer to promote your product in exchange for cash or your product for free. 

Once the influencer reviews your content, they will share their post on social media. The new eyes on your content will draw attention to your social media profile, boosting the success of your campaign. 

Social media marketing is a marathon, not a sprint

After creating your website and social media profiles, it’s easy to feel discouraged when your traffic doesn’t skyrocket. The truth is, social media marketing is sometimes a slow process where you have to consistently deliver great content, work with reputable brands and engage with your audience. If you want to grow your business and channels, experiment with your existing strategy after you build a more substantial following.