Social media marketing is one of the top ways to advertise your business and products these days. The power of social media can propel you to the top of the financial ladder…or it can cause you to topple and die. There is a finesse to good social media marketing, that includes avoiding some of the dangers listed below.1. Don’t overpay for services. If you want to have so many tweets go out a day, you don’t have to pay for a service that will do that for you. There are third party sites and software that will let you schedule things such as tweets and Facebook posts. Paying for this service would be a huge waste of money when you can be allocating your budget to better things. But since we’re talking about scheduling posts.
2. Don’t spam. Spamming is the greatest way to not only lose followers but to also get your business accounts blocked or even deleted. As a business you don’t want to be annoying your client base. No one wants to see the same post every hour on the hour. Instead of enticing people to come check you out, you are instead alienating them and projecting a negative image.
3. Don’t ignore your followers. If you have fans or happy customers sending you messages and essentially advertising on your behalf, don’t ignore them. Instead, show your appreciation by occasionally responding or running giveaways in their honor. The worst thing you can do is make them feel like they don’t matter. On the other hand, if you are receiving hostile comments, ignore them. On that note.
4. Don’t start fights or attack your competitors. In fact, don’t do anything negative in public. If you wouldn't announce it in the newspaper or broadcast it on a commercial, don’t talk about it on your social media, either. Potential clients and followers enjoy a good corporate blowup for all the wrong reasons – to make fun of them and use them as negative examples.
5. Don’t treat some f
ollowers better than others. You probably can’t reply to everyone, but don’t make it look like you’re only responding to a certain kind of person. Some of the worst social media meltdowns were when companies were accused of favoring their “good looking” and “rich” followers over anyone else. Value each one of your followers as if they were your best customer – even if they’re sending you hate mail.
You may be wondering what should you do if you shouldn't do any of the things above. It’s easy: engage, offer good information, and be professional and courteous. If you have an intern or assistant running your social media for you, check in once in a while to see what’s going on.
Social media marketing doesn't have to be hard or daunting. Treat it like you would any other corner of marketing or advertising. Put on your best suit, smile real wide, and you will attract loyal followers who are thankful to follow a business like yours.