We've all had our fair share of bad advice. Thankfully, over the years we get better and better at discerning the good from the bad. But when it comes to your social media marketing, you can’t afford to listen to bad advice—not when its costing you return on investment. Not to mention, that your posting on a platform where everyone is watching. (This could spell PR disaster)
Be on every platform
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Snapchat… why not dominate them all? While in theory it sounds like a great idea to manage a presence on every channel – it’s important to keep in mind that not every platform will deliver results. Not to mention, trying to publish quality content on every channel will spread your efforts very thin. Instead, narrow down your efforts based on who your target audience is and which platform will be the best way to reach them. Then you can focus on publishing memorable content where it will give you the best return on investment.
Always answer bad comments
While you should always find a way to address negative comments – it’s imperative that you do so with strategy. Some issues can be resolved with a simple reply while others may call for a personal message. On the rare occasion you will come across the internet troll who is a lost cause. Social media admins should avoid battling trolls in the comment sections on their posts. You do not want to go back and forth publicly on your social media page. And if a user continues to post and harass your page, the last resort is to delete their messages and block them from the page.
Post as much content as you can
The last thing you want to do is bombard your audience with information. Instead, keep it simple. Find out what works best for your specific audience, then be consistent and stick with it. It’s also important to post the right type of content for the platform. For example, if you’re focused on creating content on Facebook, users prefer articles, photos and videos over text heavy content while on Twitter you should focus on copy-oriented posts.
“If you’ve researched the buyer persona for your business, you should know the desires, aspirations and pain points of your ideal customer. Promoting one blog post per week that provides highly specific, actionable advice for your ideal customer is far more effective than using social media every day in a generalized, unfocused manner.” - Ragan International
Haven’t heard of using buyer personas? You may be intrigued by the inbound marketing strategy.
Use AI or Bots to boost followers
Also known as social media automation, using bots may seem like an innovative approach or an easy shortcut to a building a strong social media presence. Bots will Like photos on your behalf; follow people on your behalf; or even comment on your behalf. However, these interactions are artificial and can reflect poorly on your brand. You can’t automate the kind of human interaction people expect from brands. Not to mention, the use of bots goes against Facebook and Instagram’s terms of service.
Here’s a great example – Hootsuite recently published a great article on lessons learned from using Instagram automation services.If you need any help, we're here.
