4 Common Pitfalls of Social Media for Businesses

Social media for businesses can serve as an extraordinary tool for driving web traffic, conversions, lead generation and valuable customer interactions. Despite this potential, the effectiveness of social media outreach is often blunted by common mistakes and misconceptions, leading some firms to conclude that social media is simply about “vanity metrics.” When leveraged correctly, however, social media can generate revenue and valuable customer insights.

Deriving Value from Social Media for Businesses

According to our findings, social media drives nearly twice as many leads and enjoys a 13 percent higher conversion rate than trade shows, direct mail, pay-per-click campaigns and telemarketing. Additionally, effective social media campaigns provide access to valuable customer insights and play an important role in your firm’s market research. These insights prove critical in developing offerings tailored to your customers’ needs, and when guiding product or service development based on organic feedback.

To take full advantage of the possibilities social media for businesses offers, your firm must move beyond solely using social media platforms as a broadcasting tool. While there is always a time and place for company news, the primary purpose of a social media initiative is to form bonds with your firm’s customers and prospects, build brand loyalty and prevent customer attrition.

4 Common Pitfalls of Social Media for Businesses

While it is important to understand both your customers and the communication platform used, businesses must focus on avoiding many of the most common social media faux pas. By following social media best practices, your firm can take advantage of the unique benefits offered by a robust social media presence.

• Treating Social Media Like Your Company Website: Social media humanizes brands, creating a personable and approachable voice. Even corporate customers want to interact with humans, not businesses. Jargon-filled company news releases are not appropriate to use in social media for businesses.
• Making Your Brand Voice a Secondary Priority: The primary goal of social media for business is to create a personality that resonates with your audience, and stays consistent across social platforms. Current and potential customers should trust and feel a connection with your firm’s corporate persona and values. This will drive leads and provide valuable customer insights.
• Posting Identical Content on Different Networks: A common misconception among businesses is that different social media platforms reach different audiences, so recycling content isn’t a problem. Your customers likely use more than one social media platform and expect to see content customized to match the nature of each platform.
• Failing to Track Results: No matter how successful your firm’s social media presence, you’ll struggle to understand or make improvements when flying blind. Even highly successful social media campaigns require fine-tuning. It’s important to consider shares, website traffic and other metrics to guide future initiatives.

Taking the Next Steps with Social Media

At Walker Sands, our social media experts can help you take customer engagement to the next level. From integrating social media into existing marketing initiatives to building a personable, credible social media presence that attracts target audiences, Walker Sands offers a range of social media services tailored to your unique business requirements. Call us at (312) 235-6173 to learn more about how we can help grow your social media presence.