7 Reasons Your Social Media Marketing Fails

So you have established your business and set up your social media accounts. You started posting with the best of intentions but you're struggling to grow your accounts. Maybe you are looking at your competitors' accounts and wondering why you aren't as successful as them. You want more followers, a bigger community and ultimately people who will click through to your website and buy from you.

Let's have a look at some common mistakes and take it from there:

1. You don't have a strategy.

You created your accounts and started posting content but you are not approaching it strategically. What are your goals?  Who are your trying to reach? How are you going to measure your success? You need a strategy with measurable KPIs to be able to define your success so that you know you are not wasting your time and resources on social media.

2. You are not sure where your ideal clients hang out online.
People use different social media platforms for different reasons. It may be because of their age, gender, their profession or their lifestyle. If you are not sure what your audience's social media habits are, you are missing a trick. It doesn't matter how popular Instagram is if your audience isn't there!

3. You are posting on the go.

You know you need to push out content but you are struggling to come up with content ideas every day. If you don't have a content plan, when things get too busy, you simply won't have the time to dedicate to social media. Planning your content even on a weekly basis will help you be more organised about it.

4. You are not consistent.

You start posting with good intentions and post 3 times a day for a week and then disappear for 4 weeks. You then find time for social media and pick it up again but once you get too busy you, you forget about social media. Social media marketing is a long term game and consistency is one of the keys for success.

5. You automate all your content but forget that social media is meant to be social.

Scheduling your content is great. You know what you are publishing and when. But you also need to talk with people to build relationships by entering into conversations. This is how people will start to get to know you and buy from you. This is actually where magic happens!

6. You are always trying to sell.

We all love buying stuff! But we don't like being sold to. If you are trying to sell your products in every single post, it comes across very pushy. Instead, show people how your products and services can help them. You must give before you take. If you can earn people's trust first, by adding value first, then you can start selling. 

7. You are not creating great content.

Consistently creating interesting and engaging content is hard work. Whether it is writing blog posts, publishing social videos or photographing your products, you need a lot of high-quality content to stand out from the crowd. 

Social media marketing needs to be integrated into your whole marketing strategy. You need to at least give it 12 months to start seeing some results. People need different touch points to start buying from you. Strategic social media marketing works, but it is not magic. It requires consistency, dedication and hard work. 

​As always, if you have any questions or need help with social media marketing, please get in touch. You can find out about all my services here.

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