Social media has evolved a lot over the last couple of years. Yet, there are still a lot of misconceptions out there. These are a handful of the biggest mistakes that many of us may be making.
Thinking that you are your audience
The way that a marketer, PR pro, community manager or simply anyone who works in tech view and use social media is likely 100 billion times different than how your target customer is using social media. The most harmful thing that you can do is assume that your audience consumes and uses the tools in the same way that you do.
Assuming a direct correlation between number of “likes” and sales
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard, “how we can get a million likes on Facebook?” Every time, I try not to roll my eyes and laugh out loud. It’s easy to “like something.” Heck, you can even buy one. (Please don’t). But, it doesn’t necessarily translate to more customers, sales, etc.
Thinking just being “present” is enough
Thankfully, a lot more companies have realized the vast potential that social media could have for their business. It’s awesome that brands are now acknowledging and replying to their customers through Twitter and Facebook. However, just replying is only the first step. The rest is much harder and it evolves making your business a truly social business. This requires change and a lot of hard work.
Data overload
You know the saying, “You can never have too much data.” Whoever said that was very wrong. Have you seen some of the social media reports that “social media consultants” are using these days? Numbers and stats are only as useful as the context they are put in. Having a 50 page report with lots of pretty charts and graphs may look great on your boss’s desk, but there’s a good chance it’s just Excel bloat.
Instead, focus on two or three metrics that really matter for your business, and find a way to measure those really well. That’s a lot more meaningful than a 50 page monthly report.
Keeping social media in a silo
It’s important to have a dedicated team that handles social media. However, this team needs to bridge the gap between all departments. Nothing good ever comes from working in silos. Social media touches every single aspect of your business from sales to marketing to legal to PR to HR.
