Your social media is your girlfriend.
As an entrepreneur, you invest more money in it.
You invest more time in it.
There is no shortfall in your efforts.
And as a human you want something in return.
But she wants to wait until marriage.
A marriage that is never going to happen.
Most entrepreneurs are victims of such maltreatment. While there is no tribunal where you can seek justice, there are ways to measure how healthy your relationship is.
We will discuss the most common mistakes new entrepreneurs make. Stop making them immediately if you commit any of them.
Sowing into barren land
Source: Statista
There are 21 top performing social media channels out of all.
But you don't have to be riding every one of them. Your basic aim should be to target those social media platforms that give you (or have the potential) the most bang for your buck.
Here are most popular social networks worldwide, by reach:
Source: Statista.
Analyze this:
1. Look at your competitors presence.
• Which platforms are they most active on?
• Which platform do they post most frequently on?
• Where do they have most followers?
2. Where does your target audience hangout the most?
• Ask them straight away through a survey.
• Ask their preference through emails.
• Have polls, quiz and contests on your social media to see which ones result in the most engagement.
• Proactively discard the ones that don't fetch result
An entrepreneur selling precious stone would gain minuscule being on Reddit, however consistent posts on instagram may work wonders.
Not squeezing all the juice
Putting your Ferrari on a racetrack and driving at 40 miles/hour. How smart is that? But I’ll cut you some slack if you don't know how to drive it in the first place.
The truth is every social media platform has a different user interface. Most entrepreneurs don't know what they don't know. There are tools (free) to take out maximum from your efforts.
Let's take examples to understand this:
Facebook
Use videos as much as you can. Video content is 40 times more likely to be shared on social media (source)
Make use of Facebook live. As per Greg Jarboe, engagement rates on Facebook videos are higher than they are on YouTube. (source)
Twitter
Press “go live” for Periscope. It bypasses the need to post long Q and A format of tweets. Less clutter, more effective.
In order to bypass the learning curve associated with every relevant social media platform, most entrepreneurs take up the services of a social media managers/assistant instead.
They delegate the work to the assistant who researches and creates content, posts it on their behalf adhering to the brand image, interacts with the audience and submits periodical report to you.
There a few things you must consider before deciding to get a social media virtual assistants services, but we won't talk about it here. You can read about that comprehensively here Your One-Stop Guide to working with Social Media Virtual Assistant.
Where is your goal post
You should’ve done this even before starting the relationship.
Better late than never, sit and decide what exactly you want out of it.
Take the 3D approach….
Define
Clearly define what you are trying to achieve through every platform.
Are you on Facebook to create brand awareness?
Do you want to direct people to your shopping page through twitter?
Details
Once you have defined your objective, write down as many details as descriptively as you can.
By what percentage would you like your followers to grow on twitter?
Deadline
Put a deadline to your goal. It facilitates measurement of progress.
Example: by the end of the first quarter/ within a year/ in two months.
Schedule content at the best time
You can keep churning out content but what’s the point if your audience doesn’t even see it!
There are some specific time slots in which users are amply present. You post your content minimizing the risk of it getting lost in the ocean of newsfeeds.
The following data is collected from various sources like QuickSprout, SurePayroll, The Huffington Post, Buffer, TrackMaven, Fast Company, and KISSmetrics
Not listening
Listen to what your audience wants. Use twitter to monitor their online activities.
Visit your competitor's social media page and see what more the audience are asking from them, and improvise.
Ask your audience’s feedback on your content and generate new content keeping the feedback in mind.
"Never ignore a dissatisfied follower. Acknowledge their searing comments before they garner negative publicity for you"
Also, respond promptly to a fan or a follower who proactively approaches you.
Stale content
Stale content seldom gets sold among people.
Be innovative and think titillatingly. Take notes from some amazing social media campaigns like “CurryCature” by KFC (by the way, KFC is the numero uno restaurant brand on social media) where folks could design their friend’s caricatures and share it with them.
Oreo did a great job capitalising on content designed for topical events. Check out Oreo Halloween Vine videos to get an idea (such short videos can be created for Instagram and Facebook).
But the award goes to Buzzfeed’s Tasty series which boasts of a hefty 14 billion views. 1 in 4 Facebook users views a Tasty video once a month.
People share content because of certain reasons…
• Makes them laugh
• Makes them emotional
• Not yet propagated by mainstream media
• Its gossipy
• Resonates with their general world view
• Its shocking
• Gives them practical tips to do something better
When you create your content, make sure it evokes any of the mentioned emotions. You content has to offer value.
Nothing scares away your potential followers faster than you shouting about you or your product.
Top 5 Social Media Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make (That You Should Avoid)
Source:Revampcrm.
Did you find anything to improvise? Which point helped you the most? Do you any other points to discuss? Tell us in the comments section.
Author Bio
Anupam Rajey is a seasoned marketer and sales expert. He is the CEO of Acelerar Tech, a leading KPO that offers virtual assistants for social media, internet research, email & chat support, and more.
