“Did you see that thing going around Facebook? The funny picture with the thing holding the other thing and captioned with that one saying?” If that sounds remotely familiar to you, then you are existent in the world of social media. Social media went from an online community of everyone you knew in high school to a full-blown marketing tool. With its growth in the business world, a shocking amount of supposed rules and guidelines have also been put into play. Well, I’m here to break down some of these professional stigmas and put social media in perspective.
Myth 1: My Customers Are Not Social Media Users.
It’s shocking how many companies are saying this. A lot of the businesses that think they don’t need social media to cater to an older audience. While you might have fewer seniors navigating through Facebook, they are still on there. My grandmother is a spectacular example…she posts daily updates and pictures as well as running a rather successful cyber farm. There are exceptions to every rule, and unless you are a company targeting social media celibacy, you should probably get with it.
Myth 2: Social Media is For Getting New Clients.
Okay, let’s eliminate this notion once and for all. The majority of followers you have are already customers or they aren’t customers at all. Building a social media outlet that provides useful and entertaining content is for the purpose of interacting with customers you already have. The ones who are simply following you are also important; every time they like something on Facebook, it shows up in their newsfeed. So their friends see it as well. The main thing is producing quality content and engaging your followers.
Myth 3: Content and Social Media are Separate.
I am a firm believer in cross-branding across your social media sites as well as believing that you should most assuredly run a blog. Creating fresh, optimized content on a blog might seem disconnected to Twitter. Tweeting about your blog lets customers find out new information as well as merging the content and social elements of your business. The two should interact with one another to create a dynamic business presence.
Myth 4: #Hashtags are #Crucial
No, they aren’t. They were created with the intention of connecting similar interests. Not every word in a sentence needs one. They are great for webinars and events since those aren’t going to be widely used and people can see the benefit from them. If your topic doesn’t immediately start trending, I promise, everything is going to be okay. One thing I’ve noticed is that people are beginning to hashtag popular topics in order to get more views on their pictures or tweets…that have nothing to do with a said hashtag.
Myth 5: You Can’t Measure Social Media
False. False. False. Google Analytics tells you how many of your website visitors are coming from social media sites. Facebook has insights that allow you to see which posts were most viewed and which had the most effect. Just like any other marketing outlet, it requires work. Keeping track of URLs, traffic, and engagement…but it can definitely be done.
Social media doesn’t always guarantee success for your business, but it definitely can be helpful when putting your name out on the market. Visit i4.net to find out more about social media management from our marketing team.
