Social media is the Holy Grail of content marketing. You can generate new clients, maintain current ones, and have awesome strategies. But, are your beliefs about social media right? Or do you believe some of the huge social media myths out there? Let's take a look at the top 10 social media myths that many people believe. My aim is to enlighten you and help you learn some great things about social media marketing.
Just Because It's on the Internet Doesn't Mean It's Correct
One of the common beliefs so many people have is that just because it is out on the Internet, it is correct. However, this isn't quite true. Sure, there are plenty of accurate things out there, but there are also plenty of myths that get perpetuated by people each and every day. Social media doesn't escape these myths and many businesses are held back by them, leading to a lackluster online presence.
10 Social Media Myths Completely Debunked
There is a lot of information out there about social media and just how you should and shouldn't use it. However, some of these might just be myths keeping you from having a powerful presence.
Let me take some time to debunk some of the more common myths, getting you on your way to a great social strategy.
1. You'll Get the Most Clicks In the Morning. This belief is definitely outdated and you need to make sure you aren't using this to help you figure out when to post to social media. In fact, according to Martin Beck from Marketing Land, there are more clicks on Twitter at 2 a.m.
Yes, this is technically the morning; however, most people are checking social media at this time because they're still up from the day before. Take advantage of this and start trying to post late-night posts to get more site traffic.
2. Don't Ever be Promotional. When people follow your company's Twitter, it means they want to hear about you and your company. Being promotional is definitely fine with social media (though you don't want to over-promote).
Kevan Lee from Buffer gives great ratios that can help you create excellent social media content that engages your audience and perfectly promotes your business. You can incorporate these or the 80/20 rule - 80 percent useful content, 20 percent promotional.
3. You Don't Need an International Marketing Plan Just Translate It. With the Internet's wide reach, international marketing is quickly growing. There are many small businesses aiming to reach international audiences, but they fall for this myth.
When you are crafting content for an international audience, you might think all you need to do is translate your social posts. This, however, is wrong. Creating an international marketing strategy means you need to understand the culture you are marketing to. For example, an American-based marketing plan is not going to go over well with a French audience nor will a French-based marketing plan go over well with those in the United States.
4. Your Business Needs to Use Every Social Media Platform. You want to make sure you have all of your bases covered when it comes to social media, right? So does that mean you need to use every available social platform? The answer is: no.
David Kerpen from Inc.com points out that by going on to every social platform, you will begin to spread yourself too thin. Eventually, social media will become overwhelming.
And since your time is taken up by so many, your posts aren't going to be impactful. This can be detrimental to a social strategy.
5. You Should Only Use ONE Social Media Platform. In addition to having too many social platforms, David Kerpen also points out in the article link above that people then think they only need to use one.
Again, this can be detrimental. Sure, you might be able to dedicate more time to the social channel, but you won't be able to reach nearly as many people.
Instead, choose a handful of channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and work on using those to bring in new clients and maintain your existing ones.
6. Social Media is Only for Creating New Clients Not Maintaining Them. Do you want to create and bring in new customers? The obvious answer is: yes.
And naturally, you will go for the thing that is proven to bring in new customers social media.
However, do you stop there or actually use social media to maintain existing clients? Many businesses believe they only need social media to bring in newbies. This is a myth.
You not only need social media to make new connections, but you also need it to maintain a great client-business relationship.
According to Jay Baer from Convince and Convert, customers "like" Facebook pages of businesses they, well, like. This helps them keep up-to-date with their favorite company and learn about new products or deals. The same goes for Twitter and other social channels.
Yes, you can generate great new leads with social media, but it can also serve as a great way to build a loyal client base.
7. Content Marketing and Social Media Marketing are Separate Entities. In the article above by Jay Baer, he also points out that many businesses believe that content marketing and social media are separate.
If you want to have a strong online presence, you need to make sure your content marketing and social media strategy go hand-in-hand. This will help make your posts more impactful, and show people that every aspect of your business works together.
8. No Engagement Means Customers Aren't Reading Your Social Posts. This myth is a major one that so many believe. And it is because of this myth that a lot of businesses stop using social media.
It takes a while to establish your presence on social media and to encourage more people to interact with you. Just because no one is liking or re-tweeting your social posts, doesn't mean they are ignoring you.
Many people see what you post, and many will click on your links, but the engagement might be non-existent.
You can work to increase engagement, however. Don't lose heart if you don't have an engagement right now it will come with time.
9. Social Media Content Means Competitors Can Steal Your Strategies. The other myth many people believe is that having a lot of social media content means your competitors can steal your strategies.
This myth keeps many from using social media like they should, which then loss of customer engagement and clicks.
Competitors can definitely become inspired by your postings, but tweeting and posting to your social channels doesn't mean they know your strategy. Don't let the fear of a competitor "learning" your secrets keep you from having great social media relationships with your clients.
10. Social Media for B2B Companies is Vastly Different from B2C. Jay Baer, (in his article link in point six), says people often believe B2B companies need different social media approaches.
Many B2Bs think that their channels need to be professional whereas a B2C social channel does not. However, being laid back on social media can help all businesses even a B2B.
If you approach social media thinking your B2B clients will be different from B2C customers, you're walking way too close to the edge. If you get too close, you risk falling off and losing the attention of your customer base.
In reality, your B2B customers are also B2C clients. This means that the strategies that work for B2C will work for B2B as well.
Many social strategies focus on what the customer wants, and this is exactly what you need to do when creating social content.
About The Author:
Julia McCoy is a bestselling author of So You Think You Can Write, a podcaster, and an expert content marketer. She's also the founder and CEO of Express Writers, a leading online content creation agency, with more than 60 content writers and strategists. Julia leads her team to serve hundreds of worldwide businesses with the highest-quality content for their online presence. Follow Julia's blog.
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