Reasons Why Your Social Media Marketing Strategy Isn't Working
So you’ve created a social media strategy, implemented it, and watched your following grow. But one thing is missing from this equation: results.
This can be incredibly frustrating, especially when you aren’t exactly sure where you’re doing wrong. You might even start doubting the effectiveness of social media altogether. But the solution is not to throw away your accounts and go back to old-school marketing, because most likely your problem is very easy to locate. Here are three very common reasons why your social media marketing strategy isn’t working.
Reason 1: You’re Not Engaging With Your Audience
Here’s the thing about social media: you have to be social.
That means liking and commenting under other people’s posts, writing back to people who DM you, responding to your own commenters, and being all-around responsive. If you’re simply posting your content and hoping that people receive it well, you might gain likes but you won’t gain fans. People are more likely to care about your brand when you show that you care about your community.
How To Know If You’re Not Engaging With Your Audience:
You have a high following but low engagement.
Your new followers unfollow within a few months.
You gain a lot of likes but barely get comments or shares.
What You Should Do:
Keep your notifications on so that your social media can alert you about new comments or DMs.
Plan to engage your audience for the 30 minutes after your post goes up.
Make posting about your community a part of your strategy (giving shoutouts, re-sharing user-generated content, highlighting partners…etc.).
When you engage, use your brand personality and try to personalize all your comments.
Reason 2: You’re Focused Too Heavily On Vanity Metrics
We’ve discussed vanity metrics before, and how they’re nice to have but don’t serve a purpose beyond making you feel good. Click the button below if you want more context into vanity metrics and metrics that you need to watch more closely (we even provide a list).
Our blog also gets into the harm of vanity metrics. But, if you would prefer to not read it, here’s a quick breakdown: they’re a distraction. If you focus too much on growing a meaningless number, then you’ll focus less on the numbers that actually matter.
How To Know If You’re Focused Too Heavily On Vanity Metrics:
Your metric changed drastically, but you aren’t seeing any change in leads or sales.
Your metric changed positively, but you are seeing a drop in leads or sales.
What You Should Do:
Focus less on metrics such as: social media followers, email subscribers, money spent on marketing, page views, and total acquired customers.
Focus more on metrics such as: social media engagement, email opt-in rates, return on investment, conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs.
Reason 3: Your Ads Aren’t Optimized
It’s easy to not take social media ads as seriously as you would other types of marketing because they cost less. However, when you develop these ads, you must remember that it’s a part of your brand. This means that you have to consider how you’re representing yourself: is your content engaging? Is your media gripping? Are you targeting it toward your best audience?
How To Know If Your Ads Aren’t Optimized:
Your ad’s click rates are very low.
You’re not seeing any sales from your ads.
Your landing page’s bounce rate has gone up.
What You Should Do:
Research your audience and personalize your ads based on their characteristics and backgrounds.
Run A/B testing, change one thing about the different campaigns, and see what your audience responds best to.
Reason 4: All Your Posts Are Auto-Posted
All of the scheduling platforms have been blessings for every small business that uses social media to grow their brand. But there are some downsides to just using the platforms.
For one, they lack the flair of spontaneity. Posts that show selfies and quick updates have a certain charm to them that truly compliments your feed. They make your brand appear real, authentic, and human. Whereas more calculated posts can often seem just calculated.
Another reason why you shouldn’t auto-post too much is because it can lead to you not engaging as much. It’s all too easy to allow yourself to focus on other business tasks while your content posts themselves.
How To Know If Your Auto-Posting Is The Problem:
You have a high following but they aren’t engaging with your posts.
No action has been taken on your posts within the first hour of you posting it.
You don’t know what was posted on your social media today.
What You Should Do:
Have someone in charge of your social media so that they can dedicate their time to engaging on it.
Post manually occasionally - show what you’re doing that day or post a quick Story (Instagram Story, LinkedIn Story, Facebook Story…etc.)
Stop auto-posting and start posting manually.
Reason 5: You’re Making It All About You
If you were to think about social media, you might consider it a place where you share details or highlights about your own life. And for personal accounts, this is true. For businesses, however, it’s always best to include others in your feed.
Before we get into what this would look like, we’d like to explain why it’s important. When you are a business, your primary goal is to make a sale - and everyone, especially your audience, is aware of this. And constantly being asked to make a purchase can feel annoying, so it’s important to surround requests such as those with value.
How to create value? By entertaining and informing.
How To Know If You’re Making It All About You:
Your content isn’t being talked about or shared.
You’re not really receiving engagement from either your competition or colleagues.
You’re not receiving engagement from your followers.
What You Should Do:
For every post asking for a sale or a lead, create 5 or more posts that provide value.
Feature your followers, your community, your employees, and your local businesses.
Create occasional “thank you” posts dedicated to your community.
Reason 6: You’re Not Giving Back
Giving back is so important. It feels great for everyone involved and it shows that you value the people who support you. That’s why giving back should be a part of your marketing strategy, because good deeds show everyone that you’re a business who knows what it means to be a part of a community.
So, by giving back, you’re also strengthening the appeal of your brand and increasing the loyalty of your audience.
How To Know If You’re Not Giving Back Enough:
Your product reviews receive low engagement.
Your regular posts receive low engagement.
What You Should Do:
Offer discounts and rewards that are only available to members/loyal customers/community members.
Find other ways to help other local businesses and community members.
Reason 7: You’re Not Using The Brand Marketing Funnel
When you’re posting on social media to grow your brand, you have to have a solid plan that will convert regular viewers into loyal customers. And there is one plan that has been working successfully for years: the brand funnel.
Learn more about the brand funnel by clicking the button below.
How To Know If You’re Not Using The Brand Marketing Funnel:
Your success or failure on social media doesn’t impact your sales or leads.
Your social media links aren’t being clicked.
What You Should Do:
Learn more about brand funnels so you can successfully create one.
Start creating content that builds awareness, increases engagement, and increases conversions.
Start creating a scheduling plan.
Reason 8: You’re Being Too Generic About Your Audience
Every business’s audience is full of diverse people with diverse backgrounds.
For example, if you’re marketing toward Millennials, you will find that your audience compiles of women, men, and non-binary people of various ethnic and financial backgrounds. And since there are so many different sorts of characters with different sorts of interests, it’s important that you take the time to address each of them - and not by creating a post that is so generic that it addresses none of them.
How To Know If You’re Being Too Generic:
Your engagement is coming from all the same people.
All your audience members come from the same or similar demographics.
Your posts lack variety concerning subjects and pain points.
What You Should Do:
Make a series of posts that address different demographics in your audience.
Don’t be afraid to get personal.
Review your customer personas and create content for each of them.
Need More Guidance?
If you want a more personal review of your business’s social media, feel free to schedule a consultation with Owner and Founder Jamie Cocco. We can walk through each of your social media platforms, discover what works and what doesn’t, and develop a plan for the future that will help boost your brand for each platform.
Click the button below to see what days are available.
